After 2,700 hours of labor, a couple hours ago I completed all my work on Above All Shadows Rides the Sun, my third novel. I will submit the manuscript Monday morning to Amazon / Kindle — seting the publication date on the same day as my wise and loving Aunt Zoe DiGesare of Milwaukee turns 90. Happy birthday, Aunt Zoe!
I’ve posted about Walt Whitman and J.R.R. Tolkien as my exemplary works of literature in this novel. Thought I’d turned next to music.
Here, at last, the five novels begin to intertwine with my personal. I sang all six of these songs when I was a child and preteen in the 1970s, and sang them with enthusiasm, usually with one or two of my older sisters.
Don McLean, Elton John, and John Denver will get more attention, and Denver is even a character in the novel. Look forward to sharing those with you in April.
In this post I will share with you vignettes regarding six songs by four other musicians and band. If you want to hear any of them immediately, I’ve placed the six links to YouTube videos below.
All my best,
Mike
Denver
January 29, 1973
We respond powerfully to Jackson Browne’s “Doctor My Eyes” and “Rock Me on the Water”. “Doctor My Eyes” is a quality song and highly impactful – it hits close to home and hits deep – and it has us turning more reflective. “Rock Me on the Water” blends Browne’s thoughtfulness and social conscience with his unique spirituality.
“One of the most enlightened songwriters of all time,” Yale says.
I nod again.
Denver
December 31, 1976
From 9:30 to 10:30 p.m., we turn our attention to the television and Dick Clark’s “Rockin’ Eve”. We toast each other with our nine glasses of orange juice as the ball drops in Times Square.
A few minutes later, we all start dancing.
Yale places an eight-track cassette in my player and we all jump up and sway to a new song by Earth Wind & Fire called “September”. “Blast it, Cousin Yale!” Bodo shouts. Yale does.
“We’re grooving!” yells a smiling Yale. Wave after wave of exuberance, happiness, and sheer joy roll over us. It’s a perfect feel-good song and it’s the best dance tune any of us has ever heard.
Next, Yale heads to the piano and plays and starts singing “Piano Man” by Billy Joel. Perfect for the emotional meaning that people find in our gatherings and groups. The rest of us stand around the piano and sing it with Yale, as best each of us can remember the lyrics.
There’s another hour, with and without dancing, before 12:00 approaches.
We know which music we want playing as we enter the new year. Several minutes before midnight, we turn to the new album by Stevie Wonder, Songs in the Key of Life.
Yale presses play and the room fills with “Sir Duke”. Everyone perks up even more. It’s pure joy, pure bliss – an exhilarating gift of sunshine.
“What an inspiration!” Yale shouts. “What a virtuoso! What a groove!”
“Riis and Carmen would have loved that one,” Bronwyn says. We all nod and smile.
For the finale, Yale plays “As”.
This is as good a Stevie Wonder song as any of us has ever heard. The voice, the lyrics, the piano skills, the composition -- it’s a brilliant work of art.
Right from the incredible sax solo at the beginning, we get goosebumps. The nine of us hum along in unison when Wonder hums. “Mmmm, mmmm, mmmm, mm.”
As we sail into 1977, our souls are touched, reawakened, and moved by Stevie Wonder’s lyrics – his powerful, profound, and pure poetry – and by his healing vision of deep and universal love.
Great songs, great choices!
Mike, I really enjoyed reading this. I agree with your choices of songs. I am a guy of the 60,s but the 70’s had great songs as you demonstrated. Best, Francisco.