Heigh-Ho/Whistle While You Work

This is part of another man’s story.

     *     *     *

He was laid off from work and he greeted the freedom with ambition.

——I’m free to do all those things I’ve been meaning to do! This is the life for me.

He was positively beaming.

It turns out that his ambition had a one-to-one relationship with his bank funds. As money went by, it became time to search for work.

In the time of searching for work and subsequently failing to find work, he came to develop a very healthy appreciation for work.

——Work is good.
The world needs work.
I want to work in the world!

He said.

When he finally did get a new job he put on his miner’s hat, grabbed his coal-bustin pick and whistled to work every day.

——Oh wondrous fortune, for what caused you to turn on me this day!

He proclaimed skyward—not understanding the reason for his sudden change of fate. During the many moons prior to that day, he had been passed over by a dozen other employers.

——But I am the same man as I have always been…

He claimed inward.

But after a couple of months, well, he started to understand that coal was not a renewable, clean energy source, and frankly, the ethics of the situation were covered in soot—it was getting hard to breathe.

The ambition to make a difference and discontent with his circumstance still lingered. In order to make a difference, the kind of difference that mattered, he would need to be free. So while he whistled to work, it was a pirate’s life for him.

The sooner he figures that out, I reckon, the better off he’ll be.

Artist: Brian Wilson
Song: Heigh-Ho / Whistle While You Work
Album: In The Key Of Disney
Year: 2011

Silence of Time

I have a playlist into which songs go and rarely come out. I call it *Playlist so that it floats to the top of my iTunes. It is into this list that I put songs that stand out to me, and it is from this list that I pick songs to share with you: everyone and no one.

I have posted Yellow Magic Orchestra (YMO) before and I will likely post them again in the future; however, this is Not YMO (written as YMO). They lost the right to use their original name because it was owned by their original publisher. What did the publisher hope to gain, I wonder. Release an album by “Yellow Magic Orchestra” with none of the original members/writers? That trick only works in the game industry.

Artist: YMO (Yukihiro Takahashi, Ryuichi Sakamoto & Haruomi Hosono)
Song: Silence of Time
Album: Technodon
Year: 1993

Hey Girl, Come And Get It

I realize that unless I have written new music or I’m on a Great Adventure, I just can’t bring myself to throw something down here—I’m not a fan of litter.

But there is that constant desire to share something. That’s a silent killer.

I’m dying inside, so until I epiphanize I will post brilliant music that feels like the stuff I ought to be sharing from within myself. Today it’s Van McCoy & The Soul City Symphony: Hey Girl, Come And Get It.

Artist: Van McCoy & The Soul City Symphony
Song: Hey Girl, Come and Get It
Album: Disco Baby
Year: 1975

Thursday May 19 Update On Monday November 14

My wife had kindly pointed out to me that my piano playing lacked finesse, grace and in fact sounded like I was just mashing the keys.

—Like a six-year-old.

The emotions were lost, the passion dead.

—I mean, it’s amazing that you made it, but it sounds bad.

Why didn’t you tell me this before I posted it?!

—I didn’t think you were finished.

At her I store steely-eyed as I cried secretly. She was right, however, and after I stepped down from pride rock I got to work. I have taken the revisionist approach to history and removed all instances of the old recordings. If you are so inclined, I invite you to listen one more time to Thursday May 19.

Domo.