Day: April 7, 2019

MLMM Sunday Writing Prompt — Memories of Dad

Fandango9 Comments

80C51312-B9CF-47CF-B8F2-44EEDB44876F.jpegHarry walked up to the antique chest of drawers, slid open the top drawer, pulled out an item, and with an exaggerated flourish,  waved it about in the air. “Do you remember this?” he said to his little sister.

“Oh my God, Harry,” Elaine said. “Is that the slate tablet that Dad used to teach us the alphabet and arithmetic?”

“Yes,” Harry said, “I found it in this old chest of drawers yesterday and couldn’t wait to show it to you.”

Elaine gazed at the antique tablet. “Seeing that brings back so many memories of Dad from when we were kids,” she said, her eyes welling up. “I do miss him, Harry.”

“So do I, Elaine,” Harry agreed.

“Do you mind continuing to go through his stuff on your own?” Elaine asked. “Because Dad died intestate, I need to go see the lawyer to sort things out and I want to see what we can do to avoid probate court.”

“Sure, go ahead,” Harry said. “I certainly don’t envy you for having to deal with all that legal mumbo-jumbo.”

Written for the Mindlovemisery’s Menagerie Sunday Writing Prompt, “Choose an Antique.” Also for these daily prompts: Ragtag Daily Prompt (chest), Your Daily Word Prompt (flourish), Word of the Day Challenge (gaze), and Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (envy).

Song Lyric Sunday — Burning Down the House

Fandango27 Comments

Jim Adams chose “Burn/Fire/Flame” for this week’s Song Lyric Sunday theme. There a probably hundreds of songs about burn, fire, and flame, but the one I ended up choosing is “Burning Down the House” by the Talking Heads.

“Burning Down the House” was released in July 1983 as the first single from the band’s fifth studio album, Speaking in Tongues. The song became Talking Heads’ biggest hit single in the U.S., peaking at number 9 on the Billboard Hot 100. Writing credit goes to Chris Frantz, Christopher Frantz, David Byrne, Jerry Harrison, and Tina Weymouth.

Chris Frantz, the drummer for the Talking Heads drummer was inspired to help write this song when he went to a P-Funk show in New York City. He heard the crowd imploring the band to “Burn Down The House” and got the idea for his song’s title. Frantz and Talking Heads bassist Tina Weymouth, who was also his wife, created the original track in a jam, then took it to the band where they refined it. To form the lyrics, they picked words that fit the rhythms, which is why the words don’t make a lot of sense. This is common practice in the world of Funk, where you don’t want the lyrics to get in the way of the “groove” on a feel good song.

In an interview, David Byrne said that fire represents the process of psychological transformation, so burning down the house is destroying one personality and creating another one.

Here are the song’s lyrics.

Watch out, you might get what you’re after
Cool babies, strange but not a stranger
I’m an ordinary guy
Burning down the house

Hold tight
Wait ’til the party’s over
Hold tight
We’re in for nasty weather
There has got to be a way
Burning down the house

Here’s your ticket pack your bags
Time for jumpin’ overboard
The transportation is here
Close enough but not too far,
Maybe you know where you are
Fightin’ fire with fire

All wet, hey, you might need a raincoat
Shakedown, dreams walking in broad daylight
Three hundred sixty five degrees
Burning down the house

It was once upon a place,
Sometimes I listen to myself
Gonna come in first place
People on their way to work,
Baby, what did you expect?
Gonna burst into flame

Burning down the house

My house’s out of the ordinary
That’s right
Don’t want to hurt nobody
Some things sure can sweep me off my feet
Burning down the house

No visible means of support
And you have not seen nothin’ yet
Everything’s stuck together
And I don’t know what you expect
Staring into the TV set
Fighting fire with fire

FOWC with Fandango — Envy

Fandango21 Comments

FOWCWelcome to April 7, 2019 and to Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (aka, FOWC). It’s designed to fill the void after WordPress bailed on its daily one-word prompt.

I will be posting each day’s word just after midnight Pacific Time (US).

Today’s word is “envy.”

Write a post using that word. It can be prose, poetry, fiction, non-fiction. It can be any length. It can be just a picture or a drawing if you want. No holds barred, so to speak.

Once you are done, tag your post with #FOWC and create a pingback to this post if you are on WordPress. Or you can simply include a link to your post in the comments.

And be sure to read the posts of other bloggers who respond to this prompt. You will marvel at their creativity.