Music

Cry Me a River

Fandango5 Comments

410853F5-3471-47A5-B1D7-5D68E8EA84EDI cried a river when I found out that you were untrue to me. I remember how your infidelity nearly drove me out of my head. You told me you were through with me, that you didn’t love me anymore. And you were so cold. You never even shed a tear.

But now you come to me and say you’re lonely. You say you miss me and you cry the whole night through.

Well, as they say, time heals all wounds, and my memories of the hurt you caused me have finally faded. So all I have to say to you, now that you say you love me, is that you can cry me a river, cry me a river, just like I cried a river over you.

Written for Paula Light’s Thursday Inspiration prompt. This week’s theme is “faded.” Photo credit: Pixabay.

Weekly Song Challenge — Evil, Spooky, Disney

Fandango9 Comments

60A25535-5237-4C1A-8A60-109A5196E9B9For this week’s Weekly Song Challenge, Laura has asked us to post three videos — song about something wicked or evil, a Disney movie song, and a spooky song.

Her rules are:

  • Copy rules and add to our own post, pinging back to her post.
  • Post music videos for our answers to the musical questions.
  • Tag two people anyone who wants to participate!

So here goes.

1. Post a video of a song about wickedness or evil.

2. Post a video of a song from an animated Disney movie.

3. Post a video of a song that is spooky.

Okay. Your turn!

Song Lyric Sunday — Someone Famous

Fandango29 Comments

For this week’s Song Lyric Sunday theme, Jim Adams has asked us to write about a song that includes somebody famous in it. The song I chose is the 1968 song originally recorded by Dion, “Abraham, Martin and John,” and it’s actually about four famous people. Do I get extra credit, Jim?

Written by rockabilly singer Dick Holler, it is a tribute to the memory of four assassinated Americans, all icons of social change: Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King Jr., John F. Kennedy, and Robert F. Kennedy.

Dion had just recovered from heroin addiction and was offered this as a potential comeback song. It made it to number 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 and reestablished Dion in the music business.

Dion said in an interview that he initially detested the song, but he ultimately came to understand its legacy. “I realized that what these four guys had in common was a dream…. It was like they had the courage to believe that a state of love really can exist,” he said. Dion claimed to have received thousands of letters thanking him for recording the song.

Here are the song’s lyrics.

Has anybody here seen my old friend Abraham?
Can you tell me where he’s gone?
He freed a lot of people
But it seems the good die young
But I just looked around and he’s gone

Has anybody here seen my old friend John?
Can you tell me where he’s gone?
He freed a lot of people
But it seems the good die young
But I just looked around and he’s gone

Has anybody here seen my old friend Martin?
Can you tell me where he’s gone?
He freed a lot of people
But it seems the good die young
But I just looked around and he’s gone

Didn’t you love the things that they stood for?
Didn’t they try to find some good for you and me?
And we’ll be free
Someday soon, it’s gonna be
One day

Has anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he’s gone?
I thought I saw him walkin’
Up over the hill
With Abraham, Martin and John

Backbreak Hotel

Fandango10 Comments

1E52D90C-0BD4-460D-ABCD-1FE45D02E65FJim Adams, host of this week’s Music Challenge from Mindlovemisery’s Menagerie, gave us the song “Heartbreak Hotel” and asked us to focus on that song and use it for inspiration in any form of creative expression.

The song he gave us is about a guy whose girl left him and he finds a place at the end of Lonely Street called the Heartbreak Hotel, where he checks in and whines about how his “baby” left him and how lonely he is. Oh boo hoo!

I’m not going to lament about having a broken heart, but I am going to celebrate the fact that, since I retired two-and-a-half years ago, I have not spent a single night in a hotel room. Yay!

I used to have to travel a lot for my job and that meant spending many nights in hotel rooms. So many nights, in fact, that I qualified for Premium Gold Elite status, or something like that, with the Marriott rewards program.ACCA22D2-DF79-432D-870F-B9CCD8320470For the most part, the hotel rooms I slept in were decent enough, but no matter how often I stayed at a hotel sleeping on a hotel room bed, it’s just not the same as sleeping in my own bed.

I love my bed. My mattress is perfect. Not too soft. Not too hard. Just right. I wake up each morning feeling refreshed and free of back pain. But that wasn’t the case when I slept in hotel beds. My sleep was often restless and, as often as not, I’d have to pop a couple of Advils when I woke up because my back would be stiff and tight.

So, bringing this back to Jim’s Music Challenge, were I to write a song about a hotel, I’d probably title it “Backbreak Hotel.” Because, you know, hotel beds suck.

SoCS — Outside Lands

Fandango11 Comments

06B71C58-6BFE-41DD-8342-6BF9F7B8E09A“Where is that music coming from?” Larry asked. Larry is an old college buddy of mine who lives in Chicago. He and his wife are our houseguests while visiting San Francisco for a week. Larry agreed to walk with me while last night while I took our dog out for her final walk of the day. It was about 9:15 p.m.

“That’s the Outside Lands Music Festival,” I said. “It’s an annual outdoor summer event at Golden Gate Park. It runs through Sunday night.”

“Wow,” Larry said. “And you can hear the music from there all the way over here?”

“We only live three blocks from Golden Gate Park, Larry,” I said, “so of course we can hear it from here.”

“Do you ever go and watch the performers?” Larry asked.

“We have gone a few times, but it’s kind of a zoo and the three-day pass is expensive,” I said, “so we’ll pick one night, and head over to the park with some folding chairs and a cooler and set up just outside the perimeter of the festival and listen to the performances. It’s almost as good as being near the performers, but it’s free. If you and Judy are up for it, we can do that tomorrow night.”

“Definitely,” Larry said.FF601F4E-3FEC-433E-9377-839108740C34

Written for today’s Stream of Consciousness Saturday prompt from Linda G. Hill. Our challenge today is to “Start your post with the word ‘where’ and write whatever comes to you.”