Posted 5-1-20
Hi all! Happy May Day!! The weekend is much closer than the end of this article will seem. 😉 Hope and trust you are ok. 🙂 In the Ozarks, we are looking at sunny weather the next two days with highs in the high 70s/low 80s…then the required thunderstorms Sunday as payback for the nice days. Try to get out and enjoy the weather wherever you are! (maintaining social distancing prudently of course.) Lay on your back and stare up at the clouds and dream a little…
So…I was just singing along as I drove home yesterday and heard one of my favorite songs again…and it really struck home. Music can do that. Art can do that too. A good movie…some can really do that too… Man, this one really struck yesterday, after a long day of work and family stuff. (Parental advisory (lol)…these guys are not Christian and some of their lyrics can be offensive. Parental Guidance is suggested/encouraged. Also, if you don’t like their beat, just read the lyrics below. Their lyrics are excellent. Set them to some Frank Sinatra in your mind if it helps. 🙂
Behold, “Stressed Out” by the always lyrically interesting and super-talented group Twenty One Pilots:
I wish I found some better sounds no one’s ever heard
I wish I had a better voice that sang some better words
I wish I found some chords in an order that is new
I wish I didn’t have to rhyme every time I sang
I was told when I get older all my fears would shrink
But now I’m insecure and I care what people think
My name’s Blurryface and I care what you think
My name’s Blurryface and I care what you think
Wish we could turn back time, to the good old days
When our momma sang us to sleep but now we’re stressed out
Wish we could turn back time, to the good old days
When our momma sang us to sleep but now we’re stressed out
We’re stressed out
Sometimes a certain smell will take me back to when I was young
How come I’m never able to identify where it’s coming from
I’d make a candle out of it if I ever found it
Try to sell it, never sell out of it, I’d probably only sell one
It’d be to my brother, ’cause we have the same nose
Same clothes homegrown a stone’s throw from a creek we used to roam
But it would remind us of when nothing really mattered
Out of student loans and tree-house homes we all would take the latter
My name’s Blurryface and I care what you think
My name’s Blurryface and I care what you think
Wish we could turn back time, to the good old days
When our momma sang us to sleep but now we’re stressed out
Wish we could turn back time, to the good old days
When our momma sang us to sleep but now we’re stressed out
We used to play pretend, give each other different names
We would build a rocket ship and then we’d fly it far away
Used to dream of outer space but now they’re laughing at our face
Saying, “Wake up, you need to make money”
Yeah
We used to play pretend, give each other different names
We would build a rocket ship and then we’d fly it far away
Used to dream of outer space but now they’re laughing at our face
Saying, “Wake up, you need to make money”
Yeah
Wish we could turn back time, to the good old days
When our momma sang us to sleep but now we’re stressed out
Wish we could turn back time, to the good old days
When our momma sang us to sleep but now we’re stressed out
Used to play pretend, used to play pretend, bunny
We used to play pretend, wake up, you need the money
Used to play pretend, used to play pretend, bunny
We used to play pretend, wake up, you need the money
We used to play pretend, give each other different names
We would build a rocket ship and then we’d fly it far away
Used to dream of outer space but now they’re laughing at our face
Saying, “Wake up, you need to make money”
YeahSource: LyricFind
This song is perhaps much more a modern anthem to high school and college kids today (who have extremely stressful lives…) than it is late 40s flunkies like me, but it certainly strikes a chord in my world. Please be kind to those younger than you. Their challenges are unique. When we would pick on someone in school, there may be a dozen folks see it and it was sad, but pretty isolated. Now when they pick on each other (bully), a million could see. Lots of social media stressors. Their unique pressures, some of which ($25T national debt for one…) were caused by our generations. We need them…and they need us. Let’s get a long, love each other, and stop with the name calling (Boomer! and Snowflake! come to mind)
Consider the following lyrics:
“I was told when I get older all my fears would shrink
But now I’m insecure and I care what people think”
Boy, howdy…did we lie on that one!?! Thank you social media and modern living… Fears don’t shrink. They really expand. Insecurity grows as you age, at least in some situations. I think we just get better at hiding insecurity and/or overcoming it, but it lurks. Maybe it is just that we are even more aware? I am not sure…I just know that they exist in my world. However, much of the rest of growing older is fine and quite fun.
“Wish we could turn back time, to the good old days
When our momma sang us to sleep but now we’re stressed kept out” (Sorry…a Shawshank Re;Dementia lament…)
I am an adult. I am a very strong person in many, many ways. However, I do miss the good ole days when there wasn’t a care in the world beyond being tucked in. I don’t remember, specifically, mom singing me/us to sleep. I do remember the sounds of mom and dad in the living room belly-laughing to Johnny Carson/Saturday Night Live and, when I heard those sounds, I knew that all was ok in the world.
“Sometimes a certain smell will take me back to when I was young
How come I’m never able to identify where it’s coming from
I’d make a candle out of it if I ever found it
Try to sell it, never sell out of it, I’d probably only sell one”
Oh my!..how smells do remind me of important events. Examples:
Apple Pie: Grandma Applegate, possibly the best cook to ever live, all while cooking on a single burner and a three wick candle.
Cigarettes: Riding in our car with the itchy back seat and minimal AC with one or both parents smoking…like everyone else did in the 70s. They stopped later in life.
Chlorine: Swimming at the YMCA
Popcorn: Cheap movie day at the Battlefield Mall on Saturdays while mom worked at the piano/organ store. Runner up: stringing popcorn at Christmas with mom.
Chili Dogs: When I found out at Tastee Freez that my parents were getting a divorce.
Hay: My one attempt to haul hay for a living in my early teen years. Being allergic to hay (and to very hard work) made me see the light…
Raw potatoes: Gardening as kids with our folks. Also, the crawl space where we kept our potatoes long-term.
Burning hair: A deadly wreck I saw the results of in the late 70s/early 80s in Oklahoma.
Grape soda: Trips with family to my Uncle’s property. He had hundreds and hundreds of acres in Douglas County, Mo. We hunted snakes, fished a lot, rode in the bucket of their backhoe, rode bikes, and just played…We always ate outside on the grill and it was my first time drinking grape soda.
Formaldehyde: Dissecting frogs in science class.
Hickory and Funnel Cakes: Silver Dollar City. ’nuff said.
I am not sure these would make good candles, but they made strong memories, for sure. 😉
(Re: selling one candle) “It’d be to my brother, ’cause we have the same nose
Same clothes homegrown a stone’s throw from a creek we used to roam
But it would remind us of when nothing really mattered
Out of student loans and tree-house homes we all would take the latter”
Hand-me-down clothes and mending clothes and garage sales…check. Mom kept all of the plates spinning. Also…Steve and I used to frequent Terrell Creek in those early days. Grab a cardboard oil can of worms from Three Gables gas station just down the street and head to the creek!
I agree…tree house homes are sounding great these days…and student loans…not so much.
“We used to play pretend, give each other different names
We would build a rocket ship and then we’d fly it far away
Used to dream of outer space but now they’re laughing at our face
Saying, “Wake up, you need to make money”
Yeah“
Where did the dreaming go, folks? The pretending? I know where! We are too busy to dream. Too busy making money so we can buy more and more so we need to make more and more. Take some time to dream! Mom is/was a dreamer before the her dementia came. I used to be a dreamer too…I used to dream of rockets, space, the ocean, mountains…now, not much. I need to fix life up so that I can again…and you likely do too.
Making up names…yup. I was Iggy in 5th grade. Tracy was Ralph. Kristen H. was Max. It seemed like we all had made-up names…. If you are from my hometown and you did this in 5th grade, what was your name? (Why do I only remember the pretty girl’s made up names?)
Great song. Great lyrics. I am not a rap guy, but it works.
My name’s not Blurryface and but I care what you think…tell me in the comments below. 😉
Update: Videochatted with mom today with my siblings. She was happy, as she often is, and seemed to like to see us. 🙂 Visited quite a while with by cabin-fever stepdad too. He is doing well although he also misses going. He went over 1500 times (3x per day for 1.5 years)…and now is nearing 50 days going. He understands, but it is hard. We have to at least consider bringing her home as do many, many in the same situation. She is no longer in danger or a flight risk…and nursing homes get hit hard a lot by COVID-19. Lots to consider… SeniorAge, the Area Agency on Aging who employees me, has resources and options that could help. BTW…they are feeding an extra 20,000 meals worth of folks a week right now and a big part their funding was CUT by our state (because of a balanced budget amendment’s restraint). There has never been a better time to make a tax-deductible contribution. Don’t feel obligated at all…I know these are hard times…but if you have some extra coin/cashish/greenbacks/moolah, it will help many, many, many seniors. 🙂
Well………Another week in the can. I am going to make a conscious effort to dream some this weekend. Will you join me?
-Mark
#EndALZ
2 Billion view…not too shabby.
