"As" - Is This The Greatest Love Song?

Mythic Red Rose Sprouting Ethereal Wings

 

"As"

 

This song was written by Stevie Wonder in 1976 as part of his critically acclaimed and Grammy winning album, "Songs in the Key of Life."  The album won "Album of the Year" and serves as Wonder's signature musical statement. While "As," as a single, only reached #24 on Billboard, it's message is timeless and has only grown in popularity and significance with the passage of time.

 

Wonder speaks of the incomprehensible love he has for his beloved. But, not only that, Wonder establishes the paradigm/model for the love humanity itself should embrace...heart to heart...person to person...family to family...nation to nation...race to race...gender to gender.

 

"As" has been covered by the likes of soul crooners Mary J. Blige and George Michael, jazz violinist Jean Luc-Ponty, jazz saxophonist Najee, and female R&B group Sister Sledge. But, listen as Stevie performs the greatest love song he EVER wrote...in my humble opinion.

 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjsAy7HFeX0

 



The song is most inspiring and serves as the North Star for what real love should aspire to be. It's how you want love...and how you want to be loved!!

 

But, the song is not just personal, it's existential. If I were on President Obama's staff, I would make "As" his "Presidential Theme" for the last year of his presidency.  It should be the song for which his administration is remembered. It captures his national/world vision and describes the fidelity his supporters have shown to that vision, his message, and his presidency.

 

Until a mythical red rose sprouts ethereal wings to fly...

 

Always!!





Madiba! - Oh, How The Caged Bird Sang!

Nelson "Madiba" Mandela - "South Africa's Greatest Son"
1918-2013

 

The great Maya Angelou penned her autobiographical novel, "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings,"  telling the world how a young, black girl growing up "imprisoned" by racial oppression, sexual degradation, extreme poverty, and low self-esteem can emerge from that "cage" to sing a song of victory.

 

The photo above shows Mandela emerging from a South African prison after 27 years...18 years spent in solitary confinement on the dreaded Robben Island. Mandela entered that South African prison as a struggling soloist, but he continued to stretch his vocal chords. In February 1990, he emerged as a virtuoso accompanied by a world chorus...and, oh how the "caged bird" sang.

Martin and Medgar were jailed; Malcolm and Steven Biko were imprisoned...yet, each emerged with a song in his heart. The aforementioned were all assassinated in the prime of their lives. But, after imprisonment, banishment, and being branded a terrorist by President Reagan and the United States government, Mandela lived long enough to comb grey hair...and became South Africa's first Black President.

I cannot fathom the sacrifice Mandela made to end the racist system of apartheid (apartness) in his country and change the consciousness of the world. But, the following excerpts give us a glimpse into the pain of being deprived the company of wife and family.

 

My dearest Winnie, 

I have been fairly successful in putting on a mask behind which I have pined for the family, alone, never rushing for the post when it comes until somebody calls out my name. I also never linger after visits although sometimes the urge to do so becomes quite terrible. I am struggling to suppress my emotions as I write this letter.

I have received only one letter since you were detained, that one dated August 22. I do not know anything about family affairs, such as payment of rent, telephone bills, care of children and their expenses, whether you will get a job when released. As long as I don't hear from you, I will remain worried and dry like a desert. 

I recall the Karoo I crossed on several occasions. I saw the desert again in Botswana on my way to and from Africa--endless pits of sand and not a drop of water. I have not had a letter from you. I feel dry like a desert. 

Letters from you and the family are like the arrival of summer rains and spring that liven my life and make it enjoyable. 

Whenever I write you, I feel that inside physical warmth, that makes me forget all my problems. I become full of love.

My dearest Winnie, 

Our daughters raised in hardship are grown women today. The first born has her own house and is raising her family. 

We couldn't fulfill our wishes, as we had planned, to have a baby boy. I had hoped to build you a refuge, no matter how small, so that we would have a place for rest and sustenance before the arrival of the sad, dry days. I fell down and couldn't do these things. I am as one building castles in the air.

My dearest Winnie, 

You looked really wonderful on 17/11, very much like the woman I married. There was color in your face. Gone was the choleric appearance and glazed look in your eyes when you are under pressure of over-dieting. As usual, I kept addressing you as Mum but my body kept telling me that a woman is sitting across this platform. I felt like singing, even if just to say Hallelujah!

 

 

Reading these excerpts are both heartbreaking and heartening. Heartbreaking because of the dire straits he was forced to endure, but heartening because he prevailed against the odds.  Mandela was Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, and MLK rolled into one. South Africans call him "Madiba." To the world, he was a Lion whose song became a roar!!

 

The Lion sleeps tonight, but his ROAR will echo for all time!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOeW3jBD0r8

Until we rendezvous...

Peace!!

 

"HAPPY" by Pharrell Williams

 

Not to be confused with Joy or Contentment, nonetheless, being Happy is a real good thing!  That said, I'm really feeling this new music video by Pharrell called, "Happy."

It's fly...it's dope...and, it's a real mood booster!

 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6Sxv-sUYtM 

 

BTW, Pharrell is an underappreciated creative genius.


Until we rendezvous...

 

 

Peace!!

Random Thoughts...Random Thanks!!!

 

...or, should I say Non-Random Thanks?

 

 

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday!!

 

Maybe because it's so simple and unpretentious...

 

Family, friends, good food, good drink, good conversation, good vibrations...

 

It doesn't come covered in overt religious raiment or adorned with material expectations...

 

 

Whether in word or deed, everyone is gathered to simply say, "Thank you!"

 

"THANK YOU!"

 

One simple phrase...Two small words...Eight elegant letters...Multitudinous meaning...

 

Noted author Brett Blumenthal said, "Gratitude is an expression of love."

 

Indeed.

 

Gratitude is an expression of love "to whom" and "for whom" you are thankful. But, it's also expresses the love of LIFE itself...and the innumerable opportunities which life has presented and continues to present.

 

The operative term in Blumenthal's quote is "expression."

 

Gratitude must be expressed to be effective! And, that expression ought to be heartfelt.

 

I am thankful on this and EVERYDAY for my health, the wealth of friendship, family, my beautiful children, dear loved ones, steady employment,  liberty, freedom of expression...and too many things and people to list them all.

 

I credit everything that I am and will become to the wondrous people who "invested in me when there was no expectation of return on their investment" and loved me when I was most unlovable. To you, I am forever indebted.

 

                                             THANK YOU!

 

                                                       THANK YOU!

 

                                                                 THANK YOU!

 

Today, my "Thanks" are not random.

 

They are targeted with laser-like specificity.

 

Because of YOU, in this season of Thanksgiving, I am OVERJOYED!!!

 

 





 

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=faD3YF0zhNg

 

Until we rendezvous...

 

Peace!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



 

 

 

 

 



272 Words that Changed the World!!!

President Abraham Lincoln
Haggard and Emaciated from the Ravages of the Civil War

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

 

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

 

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow -- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here.

It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

 

Abraham Lincoln
November 19, 1863

Lincoln spoke these words in dedication of the 51,112 men who closed their eyes for the last time on that Pennsylvania battlefield. Most of those men, Union and Confederate, had been rescued from hastily-dug shallow graves and buried properly on "Cemetery Hill" by ten Black men hired to perform the gruesome task. It was upon "Cemetery Hill" that Lincoln cast his spell.

The President was accompanied to Gettysburg by his personal valet, William H. Johnson. Johnson , a free Black man from Springfield, Illinois, was likely the only person to hear Lincoln's speech before he addressed  the assembled mass.

As was customary for the time, several very long speeches were delivered prior to Lincoln's. At only 272 words, one might say Lincoln's address was a 19th Century "tweet." But ahhh, the brevity!  Therein lies the genius! In less than three minutes, Lincoln had encapsulated the quintessence of American Demorcacy. He had recalled the Nation to its raison d'etre.

 

One of the most basic differences between Conservatives and Progressives is revealed in the first six words of this speech, "Four score and seven years ago..." Basic math will reveal that Lincoln references back to 1776, the year of the Declaration of Independence. While Conservatives give "pride of place" to the U.S. Constitution which became effective in 1789, Progressives adore the Declaration. Why? Because, while the U.S. Constitution condoned Slavery, the Declaration was "conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal."

 

Lincoln's Gettysburg address has been studied and memorized the world over. It was the "tweet" heard round the world. It declared that Union victory in the Civil War would usher in a "new birth of freedom." It declared to the world that this Nation, and its experiment with Democracy would not be derailed by the misguided ideals of the Confederacy..."and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."

 

It has required plenty of struggle, but "ooh, ooh, child" things continue to get brighter!

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yrotsEzgEpg

Until we rendezvous...

Peace!!




 

Gregory Porter Resists "Musical Genocide"

When Gregory Porter's "Water" broke, he birthed a musical  child that convinced us to also "Be Good." Now, that child is pouring out its "Liquid Spirit" and doing so in a way that blesses us all. 

 

In a February blog post on "GP," I exhausted my vocabulary in praise of this immense and extraordinary talent.  So, rather than bore you with facile and incredibly inadequate descriptions of his latest offering "Liquid Spirit," just check this out.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXRP-cRkeVc

...and check this LIVE performance of "Musical Genocide."

 

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBSAdbgqsUQ

 

All sunshine...no shade...This cat is DOPE!!!

 

 

Until we rendezvous...

 

 

Peace!!

Black Men...Black Women...Unite!

We are often at odds while finding our place in this world...as lovers...partners...colleagues...brothers/sisters...fathers/daughters...mothers/sons...husbands/wives...as individuals.

 

Black man shot...Black woman raped...Black man imprisoned...Black woman sexually degraded...Black man facing unemployment...Black woman facing the glass ceiling...Black male rapper/misogynistic lyrics...Black female singer/sexually degrading poses...young Black male dropouts...young Black female college graduates....pimps up/hoes down...and on and on and on...

 

We must LISTEN to one another and STOP comparing grievances!! It's not white supremacy OR male patriarchy. Perhaps, it's BOTH operating in tandem. Life is hard, and it's harder when a community is divided. It's going to take love, understanding, and personal discipline to overcome our challenges.

 

Listen to Nina Simone, in her own unique voice, make the case from a Black woman's point of view.  Just listen...just listen...just listen.

 

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLiBYiostOU

 

 

Until we rendezvous...

 

 

Peace!!