Hi everyone.  Hope you are all well and continue to stay that way during this global health crisis we are facing.  But in addition to protecting your physical wellness, what are you doing to stay mentally healthy today?

(Image found online.  Original source unknown.)

I know we are still facing a serious situation but a new year gives us hope for the new days, seasons, opportunities & moments ahead. Still, music is something that will never change for me. It is my refuge, the most comforting part of my life & the one thing I consistently count on. So until a more normal semblance of life returns, I am going to share a song I listen to that helps me escape the current state of things, if only for a few minutes each day. And if this helps anyone else, even better.

I was raised in a home with a very progressive grandmother. However, that did not mean she was open to everything. And while I was fully immersed in my teenage music addiction, she stepped in with the kiss of death: censorship.

Two albums prompted this course of action. The first was by my great musical love, Eric Clapton. The first time I put “Slowhand” on the stereo, she questioned why I would listen to someone exalting the benefits of “Cocaine”. I thought telling her he did not write the song would be enough to ease her mind. It only begged the question “Was he too high to write it?”

I skipped to the next song which was “Wonderful Tonight”. No problem. But when I was singing along to track three (“Lay Down Sally”), once again she became irritated. She demanded I turn off a song that was clearly “suggestive”. And let me just add that when your 65 year old grandmother uses a word like that, it conjures up images that are horrifying. From that point on, I listened to Clapton in my room alone.

Not long after that debacle I was starting to explore Neil Young’s rock side so I borrowed a copy of his second solo album from a friend. Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere, which was released 52 years ago today on May 1, 1969 featured the song, “Down By The River”. Admittedly, I found the subject matter disturbing. A man singing about killing the woman he loved was not the stuff songs were made of in my world. But I got completely swept up in Young’s mesmerizing guitar riffs until my grandmother’s screams snapped me out of my musical reverie.

A conversation about whether or not I was using drugs ensued followed by who was more disturbed-a person who expressed such a terrifying thought in a song or the person (read: me) who listened to it. Thinking I was helping the situation, I pointed out to my grandmother that when Young referred to shooting his “baby”, it was not his child but rather his girlfriend. It did not take long for me to see that only made things a million times worse.

Threats of taking my records away & removing the stereo from the house were mentioned as was a lecture from my father when he got home about how my musical choices could be harmful to my five year old brother. The phrase “Too bad military schools do not accept girls” was also batted around. My grandmother monitored my listening choices for the next several weeks which consisted mostly of my Bruce Springsteen records that she enjoyed as much as I did. Soon life took over and another crisis emerged so my indiscretion eventually became old news.

But my love for Neil Young never subsided and today’s song from that same album became my favorite track from the record. And at least this tune does not conjure up memories of the brief period in my life when my house turned into a deleted scene from the movie “Footloose”.

“Ten silver saxes
A bass with a bow
The drummer relaxes
And waits between shows“.

(Image found online.  Original source unknown.)

Neil Young: “Cinnamon Girl” (1969, written by Neil Young).

I do not own the rights to anything.  I am just sharing what I love and how I am coping with you.

Stay well.