Tag Archives: The Moody Blues

My iPod Has Issues – Back Porch Blogging

13 Jun

I am sitting on the back porch with the laptop in my lap. Is that not where it is supposed to be? The sun is shining, and the birds are chirping. I can hear a lawnmower somewhere in the distance. They say that storms will be overhead later in the day. That is typical for a June afternoon in Tennessee.

Unused firewood is taking up one corner of the deck. It is beside some chairs that are fading in the sun. I can see the strand of a spiderweb attached to one of them as the sunlight glistens off of it. I suppose that I should knock it down, but the spider has spent a lot of time working on it.

It is a relaxing time, and nothing much is going through my mind. There are no clever ideas for a post. There are no psychoses that need to be addressed. It is simply a normal porch-sitting experience.image-38

With nothing to write about, I could end the post, but it does not seem right to stop at 177 words. At least, that is how many words WordPress said I had typed when I typed 177. Instead of stopping, I will turn on the iPod and see what it going on. After that, I will go back to staring at the trees. There is a dead one out there that needs to be dealt with.

“Tetragon” by Woody Shaw

“Save My Soul” by Blues Saraceno

“Fly Away” by John Denver

“Let The Good Times Roll” by Ray Charles

“You Got That Right” by Lynyrd Skynyrd

“The Day Begins” by The Moody Blues

“Loving Her Was Easier” by Kris Kristofferson

“You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin'” by The Righteous Brothers

“Come Fly With Me” by Frank Sinatra

“Tulsa Time” by Don Williams

“Thunderstruck” by AC/DC

“Sweet Georgia Brown” by The California Ramblers

“Lucifer” by The Alan Parson Project

“Slip Away” by Clarence Carter

“Rollin'” by Big and Rich

“She Loves You” by The Beatles

“Amie” by Pure Prairie League

“I Wanna Be Sedated” by The Ramones

“The Beat” by Lou Johnson

“Drops of Jupiter” by Train

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The Moon and the Moody Blues

9 Oct

Over the past few nights, the moon has been full and bright to the point that it causes slight shadows. A few times, I have gone out and just looked at it. I took out the trash and spent a few extra moments in the driveway. I also walked onto the deck just to stare at the sky. The moonlight was almost blinding, and, both nights, low clouds floated by to give it that haunted look.

The moon has always fascinated me, and I have often taken time to look at it. Of course, the face is there. However, it is more than that. It is the closest celestial body, and it stands guard over the night. There are times when it makes the night darker and more mysterious. There are times, like the past few nights, when it makes the night lighter and brings clarity to a time of hiding.

Each time I study the moon, the same words make their way through my mind. They are not words that I put together. They are not words from some dusty poetry book. They are words from an album that I first heard a long time ago. The Moody Blues created Days of Future Passed and included the following verses.Moody Blues

The album begins with:

Cold hearted orb that rules the night,
Removes the colours from our sight,
Red is gray and yellow white,
But we decide which is right.
And which is an illusion?
Pinprick holes in a colourless sky,
Let insipid figures of light pass by,
The mighty light of ten thousand suns,
Challenges infinity and is soon gone.
Night time, to some a brief interlude,
To others the fear of solitude.
Brave Helios wake up your steeds,
Bring the warmth the countryside needs.

The album closes with:

Breathe deep the gathering gloom,
Watch lights fade from every room.
Bedsitter people look back and lament,
Another day’s useless energy spent.
Impassioned lovers wrestle as one,
Lonely man cries for love and has none.
New mother picks up and suckles her son,
Senior citizens wish they were young.
Cold hearted orb that rules the night,
Removes the colours from our sight.
Red is grey and yellow white.
But we decide which is right.
And which is an illusion?

I am not sure when I first heard the album, but these words have been with me since. There are other poems and songs about the moon, but that full and bright moon always brings these verses from the back of my mind. Like the night, the moon illuminates them and brings them from the hidden recesses of my memory.

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My iPod Has Issues – Have I Really Written That Much?

6 Feb

I just realized that my last post was Number 400. I cannot believe that I have written that many words on this blog. Some of the posts seem like they were written yesterday. There are other ones that have faded from my memory. All I know is that 400 posts never entered my mind when all of this started.400

To commemorate this milestone, I am going to let my mind and my fingers rest and put together the most simple post that I know how to do. Exploring the dark passages in the mind of my iPod may look difficult and dangerous, but it really is not that hard to accomplish. Despite its reputation of taking people into musical realms that they think is nuts, my iPod does not mean harm. In fact, it is quite pleasant if you can accept it for what it is – a bipolar yet well-rounded individual.

With that being said, let us shuffle up and play.

“Thirsty Man” by Blitzen Trapper

“The Ball Game” by Sister Wynona Carr

“The Day Begins” by The Moody Blues

“It Happened in Monterey” by Frank Sinatra

“Jumpin’ Jack Flash” by The Rolling Stones

“Hello Again” by Neil Diamond

“With Pen In Hand” by Dorothy Moore

“Adagio for TRON” by Daft Punk

“Cry Me A River” by Diana Krall

“I Can’t Make You Love Me” by Bonnie Raitt

“Rollin'” by Big and Rich

“I See You Baby” by Groove Armada

“Respect Yourself” by The Staple Singers

“Crazy In Love” by Beyonce

“God Is Rhythm” by White Boy, Big Mouth and the Assassin with Mia Dunn

“She’s Got You” by Loretta Lynn

“How Blue Can You Get?” by B.B. King

“I Feel Love” by Donna Summer

“Polk Salad Annie” by Tony Joe White

“Twentieth Century Fox” by The Doors

This is post Number 401, and there is a lot more to go.

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My iPod Has Issues – Grammy Edition

27 Jan

The Grammy Awards are on and taking my focus away from the blog. Between Twitter and the television, I am being inundated with information. Lorde has black fingers. Daft Punk has cool headgear. According to my wife, Keith Urban has a messed up haircut. Katy Perry tried to emulate the witchy aura of Stevie Nicks. All I can say is that she is no Stevie Nicks.Stevie Nicks

With my mind cluttered with the world of music, I may as well go ahead and add more music to it. That means putting the iPod on shuffle and teeing it up. I don’t know how many of these people won a Grammy, but being included on the playlist should make up for any previous snubs.

“Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On” by Valerie Wellington

“Cindy” by Dean Martin, Ricky Nelson and Walter Brennan

“Ballad of the Alamo” by Marty Robbins

“I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing” by Aerosmith

“Workin’ for MCA” by Lynyrd Skynyrd

“I Threw It All Away” by Bob Dylan

“I See You Baby” by Groove Armada

“Highway to Hell” by AC/DC

“Rhiannon” by Stevie Nicks

“Pearl Necklace” by ZZ Top

“Immune” by Godsmack

“Don’t Bring Me Down” by The Animals

“Montana” by Sons of the Pioneers

“The Theme to Route 66” by Nelson Riddle

“Ecstasy of Gold” bu Ennio Morricone

“Oh, What a Night” by The Dells

“Save My Soul” by Blues Saraceno

“The Day Begins” by The Moody Blues

“I Don’t Trust Nobody” by George Thorogood

“Still…You Turn Me On” by Emerson, Lake and Palmer

I would like to see all of them on stage at the Grammy Awards.

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What Is This Post About?

17 Mar

There’s not much going on in my head tonight. No words of wisdom. No original blogging ideas. Heck, I’m not even sure why I turned on the computer and logged into WordPress. It could be that I got tired of watching Star Trek: The Next Generation on BBC America. The episode that just ended saw Geordi turn into an alien. The next episode has Barkley turning into a superhuman. It seems that everyone is always turning into something on that show.

I went to a couple of sessions of the Southeastern Conference basketball tournament this week. My team lost, and the other games weren’t very exciting, either. Probably, the most exciting part about the week was finding myself behind a Fisker Karma. Don’t worry. I also didn’t know what it was, but I looked up the price. Base: $94,000.

The Karma

The Karma

I hope the driver remembers that Karma is a bitch sometimes.

For some reason, Eric Cartman just entered my head.Eric CartmanI haven’t seen Southpark in a long time. Unlike Star Trek: The Next Generation, they don’t turn into different things on that show. They do a lot of funny crap, though.

Oh, there’s this other thing that popped into my head. The Moody Blues recorded an album called Days of Future Past that I have always been fascinated with.Moody Blues

It’s a concept album that takes the listener through the day from morning until night. Each song is about a certain time of day. The album includes Nights in White Satin and other songs, but it begins and ends with poetry. Those poems are what has fascinated me.

The Day Begins

Cold hearted orb that rules the night
Removes the colours from our sight
Red is gray and yellow, white
But we decide which is right
And which is an illusion

Pinprick holes in a colourless sky
Let insipid figures of light pass by
The mighty light of ten thousand suns
Challenges infinity and is soon gone
Night time, to some a brief interlude
To others the fear of solitude

Brave Helios, wake up your steeds
Bring the warmth the countryside needs

Late Lament

Breathe deep the gathering gloom
Watch lights fade from every room
Bedsitter people look back and lament
Another day’s useless energy spent

Impassioned lovers wrestle as one
Lonely man cries for love and has none
New mother picks up and suckles her son
Senior citizens wish they were young

Cold hearted orb that rules the night
Removes the colours from our sight
Red is grey and yellow, white
But we decide which is right
And which is an illusion

So, what is this post about?

It’s about a car that is a bitch to pay for and could be a bitch to drive.

It’s about Eric Cartman, one of the great authority figures of our time.

It’s about the poetry of the Moody Blues.

It’s about needing to write something and just letting stuff pour onto the screen.

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