Ramblin' with Roger

Got one of “those” e-mails that was supposed to remind me of the “good old days”, which I might have just read and deleted, but which somehow penetrated my mind:

About ALL THE KIDS WHO SURVIVED the 1930’s 40’s, 50’s, 60’s and 70’s !!

First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they were pregnant.

Well, my mom didn’t drink or smoke, and in any case, fetal alcohol syndrome is a real problem that some kids didn’t survive.

Plus they took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing, tuna from a can, and didn’t get tested for diabetes.

81 mg of aspirin daily except the week before I’m about to donate blood.

Then after that trauma, we were put to sleep on our tummies in baby cribs covered with bright colored lead-based paints.

Yeah, we DIDN’T die of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, luckily.

As infants & children, we would ride in cars with no car seats, booster seats, seat belts or air bags.

Seat belts almost certainly saved my life at least once.

We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets and when we
rode our bikes, we had no helmets, not to mention, the risks we took hitchhiking.

To this day, I wouldn’t ride my bike without a helmet; it reduces the chance of brain injury something like 80%.
I DID used to hitchhike regularly until about 1979, but I had a few peculiar encounters.

Riding in the back of a pick up on a warm day was always a special treat.

Yes, I did do that and survived not falling out.

We didn’t cough into our elbows, we forgot to wash our hands sometimes, and never used a sanitizing gel to get clean.

Actually, I wonder about the efficacy of sanitizing gel. Where do the germs GO?

We drank water from the garden hose and NOT from a bottle.

I AM astonished about the bottled water industry. Some comedian – why do I think it was Carlin? – pretty much asked the same question. So, were we all dehydrated for years? Probably.

We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle
NO ONE and actually died from this.

As far as we know.

We ate cupcakes, white bread and real butter and drank koolade made with sugar, but we weren’t overweight because …

WE WERE ALWAYS OUTSIDE PLAYING !

Well, I WAS overweight as a kid, though I was, in fact, always out playing.

We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the streetlights came on.

No one was able to reach us all day.
And we were O.K.

Largely true in my case, actually, though I was always likely at Valley Street park, the Ansco ball field past the cemetery, or on the school playground.

We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then ride down
the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. After running into the bushes a few times, we learned to solve the problem.

Well, it wasn’t go-karts, but I did ride my bike with bad brakes down a steep hill into bushes. I survived in spite of that, but I was lucky a couple times.

We did not have Playstations, Nintendo’s, X-boxes, no video games at all, no 150 channels on cable, no video movies or DVD’s, no surround-sound or CD’s, no cell phones, no personal computers, no Internet or chat rooms…….
WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them!

I had friends, but I also had a lot of solitary pursuits as well.

We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no
lawsuits from these accidents.

Always need the requisite lawyer-bashing in these things.

We ate worms and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us forever.

Well, no.

We were given BB guns for our 10th birthdays,

Ditto.

made up games with sticks and tennis balls and, although we were told it would happen, we did not put out very many eyes.

The first half IS true.

We rode bikes or walked to a friend’s house and knocked on the door or rang
the bell, or just walked in and talked to them!

Not in my neighborhood, even then.

Little League had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn’t had to learn to deal with disappointment. Imagine that!!

This DOES resonate a bit.

The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of.

They actually sided with the law!

Except when the law was a ass.

These generations have produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers and inventors ever!

HOW TO DEAL WITH IT ALL!

Implicit in this is that persons born later than 1979 will not be innovative and creative? Oh, please.

If YOU are one of them . . . CONGRATULATIONS!

Kind of makes you want to run through the house with scissors, doesn’t it?!

The whole premise of “the good, old days,” when the life expectancy was less, when people died of diseases that are now all but eradicated, with injuries that can now be treated is bogus.

But the other underlying theme, that we can now have GPS on our kids’ cellphones so we know where they are at every minute, almost literally, IS largely true. Even when I was a kid, I was cognizant of “bad people out there”. But IS our reaction too much? I don’t know, but as Lydia grows up, I suspect I’ll find out.

Halloween.com: History, origins, costume ideas and links, news, Christian perspective on Halloween “in response to email castigating Halloween.com for glorifying evil :-)”, and jokes such as:
Q. Why do demons and ghouls hang out together?
A. Because demons are a ghoul’s best friend!

Bittersweet October. The mellow, messy, leaf-kicking perfect pause between the opposing miseries of summer and winter. – Carol Bishop Hipps (Stolen from a friend)

There must be 30 Ways To Eat a Pumpkin. Ah, a new Paul Simon song, no doubt. And speaking of which – Paul’s 65th birthday this month went unmentioned on this page.

So did Sting’s 55th birthday. Here’s a fun story about the FIRST time Sting met Edin Karamazov, the lute player from Sarajevo, 12 years ago at a circus. You fans of Studio 60 may recognize Karamazov from the episode featuring Sting (and Lauren Graham).

Facts for Halloween from the Census BOO-reau.

CYOP

QUALITY OF MERCY-Michelle Shocked. This is a song from the Dead Man Walking soundtrack. It’s the title song, as it were, for in the Billy Shakes play Merchant of Venice, Portia has an impressive speech, from which I took the title of this disc.
Johnny Cash connection: He also has a song on the soundtrack, In Your Mind.
WHO KILLED DAVEY MOORE? – Pete Seeger. From that 1963 live album I bought recently.
Bob Dylan connection: written by Bob.
DON’T TAKE YOUR GUNS TO TOWN- Charlie Robison. Love the feel.
Johnny Cash connection: from a JRC tribute album.
I HUNG MY HEAD – Sting. Great song.
Johnny Cash connection: covered by Johnny, and arguably done better.
FOLSOM PRISON BLUES-Keb’ Mo’. He changes a vital lyric! Still, I love the performance.
Johnny Cash connection: from a JRC tribute album.
RUN FOR YOUR LIFE-Beatles. “Rather see you dead, little girl.” Without looking it up, I seem to recall, John pretty much disavowing this song.
Bob Dylan connection: likely written after the Beatles and Dylan smoked dope together.
PRETTY POLLY – Judy Collins. Starts off softly, but packs a punch, featuring guitar by Steve Stills. Murder ballad. “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes”, indeed.
Bob Dylan connection: on the album Who Knows Where The Time Goes, which featurers this cut, Judy also sings Dylan’s Poor Immigrant.
DELIA’S GONE -Johnny Cash. From his first American Recordings album.
Johnny Cash connection: The very first song on that disc.
GOODBYE EARL – Dixie Chicks. Controversial because the protagonist gets away with murder. With a video that’s been heavily parodied.
Johnny Cash connection: their most recent album was produced by Rick Rubin, who produced Johnny’s American Recordings in the 1990s and beyond.
WHERE DID YOU SLEEP LAST NIGHT – Nirvana – I knew this as a Leadbelly song.
Bob Dylan connection: performed by Bob in 1961 and in 1990.
‘TIL I DIE- Beach Boys. Someone once suggested that I ask my church choir to sing this. It’s too nihilist, and, as I suspected, about suicide. But it IS beautiful.
Bob Dylan connection: The Beach Boys and Dylan performed at the same festival in 2003. Both have a Top 5 album on the Rolling Stone: The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list.
SUICIDE ALLEY -Shawn Colvin. One DOES want a response to suicide, and this is it.
Bob Dylan connection: For Bob Dylan: The 30th Anniversary Concert Celebration, Mary-Chapin Carpenter, Rosanne Cash and Shawn Colvin sang You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere.
DEATH IS NOT THE END- Nick Cave. Last song on the sometimes brutal “Murder Ballads” album.
Bob Dylan connection: written by Bob.

I think this album has a better flow to it, with men killing men, then men killing women, women killing men, and people threatening to kill themselves.

The problem I had was copying it, for I couldn’t get it not to do strange things during the playback at a certain point. Finally, I isolated the problem: the Nirvana track was somehow defective, although not audibly so, so the five-minute track kept going and going and going, messing up everything past it. I ended up buying the cut on iTunes (buying a song I already own, ironically, which SHOULD make up for something), and it seemed to work OK.

I SHOT JOHN LENNON – Pretty direct tune by the Cranberries.
HERE TODAY- Macca’s response to the event.
ALL THOSE YEARS AGO – And George’s. I had it in my head that Ringo also had a response, but my Beatles expert wrote: “I don’t think there was one. George was going to give Ringo the song that turned into All Those Years Ago (new lyrics were written for it after the tragedy), and Ringo played on George’s version. Paul wrote Here Today for John, and Ringo wrote Never Without You for George on Ringo Rama.”
WHEN THE BEATLES HIT AMERICA – John Wesley Harding did a bit about the Beatles’ reunion of 1993.
THE LATE GREAT JOHNNY ACE – The transitional song. Ostensibly about the 1950’s singer, it namechecks JFK, and talks about John Lennon, ending with some Philip Glass moodiness.
SYMPATHY FOR THE DEVIL (Full Phat Remix) – When I think about the Kennedy assassination, of course I think of this Rolling Stones song, not this version necessarily.
FAMILY SNAPSHOT – I’ve read that Peter Gabriel was inspired to write this song after the attempted assassination of George Wallace, but look at the lyrics.
GIVE THE PEOPLE WHAT THEY WANT – Live Kinks, with almost cheerful reference to the JFK shooting.
CIVIL WAR – “And in my first memories, They shot Kennedy.” This Guns ‘N Roses fits into any civil war, including VietNam.
LEE HARVEY WAS A FRIEND OF MINE- Laura Cantrell’s character says, “They said he shot the President, but I don’t I don’t think he did.”
WHO SHOT MR. BURNS (Part 1) – The Simpsons end theme in the style of the JFK movie.
LONG TIME GONE- CPR is one of David Crosby’s groups, doing a song about Robert Kennedy, originally performed by one of his other groups.
WHAT THE WORLD NEEDS KNOW IS LOVE/ABRAHAM, MARTIN, AND JOHN- Read what it says in my Joel Whitburn Billboard book about this guy:
Born Thomas Clague on 8/20/29 in Binghamton, New York [my hometown!] Died of cancer on 11/22/95 (age 66). Was a DJ at KGBS in Los Angeles when he created this recording.” It debuted on the charts on 7/10/71, peaking at #8, and spent nine weeks on the chart. B-side: The Victors [spoken word]. Mowest 5002.
The Blackberries (vocal accompaniment); picture sleeve issued ‘compliments of KGBS radio’.
I tell all that to explain why this was the first song to be selected on the disc. When my family and I were visiting Fred Hembeck and his family this past summer, Fred and I started talking about this very song. We weren’t SURE we were talking about the same song; one of us remembered the Abraham part, while the other remembered the Love part, or maybe it was the kid section.

This is one of the weirdest damn songs ever to chart. You MUST check out the lyrics here. The first section, and the last, is an announcer, I assume Clay, talking to a kid, about bigotry, etc. There’s a little musical “sigh” at certain points, such as after Brinkley says, “Dallas, Texas.”

My sense, and it’s only that, is that Clay and his radio station, feeling awful about the death of Bobby Kennedy in their city of Los Angeles, plus the other turbulence of the time, were compelled to make a statement by taking the Dion hit of three years earlier and merged it with the tune written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David, made famous by Dionne Warwick. The song, I’ve discovered, appears on Motown Salutes Bacharach, an import . (Mowest was a Motown subsidiary when the label moved to California.) I have it on 20 Hard-to-Find Motown Classics, Vol. 2, which itself is now hard to find.

If you would like a copy of the collection I put together, or just of this last song, please e-mail me.

Quote from Fred Hembeck: “Brief observation: I’ve never been much of a fan of Yoko Ono, but I can now state this unequivocally: Heather Mills McCartney–WORST BEATLES WIFE EVER!” Given that there have been eight Beatle wives, I’d put her as #8 as well.

Beatles Songs from Worst to First
***
If you have access to the Wall Street Journal of October 26, check out “This World Series Has Huge Following, 38 Years After Fact; ’68 Tigers-Cardinals Games To Get Fantasy Replay; Denny McLain Weighs In”, a front page article:

The Detroit Tigers this week made a crucial decision about the team’s player lineup… The team’s decision had nothing to do with the current World Series battle with the St. Louis Cardinals. Instead it harks back to the legendary 1968 World Series between the same teams. The lineup is for a reunion of sorts at a fantasy-baseball camp, where fans and former players will celebrate the 40th anniversary of that matchup. But for the event to succeed, the Tigers will have to sort out some complicated logistics, still-simmering personality clashes, and how to deal with the criminal record of its erstwhile superstar, Mr. McLain, who has served time in prison for extortion and embezzlement.

“We’ve decided that every living member of the ’68 team should be invited,” says Jerry Lewis, director of Detroit Tigers Fantasy Camp. He knows that will cause a stir.
***
The questions this week are straight-forward enough: Who would you choose for the major baseball awards? Probably my last baseball post this year. (But as the Mets are saying, “Wait until next year!”) Remember these are regular season awards, and the postseason doesn’t factor in.

They’ve already named the 2006 Major League Baseball Comeback Player of the Year Award, presented (naturally) by Viagra.

AL Most Valuable Player: If David Ortiz who led the league in homers and RBI hadn’t had some medical issues, the Red Sox would have at least contended for a wild card slot; he’ll get some consideration. I’m fond of the Twins’ Justin Morneau, although another Twins player, Joe Mauer, led the league in hitting. A catcher, no less. And Derek Jeter? Yes, he was second in batting average, and scored a bunch of runs, and plays a decent shortstop. I’m just not convinced that his “intangibles” should put him over the top.

NL Most Valuable Player: Who lead the major league in homers and RBI, batted over .300, and has a slugging percentage over .650? Ryan Howard. Who came in second in the league and third in the majors in homers and RBI, and had even a better slugging percentage? Albert Pujols. They should, and will finish 1-2.

AL Cy Young. Easily, Johan Santana, another Twins player – this will make my father-in-law happy. He lead the majors in ERA and strikeouts – an overvalued stat, the latter is, I think- and tied for the lead in wins with Chien-Ming Wang of the Yankees. No 20-game winners this season, which used to be a standard for excellence in pitching.

NL Cy Young. Six pitchers won 16 games. The one with the best ERA by far is Brandon Webb of the Arizona Diamondbacks, a mediocre team. The only people with a better ERA both won 15 games: Roy Oswalt and Chris Carpenter of the NL-winning (BOO!) St. Louis Cardinals.