All Together Now
Yellow Submarine
Octopus's Garden
The Beatles' foray into children's songs

B'wana She No Home
The Carpenters' foray into jazz-fusion style pop

Copacabana
Barry Manilow's foray into disco

Do Ya Think I'm Sexy?
Rod Stewart's foray into disco

A Poor Man's Roses (Or A Rich Man's Gold)
Patti Page's foray into rock and roll

D'yer Mak'er
Led Zeppelin's foray into reggae

Shimmy Shimmy Ko-Ko-Bop
Little Anthony & The Imperials' foray into the novelty song

You're The Reason I'm Living
18 Yellow Roses
Bobby Darin's foray into country music

If I Were A Carpenter
Bobby Darin's foray into fold-rock

Looking For Clues
Robert Palmer's foray into techno-pop/new wave

Wild Honey
The Beach Boys' foray into psychedelic

Their Satanic Majesty's Request (Album)
The Rolling Stones' foray into psychedelic

Watch The Flowers Grow
The Four Season's foray into "sunshine pop"/psychedelic

Who Will Answer?
Ed Ames' foray into topical/social commentary songs

Child Of Clay
Jimmie Rodgers' foray into topical/social commentary songs

Say You'll Stay Until Tomorrow
Tom Jones' foray into country music

Porpoise Song
Tapioca Tundra
The Monkees' foray into psychedelic

Follow Your Daughter Home
The Guess Who's foray into Carribean pop style

Soolaimon
Neil Diamond's foray into African-influenced style pop

Son Of A Preacher Man
Dusty Springfield's foray into "blue-eyed soul"

Don't Blame The Children
Sammy Davis Jr.'s foray into topical/social commentary songs

Unwind
Mr. Businessman
Ray Stevens' foray into topical/ social commentary songs and being a more serious singer-songwriter

Let  Your Love Go
Bread's foray into a more aggressive rock style

The Big Battle
The Ballad Of Ira Hayes
What Is Truth?
Johnny Cash's foray into topical/social commentary songs

What Goes On (Beatles)
Act Naturally (Beatles)
Beaucoups Of Blues
Ringo Starr's foray into country music

She Was Only Seventeen (He Was One Year More)
Marty Robbins' foray into "doo-wop"

Get a Job
The Mills Brothers' version was their foray into both rock and roll and doo-wop

What Color Is A Man?
Bobby Vinton's foray into topical/social commentary songs

Master Blaster Jammer
Stevie Wonder's foray into reggae

Dandelion
The Rolling Stones' foray into children's songs (sort of)

Hey, Bobba Needle
Chubby Checker's foray into folk/pop

Coming On Too Strong
Wayne Newton's foray into "mod"-style pop/rock

The Tide Is High
Blondie's foray into Latin rhythm influenced fare

You know how they use the term "dick" to refer to male detectives?
What term do they use to refer to female detectives?  "Pussy-cat"?

All our lives we've been told we "just have to get used to the ways of the world"
I have a thought:  How about if the world would just get used to OUR ways for a change?  Let IT be the one to compromise itself for once? 

                       Boundary Lines Wanted
Lately they've been tearing down long-standing structures and erecting elaborate multi-functional apartment buildings in their place---the kind with luxury units that go for $1500/mo and up, obviously catering to the upper crust of the citizenry.

And every one of these grandiose structures include commercial establishments on the ground-level floors---fast-food restaurants (like Wendy's, White Castle, Popeye's Chicken); department stores (like TARGET); service stores (like STAPLES, AMAZON); pharmacies (like Walgreens, CVS)
...you kind of get the idea.

Now, without making any statements or comments about how catering to the better-off of society displaces those of us on the lower level of the totem pole, I will mention how uneasy I am by the "run on" mindset so prevalent in today's society.  The disregard for sensible and sacred boundaries.  The way everything under the sun is available on one's smartphone, from music to shopping to withdrawing money from one's bank account, all online.  The way one can't even take a city bus ride from one end of a metropolitan area to another without being bombarded by commercials for online colleges and financial institutions offering "special rates on home refinancing".  As if television and radio is no longer sufficient for these shameless advertisers.

Things were much better when each business and institution had their own structures from which to operate.  When shows came on television, when music was enjoyed on the radio or home stereo or by singing or playing a musical instrument.  When one had to pick up a book, magazine, or newspaper in order to have something to read (outside of billboards, store fronts, and matchboxes).

Everything in their proper place.  None of this "all eggs in one basket" in a "one size fits all" social climate like we have now.  It's all become too much like the sound of the upstairs tenant's stereo or TV bleeding through into your unit (whether because of high volume level or the walls and ceiling being too thin).

Everywhere you go it's all multi-function, unrelated elements all thrown together.
No-one or nothing are allowed their own rightful place anymore.

 With the demise of Caribou Coffee
who is now "the kingpin of establishments featuring the most indistinguishable pop style music in the history of mankind"?

Enter Brueggers Bagels.
The official torch-bearing establishment of the "I-never-heard-that-song-before-anytime-in-the-course-of-my-lifetime.  In-fact-I-don't-even-have-any-idea-WHO-it-is-I'm-even-hearing" offerings in piped-in oral consumptive serenading.

They even pipe this forgettable fluff into their restrooms.  Enjoy!!

                                                  Musing For Today
Authority can be quite militant.
Any kind of authority---police, employers, landlords, parents, teachers, store managers.

For example, apartment complexes whose management tags on an extra $15 "late fee" for rent payment more than 10 days late.  Or even initiating eviction proceedings against those two weeks or more behind on their current rent.

To say nothing about the underhanded tactics of credit card companies.
Or of ATM fees.  Or utility companies and THEIR penalty fees for late payment of bills.

It's paradoxical that a lot of otherwise legitimate businesses and agencies often behave a lot like loan sharks, extortionists, and just all-around gangsters.

                                         Musing For Today
My whole existence has been one of "unfinished business".  A bastion of incompleteness.

When I was growing up I took up flute, and then piano.
Alas, I quit the flute first.  Then, later, the piano.  I was too much of a casual listener of music, and couldn't stand to hear it "dissected" and "broken up into" its basic underlying components.  I could only deal with the "finished product".
Well, to become an actual musician, one has to take it one step at a time ...practicing scales and chords, then gradually working your way up to simple sonatas and the like.  I was much too impatient for all that, so ...
...I would never become a musician as a result.

Then high school ...
...unfinished there as well.   I did get a G.E.D. though.  "Better than zero" I guess ...

Then the Navy ...
...made it through Boot Camp (barely)
...then managed to get dropped from the Service School I was assigned to afterwards.
Got assigned to a Naval fleet.
Eleven-and-a-half months in I was handed an administrative Honorable Discharge due to being "incompatible with military service".  Since it wasn't for any kind of bad behavior or major violation of military laws I was still handed an Honorable Discharge (but, I'm sure, with code numbers indicating my being ineligible for reenlistment).

...then I went on to become a "chronic college flunky".   All attempts at higher education ended up with my "throwing in the towel" when things got too confusing.

And now---decades later ...
...here I am, with a blog site.  One of my few "success stories".  An outlet for expressing my attitudes, viewpoints, personal prejudices, idiomatic opinions and perspectives.
Please, Blogger, whatever else you may do, don't ever dispense with the notion of respecting the First Amendment rights of your users.  I can't afford another failure.

Notable Songs Whose Themes Are Obvious

Ohio
Crosby Stills Nash and Young
About the May 1970 Kent State shooting

Keep On Pushing
Impressions
Paying homage to the 1963 March on Washington

Happy Jack
Who
About a schoolkid who's obviously impervious to all manners of vicious bullying by fellow classmates

Sounds of Silence
Simon and Garfunkel
Disdain for the fact that clinical laws and rules, perfunctory rituals, superficial small talk, and shameless commercialism of anything and everything has to be the norm of civilizations.  No intimacy allowed.

Imagine
John Lennon
Utopian fantasies about how life would be in the perfect world---which, of course, could never exist in reality.
Even Lennon himself could never live up to the ideals expressed in this song.

Positively 4th Street
Bob Dylan
Making an upfront bold and blunt statement to a two-faced former friend wherein the protagonist states in no uncertain terms how he really feels and what he really thinks about this person.

Green Door
Jim Lowe
The pain of running across others with whom you have something in common only to have them reject you for the high crime of "being an outsider".

Morning Dew
Lulu
About a dialogue between two survivors of a nuclear holocaust during which, upon hearing the dying last breaths and moans of another immediate survivor, they choose to ignore and disavow his existence and presence as there's nothing they can do to either save him or comfort him anyway.

Journey to the Center of the Mind
Amboy Dukes
Encourages indulging in reflective narcissism.

People Are Strange
Doors
The way life is experienced from the perspective of the outsider, outcast, and lone individual.

Skip A Rope
Henson Cargill
Calling the "average Joe/Jane" on the carpet for their obvious hypocrisies.

Raised on Robbery
Joni Mitchell
Taking a stab at "female privilege".
She's certainly written her fair share of feminist themed songs as well, taking stabs at "male privilege".

I've Gotta Get A Message To You
Bee Gees
About a death-row inmate attempting to send a last-minute message to his wife/lover/former lover/mother/sister (or whoever) on the day of his scheduled execution.

Lady Jane 
Rolling Stones
A song about marijuana in disguise, using names of "mistresses" as metaphors.

Smackwater Jack
Carole King
About an active shooter

Timothy
Buoys
About trapped miners who end up resorting to cannibalism in a desperate attempt at self-preservation.

Tar and Cement
Verdelle Smith
Harbinger of the perils of continued development via desecration of natural habitats and resources.

That's The Way I've Always Heard It Should Be
Carly Simon
An upper-middle-class bred vicarious "free spirit" who dreads having to "sell out" to the ethos of the tradition of conventional marriage, and how she's seen that not all personality types necessarily benefit from following through on collective traditions and conventions.

Do It Again
Steely Dan
How some addictions are strong enough to hold the addict captive to the point where not even adverse consequences are enough to make said addict let go of or at least ward off his/her behaviors for long.

Skating Away (On The Thin Ice Of The New Day)
Jethro Tull
An intimate account of the experiencing of events in life from the ephemeral perspective of the one everything is happening to, of how one is affected by the world around them, and the feeling that one is more a witness to their own existence rather than a partaker.
Ian Anderson and crew seemed to be very big on writing and performing anthems about being disillusioned by  deception and the false promises made by the world and society.

Oh Falling Star
The Four Knights
"There's someone for everyone" they say.
Apparently I'm not "everyone".

Class of '57
Statler Brothers
How life usually ends up being more of a disappointment than anything for most people.   Especially disappointment in themselves and the way they wind up turning out, just as much so as in fate and circumstances beyond their control.

Girl On A Swing
Gerry & The Pacemakers
Using the stereotypical imagery of "childhood innocence" as a metaphor for the notion of "brotherly/sisterly love conquering the evils of hate and prejudices"

Fancy
Bobbi Gentry
About the way those living on the fringes without means and support often have to resort to methods considered improper and subversive in order to try to "level the playing field" for themselves in their desperate
efforts at "obtaining their fair share in this world"

Riverboat
Faron Young
Often I think the term "Justice System" is just that---merely a clinical term.  Something altogether different from the literal definition of the word "justice".
I mean, being charged with "murder" for shooting someone in self-defense who's trying to attack you with a lethal weapon of their own?
And, I'm assuming that the main character is "sitting in the Memphis jail" awaiting trial.  Because when one is convicted of a felony they'll serve their time in prison, not in any city or county jail.

The Son Of Hickory Holler's Tramp
O.C. Smith
Pretty much the same theme as FANCY.
How those in desperate situations have to often resort to unorthodox means of obtaining an equitable standing with the rest of the world.

Names, Tags, Numbers, Labels
Association
How society routinely pigeonholes its citizens.  And how the citizens pigeonhole each other.

When It's Springtime In Alaska (It's Forty Below)
Johnny Horton
How easy it is for anyone to unsuspectingly walk into a situation and find themselves in a lot of trouble without necessarily having done anything morally wrong

Bad Moon Rising
Creedence Clearwater Revival
An anthem about how vulnerable we all are to potential natural disasters

This Door Swings Both Way
Herman's Hermits
About how reality itself has a split personality and can't be relied upon to remain consistent

Les Bicyclettes De Belsize
Engelbert Humperdinck
Romantic song lamenting the way we have little to no control over the affairs of the world around us and often have to resign ourselves to the whims of fate---and that the best we can do for ourselves is just to simply live and savor the best moments as they come around

Come And Get It
Badfinger
About a wealthy eccentric who discovers, when he tries to freely give away some of his wealth randomly to whoever happens by, that most people are so apprehensive and suspicious of his motives they wind up being too paranoid to take advantage of their brief window of once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for an immense expansion of their personal finances

D.O.A.
Bloodrock
First person account of accident victim as he's dying from his fatal injuries

Where Evil Grows
Poppy Family
How being in the company of less-than-exemplary individuals can have an eventual adverse effect on your own character.

Gotta Travel On
Billy Grammer
Loose-knit commentary on society's disdain and contempt for those who live a little too free lance and try to be a little too independent.

Lizzie and the Rainman
Tanya Tucker
A cynical girl calls an alleged scam artist on the carpet for attempting to deceive the local townspeople---only to find out the guy is actually sincere, the real deal.

Riki Tiki Tavi
Donovan
How government agencies, charities, religions, public schools, and organizations are often so incompetent and corrupt the individual winds up still being on their own, to have to figure their own way out of difficulties and tight situations.

Run Run Run
Third Rail
Topical/social commentary song using a network radio news style "New York Stock Exchange" parody as a metaphor for some of the more pressing social problems of the time.

Don't It Make You Want To Go Home?
Joe South
Same basic theme as TAR AND CEMENT---how runaway development is destroying both the environment and precious past memories.

2+2
Bob Seger
Criticizing the ethics and priorities of the military, the draft, and of the U.S. presence in Vietnam

Skinny Legs And All
Joe Tex
A cavalier novelty song that finds humor in social discrimination

Delilah
Tom Jones
Jealous lover stalks two-timing girlfriend, sees other guy leaving her place early in the morning, knocks on her door, confronts her----then stabs her to death.  Then waits for the authorities to come after him

Under My Wheels
Alice Cooper
Psychopath gets fed up with badgering girl friend and comes up with "the ultimate panacea" for getting rid of her once and for all.
A few things this "Einstein" overlooked: namely the cops, the courts, and a possible death penalty or life imprisonment.
...otherwise his plan DID work---he DID manage to accomplish what he set out to do

Baby Let's Wait
Royal Guardsmen
Critical of teen marriage and the potential perils of teenage sex

Fire and Rain
James Taylor
Mourning the loss of a close friend in a freak plane crash

Summer (The First Time)
Bobby Goldsboro
A 30-something man reminiscing about when he was a small town older teen who lost his virginity to a local "cougar" in a preplanned one night stand

Transfusion
Nervous Norvus
Making fun of reckless and dangerous drivers

The Fool On The Hill
The Beatles
Sequel to Eleanor Rigby and Nowhere Man.  Another "social outcast" anthem

One Piece At A Time
Johnny Cash
Relishing incremental employee grand theft pulled off right under GM's nose

The Cover Of "Rolling Stone"
Dr. Hook & The Medicine Show
Sardonically scathing commentary about the pretenses of the commercial music business

Mack The Knife (Three Penny Opera)
Louis Armstrong/Bobby Darin
Maxwell's Silver Hammer
The Beatles
Cheerful, upbeat songs about psychopathic homicidal maniacs and serial killers

Book Of Love
Monotones
An instruction book on how to properly carry out a romantic relationship?

White Bird
It's A Beautiful Day
How oppression, restrictions, and isolation causes one to miss out on all the amenities and beauty life has to offer

Gino Is A Coward
Gino Washington
Even a tough macho man can be taken aback by the realization that hot chick he's infatuated with is also just as much a total stranger as anyone he runs into randomly on the street, or on the bus, or in a store
...making the thought of approaching her suddenly frightening.

The Morning Side Of The Mountain
Tommy Edwards/Donny & Marie Osmond
What best fits a person or is in a person's best interest are often things that are withheld from that person, or someone they may never come into contact with

I Know What I Like
Huey Lewis & The News
Celebrating individuality and individual choices and preferences

                                           Spelling Errors
I remember all the trouble I had looking up the word "aesthetic".

I mean, I looked all over the "e"s in the dictionary before finally giving up.
Then, out of desperation, I figured "Maybe it starts with the letter 'a'".  Good move on my part.  Finally found it.

Then, when I had to look up "ptomaine poisoning" I REALLY got flustered, as I thoroughly browsed the "t"s in the dictionary, from end-to-end.  No luck!  "Where in the hell IS 'toadmain poisoning'?  I know the term exists.  I heard it used on an episode of 'The Twilight Zone'.  Stupid dictionary!  It doesn't have ANYTHING, does it?"

I eventually DID find the term, though---while looking up a word that starts with the letter "p", I, quite by chance, also came across it as well.
....seems it's ME who's the "stupid" one.


                                        Another site to check out:  www.newwest.net

May I ask ....
Why is everyone making such a big deal over the tariffs being imposed by the U.S. on imports coming into its boundaries?
...or even China responding by doing much of the same with U.S. imports coming into their country?

What's so different about tariffs on imports and, say, being taxed?  Or having to pay for a license to run a business or practice a certain profession?  Or paying for vehicle registrations?

Damn, folks, countries should have a right to decide for themselves about what ways they want to muster up extra revenue for themselves, and who they wish to tax in order to raise such.

My main concern is with how the governments of the world choose to invest any potential increase in their national revenue.
Do they use it for the common good?
...or do they just pocket that extra income for their own selfish gain, or favored agendas, or to benefit those within their demographic social and political circles?

Have you ever noticed ...
...how 90% of interpersonal interactions involve either doing business with the other person, or taking directives from someone?
In short: Most "human relations" involve either being hustled or being tyrannized.

                                          Muse over this one ....

                        One of the rules of an apartment complex states

                                            NO LOUD MUSIC

                                    

Think for a moment how vague and ambiguous that rule is as written.  What, exactly, is even meant by "loud music"?

Is it music being played at a high volume, or a style of music that's loud by nature?

For those of you old enough to remember the "renaissance period of the home stereo" (circa the '70s into the early '80s) you'll recall how the recording level often differed from one record to another.

For example:  One might have, on hand, a Jim Croce album and an album by the group Boston

...and notice the Jim Croce album was recorded at a high input level, thus putting out a high volume level when played on one's stereo

...while the Boston album was dubbed at a lower input level when transcribed from the studio tapes to the pressing platter, thus putting out a lower volume level when played on the same stereo

...yet common sense dictates that, if one were to hear Jim Croce performing live, then afterwards Boston performing live, obviously in person Boston would be the louder of the two performers.



                                   Another site to check out: www.youmakemeyawn.blogspot.com
                                                               ...and another one: www.alicecanhelp.blogspot.com

              Note to medical/dental receptionists:
If and when my caretaker prescribes any medication for me please make sure to actually phone it in to the pharmacy chain entrusted with dispensing such for me.

When I go to pick up a prescription I don't want to be told "No-o-o-o-oo ...I don't SEE anything HERE for you ....Sorry."

It's not like I can just then and there make out my own prescription and insist they honor it.  If the order's not there (in their computer network) I just have to do without.  I can't take on the responsibility of the clinic myself---I don't have the license, or the authority, or the knowledge, or the clout to be taking on any of those duties myself.

The "responsibility" part has to be done by those in charge.  I'm just the recipient of the services, not the provider or even an instigator of such.



                         Another Musing For Today
Society has no use for me
            yet still puts plenty of folks in charge who are either incompetent or corrupt
There never seems to be enough room for me in the world
            yet I constantly see a lot of its women pregnant with bulging tummies

Domestic Fare
I reside in a small one bedroom apartment

...I didn't say I actually live there, though.
I'm more the curator than anything.

My residence is an office, a private cafe, and a stock room
...and I'm a janitor, a cook, a server (and the one served), a dishwasher.  I do maintenance and cleaning.  And I also do inventory.
And I also keep records of my own affairs.

...although I still DO manage to do a little living on the side.  After all, it IS my residence.
Where else am I going to do any living?

                                      Musing For Today
I swear, reality was most likely created by Sisyphus.

Everything seems to be governed by an unwritten rule that states anything you do or that happens to you has to go on indefinitely, for an eternity, regardless of how simple it is or how complex and involved it is.

You can't ever be allowed to live down anything you do or say, or what someone else does or says to you.

For example:
Everything you eat infects your teeth.
Then the dental work can never all be done in just one sitting.  It requires multiple appointments.
Then the receptionist sets each subsequent appointment weeks or months apart, thus making it hard to impossible to navigate all the other areas in your life around the needed dental work.

It's like each and every factor in your life is in competition with one another to see who gets to have complete control of and domination over your very existence,  which one gets to "take control of your life" and be "your sole master".