Sing Me Back Home

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

Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys

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

I fall to Pieces

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