Aloha!
"Every man's memory is his private literature."
~Aldous Huxley
Waikiki in the distance. Taken from Palolo Valley"Everybody needs his memories.
They keep the wolf of insignificance
from the door."
~Saul Bellow
Lei Stand in Chinatown, Honolulu"Pleasure is the flower that passes;
remembrance,
the lasting perfume."
~Jean de Boufflers
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Growing up in Philadelphia
we were blue collar and ethnic,
but we were urban people
with a patina of middle-brow sophistication
when needed;
My parents knew how to dress and behave
at the parent/teacher meeting.
Country Music
was the sound of OTHERS:
Rural, Super White, Conservative.
It was the music of folks that hated folks like us
even before I was a freak (what others called 'hippies').
Let's just say that it wasn't what we heard at home.
But the folk movement
made us look at C&W as a true folk expression,
sequined sports jackets, bouffants and all!
Plus it was marvelously transgressive
for me to be a country fan.
Youthful rebellion - so predictable.
Merle Haggard's Okie From Muskogee
about summed up the gulf.
But later,
through his tribute album to
I became a fan of ole Merle.
In fact I became quite a country fan.
My pal Jim and I even drove to
Great Adventure in New Jersey
so see Willie Nelson in his
Blue Eyes Cryin` in the Rain period.
When we got there
it was coming down pretty good'
and only a handful of us waited in the stands.
But Willie and his band,
Sis on piano, and that nice Jewish boy on mouth harp,
played us quite a nice intimate little set.
What a great memory!
Last night I caught the PBS' American Masters
devoted to Merle.
It brought back so much!
I'm glad hubby went to sleep a bit early
so I could just sit there and cry.
A whole period of my life opened up to memory.
I though of how Jim used to sing
and I wished I could hear it one more time.
So many great songs!
I've been listening on Pandora & Grooveshark all day.
If I had to pick just one Merle song to share,
Working Man Blues comes to mind,
but it has to be this one:
Listen to it with my Aloha....
Let Merle sing YOU back home too...
"I'm 70. At this point if they gave me a life sentence,
it would only be a few years.
So F**k `em!"
Merle Haggard
19 comments:
Aww Jeez I almost wanted to cry too. But then I caught a hold of myself and remembered that I wasn't listening to The Who.
Aloha sista
I'm a Willie fan!
Aloha!
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Oh Cloudia, I was moved on so many levels.
Country seems dated most of the time, but now and then, some artists rip your heart out. Thanks for this post, the Saul Bellow quote, the reminder that music connects us deeply.
I became a blues fan for the very same reason.
I hated country growing up too. I've come to tolerate it to a certain extent and even enjoy some songs, but other than Johnny Cash, I can't really listen to much of it. I do like some Merle, though.
Thank you Cloudia! I enjoyed listenng to the video. I'd never heard of him, but I like it.
Ah, it's all so long ago.
But it good to indulge now and again.
btw, I don't agree with Saul Bellow. Just having them doesn't make memories always memorable. Memories of insignificant events don't make them or us significant.
I know all about that, having a lot of insignificant events in my life.
He's not an artist I had heard of before. Thanks for sharing your memories.
I love country music but I've not heard of Merle. I listened to the song though and I loved it. :)
Surely amazing how you are able to feel mood and time of life !
daily athens
so long,
how r u?
your quotes are always refreshing and entertaining...
love your blog.
take good care.
Great post and video! Oh, I remember those hippie days. It was the "freaks against " the frats"! lol Happy Weekend, cher! Aloha!
Merle Haggard is magnificent. I don't have any patience with cookie cutter "young country" stars, but I love the old masters like Merle and Conway.
I love "If We Make It Through December", "Big City", "Mama Tried", "Pancho & Lefty", "Reasons To Quit" and of course, "Sing Me Back Home." The late Gram Parsons also did a very nice version of that song.
Merle Haggard said that songs like "Okie From Muskogee" reflected more the way his father would have thought, then how he himself did. Anyway, the man made some beautiful music, didn't he?
Hi Cloudia !
Beautiful sky, nice quotations and I love Country music !
Aloha, my friend !
Love you memories!
Great post! Off to hear the video.
Aloha!
Big hugs!
B xx
lovely words. and lovely shots of the places once again.
Interesting sounds there.. very unlike what we hear in Mumbai.
- Mindless Mumbai
I'm a closet country and western fan, myself. Thanks for the song, Cloudia. Have a great weekend.
isn't this a cool party?
thanks for coming
I have to comment on your observation on "Okie From Muskogee". Yes, when it came out I was a teenager who thought it epitomized the worst elements of 'the gulf'. Many years later I read an interview with Merle Haggard giving his history of the song.
Turns out that while crossing Oklahoma on their bus, looking out the windows at the small towns, drinking beer and smoking pot and speculating on how the people who lived there thought. Someone said something like "We don't have no hippies in Muskogee!". Someone else said "We don't smoke marijuana in Muskogee!".
And so on. He wrote a song using their lines never dreaming that not only would it be a hit but become a redneck anthem. I wonder if he laughed inside knowing how the song came about whenever he sang it on stage with the audience hanging on every word.
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