When my sister's first son was born (my first nephew), I framed the lyrics to this song for her, and him.
My own son turns 4 today, and I turn to this special little obscurity (at least, I've never had anyone mention the track to me) to think about my boy.
We all wish for amazing things for our kids---great achievements, thrilling adventures. But sometimes its good to return to the thought that praying for simple things like easy times and good friends are more likely to, in the end, give our children the kind of life and happiness we so fervently wish for them.
May your back be straight and your fingers ten
My your cup be full when you say when
May your parents be so that they always let you grow
And may your heart be so pure its one that God wants to know
May your schooling be good, and if its not
May the times be easy and you still smart
May your friendships be so that they almost feel like home
And your heart be so pure its one that God wants to know
And may you have the joy of passing something on
Like the laugh of your father or the courage of your mom
But if that never happens and you end up alone
May your heart be so pure its one that God wants to know
I spent a lot of the weekend rolling thoughts around in my head about what I might write for Memorial Day.
Back on Veteran's Day last year, I was scrolling through Facebook, and lots of friends had posted a status about their thoughts on Veteran's Day. Some, as you might expect, expressed straightforward thanks. Others used their line to make a pro-America statement. And some wrote of their discomfort with the glorification of war and of their distaste for jingoism.
None of the statements fully reflected how I felt. But you can't expect a lot of complexity from the limited number of characters in a Facebook status line.
For me, my thoughts and feelings about Memorial Day, War and Veterans are complex at best, incommunicable at worst.
How to you wrap up the idea that War is bad, but maybe necessary; that I am against killing, but that defense (and sometime offense) is not indefensible; that sacrifice is noble, but blind sacrifice may not be.
Is there a song that I could post that could tackle these big issues?
No. There isn't.
So I went in the other direction. Small.
When thinking about songs and Veterans and how to memorialize them, I kept coming back to a couple of songs by Scott Miller. They seemed appropriate because they were songs set during The Civil War---and Memorial Day was originally a day to specifically remember Civil War losses (it wasn't until after World War I that the holiday was in honor of all war losses).
"Dear Sarah" was a song that Scott wrote after reading some of the letters that an ancestor of his, had written to his wife, while on the front lines of the Civil War.
And on the album "And Thus Always To Tyrants," "Dear Sarah" is followed immediately by "Highland County Boy," sung from the perspective of a youngest son who is left to tend the farm while his brothers go off to fight and die in that War.
Today there will be big speeches and ceremonies and parades and salutes and thanks (and many, many people who pay no attention of any of this while they barbeque). But Memorial Day is strangely devoid of bitterness.
I posted these song today, because, in a very non-political, under-the-surface way, these two songs (especially the latter), talk about the human cost of War---the loss of loved ones, the separation of families, the hard, hard physical toll---and the bitterness it leaves behind.
So today others will ask you to think Big, maybe about Patriotism, or Pacifism, or Service. I'm asking you to listen to these songs, and to think about Memorial Day in terms of just a single person, and see where that leads you.
The songs in the videos are recorded live, but you can go to Scott's site to stream the full album versions. Check out the lyrics here and here.
I'm the Program and Music Director of mvyradio, a broadcast and internet station on the Island of Martha's Vineyard. You can hear it here.
I've been in radio since the early 90s, programming shows. As Music Director, I receive dozens of CDs and songs every week, from Record Labels, Promotion People and Independent Artists. I try to listen to everything anyone asks me to.
So the old iTunes list is pretty long.
The idea of this blog is to go to that list, grab one (usually at random, but not always) and write about it. Every song has a story. How it fits into the artists oeuvre. What it meant to me when I first heard it.
I'll try to post the song in full, whenever possible, and I invite you to listen and tell me what it makes you think of.
And for more great music, you can stream mvyradio from anywhere in the world, here.
