It's been fun to read your responses to the lyric and poetry. Most folks who replied got the Stones lyrics with Jagger and Richardson getting the credit for those two, Street Fighting Man" and "Shot away".

I don't think but one person actually got the Steppenwolf song, "Monster". Kelly H, you win the prize, a big warm fuzzy. (You didn't think there was anything of actual value involved , did you? I'm way too cheep for that. ;>)Yeah, several sent in the right answer but I think they had to research it. I had heard it recently on radio 105.3, my new favorite in the Knoxville/East Tennesee area. There is such good music being made...We just have to make them play it for us. Corporate Radio or no corporations, they'll give us what we want or we'll turn them off.

I saw John Kay and Steppenwolf play live, a million years ago at least...OK, late sixties or maybe even early seventies, it all runs together for some reason..Oh, wow, man...the colors!

Well, Not... actually. For some unknown reason I was the designated driver in the sixties. My first experience with acid was watching a bunch of stoned college students try to deal with a friend who was having the trip from hell and as a result it all looked really unattractive to a kid who was trying to hang on to reality in an unreal world to start with. I'll just drive the van for all of us, thank you.

We are going round the same bend today. I worry about my kids trying to make sense of this world. Any thinking person knows that those in power are lying and doing really bad things in the name of America. That is why the song I quoted you yesterday is so relevant even though it is nearly forty years old. Here is the last half of the song by John Kay and Jerry Edmonton. Read it and see if it doesn't hold up a mirror that shows us today in yesterday:

... The spirit was freedom and justice
And its keepers seemed generous and kind
Its leaders were supposed to serve the country
But now they won't pay it no mind
Cause the people grew fat and got lazy
Now their vote is a meaningless joke
They babble about law and order
But it's all just an echo of what they've been told

Yeah, there's a monster on the loose
It's got our heads into the noose
And it just sits there watching

The cities have turned into jungles
And corruption is strangling the land
The police force is watching the people
And the people just can't understand
We don't know how to mind our own business
'Cause the whole world's got to be just like us
Now we are fighting a war over there
No matter who's the winner we can't pay the cost

'Cause there's a monster on the loose
It's got our heads into the noose
And it just sits there watching

America, where are you now
Don't you care about your sons and daughters
Don't you know we need you now
We can't fight alone against the monster

Here's a link to the whole song. It is an anthem for now!

It is a call to action!

monster

The poetry seems to have woken some of you up. I appreciate your sending me your personal recommendations. Denise reminded me of Richard Brautigan with these bits:

War Horse

He stands alone in a pasture
but nobody can see him.

He has been made invisible
by his own wounds.

I know how he feels.

___________________________________________

DIVE-BOMBING THE LOWE EMOTIONS

I was dive-bombing the lower
emotions on a typical yesterday
.....after
I had sworn never to do it again.
I guess never's too long a time to stay
out of the cockpit
with the wind screaming down the wings
and the target almost praying itself into your
sights.

Brautigan was an example of the emotional wreck I spoke of. Ultimately taking his own life, he left us with such jewels as "On Loading Mercury with a Pitchfork" , "In Watermelon Sugar", and, if you only read one book by him, "Confederate General from Big Sur", in which you will learn that the battle cry "Campbell Soup!" silences the frogs.

You folks know I am a Howard Dean fan. Dean is still very active and intent on reforming the Democaratic Party, labelling it "Rotten with the culture of losing!" Here's a report on Howard's recent speech. I strongly recommend you read it. Randy and Tommy, I mean you two especially!

politicalstrategy.org

With republicans wearing god as a lapel pin, even Howard Dean had to speak out:

... Jesus, he declared, was about including the downtrodden, and the Republicans, with their insistence on public displays of religion, resemble nothing more than the Pharisees and the Sadducees.

And now our bible verse for today's study session:

"As a cage is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit: therefore they are become great and waxen rich... they overpass the deeds of the wicked: they judge not the cause, the cause of the fatherless, yet they prosper; and the right of the needy do they not judge. Shall I not visit for these things? saith the Lord: shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this? (Jeremiah 5:27-29)."

And the first verse of monster in the words of the prophet Steppenwolf saith again,

Chasing the promise of freedom and hope
Came to this country to build a new vision
Far from the reaches of kingdom and pope
Like good Christians, some would burn the witches
Later some got slaves to gather riches

Here is the rest of the lesson, It's not what you think:

workingforchange

Peace,

Steve