Ruby Tuesday

How's this for a rockin' 13?

Tomorrow Never Knows (Beatles 1966).

This song reminds me of floating down the Colorado River for half an hour at the conclusion of my eight-day rafting trip in the Grand Canyon. One of the most memorable 30 minutes of my life. Turn off your mind, relax and float down stream. It is not dying. It is not dying.

Satisfaction (Stones 1965).

At least Mick did this in his halftime show.

I Can See For Miles (The Who 1967).

They didn't include this in their Super Bowl Halftime Show.

Stairway to Heaven (Led Zeppelin 1971).

And she's buying a stairway to heaven.

White Room (Cream 1968).

You said no strings could secure you at the station.

Foxy Lady (Jimi Hendrix 1967).

Oh yeah.

Sloop John B (Beach Boys 1966).

Ah, adolescence.

Somebody to Love (Jefferson Airplane 1966).

Don't you need somebody to love?

Bette Davis Eyes (Kim Carnes 1981).



Back Door Man (Doors 1967).

I eat more chicken than any man ever seen.

My Hometown (Bruce Springstein 1984).

He'd tousle my hair and say, "Son, take a good look around, this is your home town."

I love that image.

Anything off Korn's Life is Peachy album (1996).

This one's for Johnny.

With or Without You (U2 1987).

I can't live with or without you.

That one's for Danny. And there you have it. This was hard.

Sunday Sunday

What to do on a lazy Sunday? Update my profile!

Betcha don't read other bloggers' profile pages. Well, I do.

I've previously updated every of my profile category for this year except for Favorite Music. Operating on the Baker's Dozen scale, these have been my past choices:

2007 (Singles) A Day in the Life (Beatles); Sympathy for the Devil (Stones); When the Music's Over (Doors); Badge (Cream); Time Has Come Today (Chambers Brothers); Purple Haze (Jimi); California Dreamin' (Mamas & Papas); Get Together (Youngbloods); Born To Be Wild (Steppenwolf); Thriller (MJ); Father Figure (George Michael); Kokomo (Beach Boys).

2008 (Albums) Sgt. Pepper (Beatles); Let It Bleed (Stones); Who's Next; The Doors: Man With Sticks (Led Zeppelin); Layla (Derrick & the Dominos); Are You Experienced (Jimi); Mamas & Papas First; Surrealistic Pillow (Jefferson Airplane); A Whiter Shade of Pale (Procol Harum); Concert for Bangladesh; Life Is Peachy (Korn); Parachutes (Coldplay).

2009 (back to singles) A Horse with No Name (America); Dance to the Music (Sly); Heroin (Lou Reed); Hey Joe (Love); House of the Rising Sun (Animals); Light My Fire (Doors); Sad & Deep As You (Traffic); To Sir With Love (1967!); While My Guitar Gently Weeps (Beatles); Whole Lotta Love (Led Zeppelin); You Can't Always Get What You Want (Stones); Twist (Hey Johnny!); Where the Streets Have No Name (live long & prosper Danny).

This year's Baker's Dozen, soon. You try listing your 12 favorite songs ever, and see how extended your page becomes.

You Can't Always Get What You Want

I find myself lately telling a lot of people I'm 57 now. As if that's an excuse for no longer having a plan in place to be able to run a sub-21 minute 5K, or a sub-46 minute 10K.

It's true that my mantra of running five times a week is harder now than it was when I was in my 40s. I find myself taking analgesics for more than their blood-thinning qualities. (I started taking aspirin to address my elevated blood pressure.)

I think back to the olden times. Last year I listed the 10 best albums (don't know what an album is?) ever on my profile page. The best of the best is Let It Bleed by the Rolling Stones.

My musical taste stopped in about 1971, my sophomore year at CU-Boulder just before I dropped out of school to work as a committed 20-year old for the McGovern campaign. You probably don't know who George McGovern is.

These days, we're trying to get past the "mess" that the Decider/Bird Hunter/Rummy/Condi and Yoo-the-quaint left us with. Back in the 70s, we were stuck with getting past the mess that LBJ left us with, which gave us those crooks Nixon and Agnew. Nixon killed McGovern in 1972, which turned me into a cynic, a trait that received its vindication in 2004. (It was the Pogo comic strip which said, We have met the enemy, and they are us.)

Anyway, the Stones came out in 1969 with an album (CD), Let It Bleed, that Rolling Stone magazine described at the time as a fin-de-siecle masterpiece. At the end of the 60s, the convergence of the antiwar (Vietnam) movement and the civil rights movement promoted profound changes in American society and produced extraordinary results.

I would call Let It Bleed an era-changing masterpiece. I still listen to it all the time. It's my rock-solid mantra that you can't always get what you want, but you get what you need. That's how life goes. And the LP (CD) contains one of my favorite songs of all time, Gimme Shelter. War is just a shot away. So what do we have left from here before the next really big war happens? 20 years? 40? Did I tell you I'm a cynic?

Yeah, we all need someone we can dream on.