Category Archives: Music

February 12, 2023

A Beautiful Life

By Joe

And just as you want men to do to you, you also do to them likewise.

—Luke 6:31

A Beautiful Life
Also known as “Each Day I’ll Do a Golden Deed”
By William M. Golden (1918)

Each day I’ll…do a golden deed,…
By helping those…who are in need;…
My life on earth…is but a span,…
And so I’ll do the best I can…the best I can.

Refrain:
Life’s evening sun…is sinking low,…
A few more days, …and I must go…
To meet the deeds…that I have done,…
Where there will be no setting sun…no setting sun.

To be a child…of God each day,…
My light must shine…along the way;…
I’ll sing His praise…while ages roll,…
And strive to help some troubled soul…some troubled soul.
[Refrain]

The only life…that will endure,…
Is one that’s kind…and good and pure;…
And so for God…I’ll take my stand,…
Each day I’ll lend a helping hand…a helping hand.
[Refrain]

I’ll help someone…in time of need,…
And journey on…with rapid speed;…
I’ll help the sick…and poor and weak,…
And words of kindness to them speak…to them speak.
[Refrain]

While going down…life’s weary road,…
I’ll try to lift…some trav’ler’s load;…
I’ll try to turn…the night to day,…
Make flowers bloom along the way…along the way.
[Refrain]

“A Beautiful Life” is a Christian hymn that was written by William M. Golden. It was published in 1918. Golding was born on January 28, 1878, in Webster County, Mississippi. He died on May 13, 1934, in a traffic accident near Eupora, Mississippi. It is said he wrote most of his songs while serving an eight-year sentence in the state penitentiary. In addition to “A Beautiful Life,”  he was also known for the song “Where the Soul Never Dies” and many others.

I used to love to sing this song in church. The congregation had to know what they were doing to sing this song properly. In the video below, you can hear it sung alternating between tenor and bass. The song begins with the tenors singing, and where the ellipses are, it alternates to the basses repeating the phrase before. It always reminds me of the Johnny Cash song, “Daddy Sang Bass.” When done properly, “A Beautiful Life” is a beautiful song.

Not only is it a beautiful song to listen to, but it also has a beautiful message. If each day we’d “do a golden deed by helping those who are in need” and did the best we can, how wonderful would this earth be! We should make the effort to let our light “shine along the way” and “strive to help some troubled soul.” If we do our best to live a life “that’s kind and good and pure,” how can we go wrong? And so, the song goes. It’s just a really good message on how to live one’s life, and if we just strove to do what this song suggests, then we really could make this world a better place.

Many of you may not have ever heard this song before. If you haven’t, I hope you’ll listen to the Statler Brothers’ version below. I looked and listened to a number of versions of this song, but these are closest to how I remember it always being sung sans the instrumental musical accompaniment.  Growing up in the church of Christ, we always sang A Capella. Musical instruments were not allowed. 

2 Comments | posted in Music, Religion

January 22, 2023

The Unclouded Day

By Joe

And He said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, hereafter you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.”

—John 1:51

The Unclouded Day
By Josiah Kelley Alwood

O they tell me of a home far beyond the skies,
O they tell me of a home far away;
O they tell me of a home where no storm clouds rise,
O they tell me of an unclouded day.

[Refrain]

O the land of cloudless day,
O the land of an unclouded day,
O they tell me of a home where no storm clouds rise,
O they tell me of an unclouded day.

O they tell me of a home where my friends have gone,
O they tell me of that land far away,
Where the tree of life in eternal bloom
Sheds its fragrance through the unclouded day.

[Refrain]

O they tell me of a King in His beauty there,
And they tell me that mine eyes shall behold
Where He sits on the throne that is whiter than snow,
In the city that is made of gold.

[Refrain]

O they tell me that He smiles on His children there,
And His smile drives their sorrows all away;
And they tell me that no tears ever come again
In that lovely land of unclouded day.

 “The Unclouded Day” was written by Josiah Kelley Alwood. (Harrison County, Ohio, July 15, 1828–January 13, 1909, Morenci, Michigan). Ordained by the United Brethren in Christ, he spent many years as a circuit rider, traveling on horseback to his many appointments. He would be gone from his family for weeks at a time while he held revival meetings and lectured on Christian doctrine. Later, he became a presiding elder in the North Ohio Conference and was a delegate to several general conferences of his church. Always a staunch supporter of the original constitution of his denomination, he was a delegate to the general conference at the time of the separation of the church into two groups at York, Pennsylvania, in 1889.

Alwood related a story about the event that inspired the song:

It was a balmy night in August 1879, when returning from a debate in Spring Hill, Ohio, to my home in Morenci, Michigan, about 1:00 a.m. I saw a beautiful rainbow north by northwest against a dense black nimbus cloud. The sky was all perfectly clear except this dark cloud which covered about forty degrees of the horizon and extended about halfway to the zenith. The phenomenon was entirely new to me and my nerves refreshed by the balmy air and the lovely sight. Old Morpheus was playing his sweetest lullaby. Another mile of travel, a few moments of time, a fellow of my size was ensconced in sweet home and wrapped in sweet sleep. A first class know-nothing till rosy-sweet morning was wide over the fields.


To awake and look abroad and remember the night was to be filled with sweet melody. A while at the organ brought forth a piece of music now known as “The Unclouded Day.” A Day and a half was bestowed on the four stanzas.

— A Rainbow at Midnight and A Song With Morning (1896)

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January 8, 2023

 Shall We Gather at the River?

By Joe

And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb.

—Revelation 22:1


Shall We Gather at the River?
by Robert Lowry

1 Shall we gather at the river,
Where bright angel feet have trod;
With its crystal tide forever
Flowing by the throne of God?

Refrain:
Yes, we’ll gather at the river,
The beautiful, the beautiful river;
Gather with the saints at the river
That flows by the throne of God.

2 On the margin of the river,
Washing up its silver spray,
We will walk and worship ever,
All the happy golden day. [Refrain]

3 Ere we reach the shining river,
Lay we ev’ry burden down;
Grace, our spirits will deliver,
And provide a robe and crown. [Refrain]

4 Soon, we’ll reach the shining river,
Soon our pilgrimage will cease;
Soon our happy hearts will quiver
With the melody of peace. [Refrain]

This has long been one of my favorite Christian hymns. I used to sing it often back when I was my old church’s song leader. “Shall We Gather at the River?” or simply “At the River” are the popular names for the traditional Christian hymn originally titled “Beautiful River.” The song’s lyrics refer to the Christian concept of the anticipation of restoration and reward and reference the motifs found in Revelation 22:1–2—a crystal clear river with the water of life, issuing from the throne of heaven, all presented by an angel of God.

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August 7, 2022

Amazing Grace

By Joe

Then King David went in and sat before the Lord; and he said: “Who am I, O Lord God? And what is my house, that You have brought me this far? And yet this was a small thing in Your sight, O God; and You have also spoken of Your servant’s house for a great while to come, and have regarded me according to the rank of a man of high degree, O Lord God.

—1 Chronicles 17:16-17

It’s been quite a while since I used a hymn as my Sunday devotional. During my high school and college years, I was the song leader at the small country church I grew up attending. Half the people at that church were like family to me, and the other half were my family. The song leader I grew up with became unable to lead the singing, so he asked me if I would it. I had taken piano lessons when I was younger, so I had a little musical ability, i.e. I could almost carry a tune. I was never a very good song leader, and I only knew about two dozen or so songs well enough to be able to lead the congregation in singing.

If you don’t know, I was raised in the church of Christ (by the way, it is customary to not capitalize “church” in the name of the denomination, though churches of Christ do not believe they are a denomination nor Protestant, but a restoration of the original church). The churches of Christ have no musical instruments, though some of the more liberal ones today do. The churches of Christ believe that if it is not in the bible, then it should not be part of the religious service. So, the inspiration for a capella singing comes from Ephesians 5:19, “Speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord.” Being a song leader in a church of Christ is not the easiest task. There are no musical instruments to carry the tune. It is completely up to the song leader to do so. All I can say is, that I tried my best. I was never very good at it, and quite honestly, even after doing it for years, I was never comfortable at it. When I went away to graduate school, they found someone else to take over. I was so relieved.

I had a few favorite song: “When the Roll Is Called up Yonder,” “Send the Light,” “Shall We Gather at the River?,” “The Old Rugged Cross,” and a few others. “Amazing Grace” was always a favorite of mine. The service always began with two songs sung while seated before the main prayer. Then, we would stand for the third song just before the preacher got up to give his sermon, and I often sang “Amazing Grace” for this song. After the sermon, we would sing the invitational, a call for those who wanted to join the church and be baptized. After the invitational, we served communion. Communion, or the Lord’s Supper, is served every Sunday in the church of Christ. After communion, we sang the closing song, my favorite being “I Know That My Redeemer Lives” and “Unclouded Day.” The latter begins with “O they tell me of a home far beyond the skies,” and as long as I could get out the “O” in the right key, this one always went smoothly because someone else would pick it up and keep it going in tune.

Amazing Grace
By John Newton

Amazing grace! how sweet the sound,
that saved a wretch like me!
I once was lost, but now am found,
was blind, but now I see.

‘Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,
and grace my fears relieved;
how precious did that grace appear
the hour I first believed!

Through many dangers, toils and snares
I have already come:
’tis grace has brought me safe thus far,
and grace will lead me home.

When we’ve been there ten thousand years,
Bright shining as the sun,
We’ve no less days to sing God’s praise
Than when we first begun.

“Amazing Grace” is one of the best-loved and most often sung hymns in North America. It expresses John Newton’s personal experience of conversion from sin as an act of God’s grace. At the end of his life, Newton (1725-1807) said, “There are two things I’ll never forget: that I was a great sinner, and that Jesus Christ is a greater Savior!” This hymn is Newton’s spiritual autobiography, but the truth it affirms—that we are saved by grace alone—is one that all Christians may confess with joy and gratitude. I, however, believe that it takes faith and good works. James 2:26 says, “For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.” Now, back to Newton’s story.

Newton was born into a Christian home, but his godly mother died when he was seven, and he joined his father at sea when he was eleven. His licentious and tumultuous sailing life included a flogging for attempted desertion from the Royal Navy and captivity by a slave trader in West Africa. After his escape, he himself became the captain of a slave ship. Several factors contributed to Newton’s conversion: a near-drowning in 1748, the piety of his friend Mary Catlett (whom he married in 1750), and his reading of Thomas à Kempis’s Imitation of Christ. 

In 1754 he gave up the slave trade and, in association with William Wilberforce, eventually became an ardent abolitionist. After becoming a tide-surveyor (customs inspector) in Liverpool, England, Newton came under the influence of George Whitefield and John and Charles Wesley and began to study for the ministry. He was ordained in the Church of England and served in Olney (1764-1780) and St. Mary Woolnoth, London (1780-1807). His legacy to the Christian church includes his hymns as well as his collaboration with William Cowper in publishing Olney Hymns (1779), to which Newton contributed 280 hymns, including “Amazing Grace.”

Newton wrote “Amazing Grace” to illustrate a sermon on New Year’s Day of 1773. It is unknown if there was any music accompanying the verses; it may have been chanted by the congregation. It debuted in print in 1779 in Newton and Cowper’s Olney Hymns. “Amazing Grace” was published in six stanzas with the heading “1 Chronicles 17:16-17, Faith’s review and expectation.” After being published, the hymn settled into relative obscurity in England.

In the United States, “Amazing Grace” became a popular song used by Baptist and Methodist preachers as part of their evangelizing, especially in the South, during the Second Great Awakening of the early 19th century. It has been associated with more than twenty melodies. In 1835, American composer William Walker set it to the tune known as “New Britain” in a shape note format; this is the version most frequently sung today.

With the message that forgiveness and redemption are possible regardless of sins committed and that the soul can be delivered from despair through the mercy of God, “Amazing Grace” is one of the most recognizable songs in the English-speaking world.

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March 29, 2022

No Matter What

By Joe

No Matter What
Songwriters: Tobias Martin Gad / Calum Scott

When I was a young boy I was scared of growing up
I didn’t understand it but I was terrified of love
Felt like I had to choose but it was outta my control
I needed to be saved, I was going crazy on my own

It took me years to tell my mother, I expected the worst
I gathered all the courage in the world

She said, “I love you no matter what
I just want you to be happy and always be who you are”
She wrapped her arms around me
Said, “Don’t try to be what you’re not
‘Cause I love you no matter what”
She loves me no matter what

I got a little older wishing all my time away
Riding on the pavement, every sunny day was grey
I trusted in my friends then all my world came crashing down
I wish I never said a thing, ’cause to them I’m a stranger now

When I ran home I saw my mother, it was written on my face
Felt like I had a heart of glass about to break

She said, “I love you no matter what
I just want you to be happy and always be who you are”
She wrapped her arms around me
Said, “Don’t try to be what you’re not
‘Cause I love you no matter what”
Yeah

Now I’m a man and I’m so much wiser
I walk the earth with my head held higher
I got the love that I need
But I was still missing one special piece
My father looked at me

He said, “I love you no matter what
I just want you to be happy and always be who you are”
He wrapped his arms around me
Said, “Don’t try to be what you’re not
‘Cause I love you no matter what”
He loves me no matter what
And they love me no matter what

I mentioned to my friend Dylan that I was trying to figure out a song to finish up my “Musical March” posts. Songs, or at least the good one, always make great poetry. Dylan suggested this one. He also suggested “Come to My Window” by Melissa Etheridge or “Montero” by Little Nas X, which are both songs I like, but when I listened to Calum Scott’s “No Matter What,” I had tears in my eyes. The song was very emotional for me. When I came out to my mother, I found out that her love was conditional. She would not love me “no matter what.” My father on the other hand told her that, I was their son, and they’d love me no matter what. While my mother always does what my father says (sometimes much to my dismay), I’m glad she listened this time. Yet, I’ll always know, and she often reminds me, that if it was up to her, she’d have disowned me.

Calum Scott describes “No Matter What” as his “most personal song” and the song he is “most proud of.” The song tells the story of Scott telling his parents he was gay and their reactions of loving him “no matter what.” Scott said “It was a song that I always had to write, and a song I never thought I’d be able to share. This song has so much bones behind it and has such a wider discussion, not only about sexuality but about acceptance.” Adding “This hopefully will be a movement. I want to help people, I want to inspire people, I want to make people more compassionate.”

I wish all parents loved their children “no matter what” especially when they come out as gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, questioning/queer, etc. I’ve known too many parents who put conditions on their love for their children. I don’t want children. At one time, I thought I did because that’s what was expected of me, but I knew I’d never make a good father, not because I wouldn’t love my child unconditionally, but I know I have a temper like my father, and I’d never put a child through that. However, if I did have a child, I would have loved them no matter what. I would be accepting and loving. I don’t understand how anyone can put conditions on the love they give their children.

I wish all parents would be loving and accepting, and I said as much to Dylan who told me, “We have a Heavenly Father who does. Those are His feelings toward us. And you have friends who love you very much too.” I agree with him and said, “I just need to be reminded of that sometimes.” He wisely replied, “Yes, we all do!” We are all part of God’s family, and many in the LGBTQ+ community make our own families. I know I have people that I love and cherish, as much, and sometimes more so, than my own biological family (I’m referring to you here, Susan). Cherish the people in your life who love you “no matter what.”

1 Comment | posted in Music, Poetry

March 22, 2022

I Like Boys

By Joe

I Like Boys
Song by Todrick Hall
Songwriters: Carl Seante Mcgrier / Jean-Yves G. Ducornet / Kofi Owusu / Todrick Dramaul Hall

Mama come, come doll, take a seat
There’s someone you know that you’ve got to meet
So brace yourself for the big reveal
He’s about my height when he’s not in heels
Some boys play basketball
He played house with ratchet dolls
It’s not Santa Claus, it’s time for applause
It’s comin’ out the closet

Mama, I like boys, I like pecs
Like them arms when they flex
Like that print in them sweats
Tell them girls, “Thank you, next”
I like when they text me sexy pics of ’em
Like them abs when there’s six of ’em
Tell them girls I’m sorry
I like boys

Mama, boys like me (I like boys who like boys)
Mama (I like boys who like boys)
Work (I like boys who like boys)
Mama (I like boys who like)
Boys like me, yeah (boys like me)
Yeah, they do (boys like me)
Ooh (boys like me)
Motherfuckin’ boys like me (bitch)

I like when they shake it, shake it
I like when they grind real slow (real slow)
I like when they almost naked (damn)
Tell dad I’m so homo
Lights off, doors shut
Tall, dark, clean-cut
Thick with a bubble butt, yup

Mama, I like boys, I like pecs
Like them arms when they flex
Like that print in them sweats
Tell them girls, “Thank you, next”
I like when they text me sexy pics of ’em
Like them abs when there’s six of ’em
Tell them girls I’m sorry
I like boys

Mama, boys like me (I like boys who like boys)
Mama (I like boys who like boys)
Work (I like boys who like boys)
Mama (I like boys who like)
Boys like me, yeah (boys like me)
They do (boys like me)
Haha (boys like me)
Motherfuckin’ boys like me (bitch)

Style like they name Harry
Chocolate like Tyrese
I pick him up at Barry’s
Crunch, Planet Fitness
Shirt off in the lawn
Sizzlin’ like grease
By day his name Gaston
By night I call him Beast

Bitch, B to the O to the Y to the S
Boys will be boys and with boys I’m obsessed
Boys in their gym clothes, boys in a dress
And if boys are a crime then I’m under arrest
‘Cause I’ve been boy crazy since the boy scouts
Fuck the closets, let the boys out
Don’t be a camel when you are a llama, period
No comma, bring on all the drama

Mama, I like boys, I like pecs
Like them arms when they flex
Like that print in them sweats
Tell them girls, “Thank you, next”
I like when they text me sexy pics of ’em
Like them abs when there’s six of ’em
Tell them girls I’m sorry
I like boys

Mama, boys like me (I like boys who like boys)
Hahaha (I like boys who like boys)
Work (I like boys who like boys)
Mama (yeah) (I like boys who like)
Boys like me (sorry) (boys like me)
Not sorry (boys like me)
(Boys like me)
Motherfuckin’ boys like me, bitch

“I Like Boys” is a song by American singer Todrick Hall; he co-produced and co-wrote the song with Jean Yves Ducornet. Hall released the song during Pride 2019. The video opens with Hall coming out to his mother played by Luenell. The video shifts to a desert with Hall surrounded by male dancers and a camel. The song celebrates Hall’s sexuality, featuring color, cultural references, and male nudity. 

Hall describes “I Like Boys” as campy, and I would agree. I am sure it is not to everyone’s taste, but I suspect a lot of us can identify with what Hall says in the song:

I like when they almost naked
Tell dad I’m so homo
Lights off, doors shut
Tall, dark, clean-cut
Thick with a bubble butt, yup

Mama, I like boys, I like pecs
Like them arms when they flex
Like that print in them sweats

Todrick Hall (born April 4, 1985) is an American singer, songwriter, and choreographer. He gained national attention on the ninth season of American Idol. Following this, he amassed a huge following on YouTube with viral videos including original songs, parodies, and skits. He aspires to be a role model for LGBTQ and people of color. He once again gained notoriety in 2022 for his tactless and manipulative behavior on the third season of Celebrity Big Brother.

Starting with season eight, Hall became a resident choreographer and occasional judge on RuPaul’s Drag Race. From 2016 to 2017, Hall starred as Lola in Kinky Boots on Broadway. Later in 2017, he began appearances as Billy Flynn in Chicago on Broadway and the West End.

As a singer-songwriter he has released four studio albums, including the visual albums Straight Outta Oz (2016) and Forbidden (2018). In 2020 he released an EP, Quarantine Queen, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic featuring “Mask, Gloves, Soap, Scrub”, and was the international host of Global Pride 2020.

Leave a comment | posted in Music, Poetry

March 15, 2022

Younger Me

By Joe

Younger Me
Songwriters: Kendell Marvel / John Osborne / Thomas Osborne

Younger me
Made it harder than it had to be
Trying hard to dodge my destiny
Would get the best of me

Younger me
Way too young to pace a bedroom floor
Always dreamed of kicking down the door
What were you waiting for

Younger me
Was as reckless as he should have been
Close calls and downfalls and getting back up again
And doing it all again

Younger me
Overthinking, losing sleep at night
Contemplating if it’s worth the fight
If he only knew he’d be alright
Yeah, younger me

Youth ain’t wasted on the young
These trips around the sun
I needed every one
To get where I’m standing now
It’s an uphill road to run
For my father’s son
Keep it together
It won’t be that way forever

Younger me
Hanging out but not quite fitting in
Didn’t know that being different
Really wouldn’t be the end
Younger me (yeah)

Yeah
Yeah, oh
Yeah

Youth ain’t wasted on the young
These trips around the sun
I needed every one
To get where I’m standing now
It’s an uphill road to run
Yeah, for my father’s son
Keep it together
It won’t be that way forever

Younger me
You got me where I am today
Got a few things right along the way
You’ll see, just wait
Younger me

About the Song

T.J. Osborne publicly came out as gay in an interview with Time on February 3, 2021. Following his coming out, Osborne wrote “Younger Me” as a letter to his younger self. Like many of us who have come out, Osborne said, “I’ve always wished I could speak to my younger self, give him a hug and show him who he’d become and what he’d achieve. Once I came out, that feeling was so overwhelmingly strong that this song was born.”

One of the things that makes country music so popular is that it is relatable. “Younger Me” blends that relatable country storytelling with a bit of a pop anthem. The song is a refreshing take on country music nostalgia. Often, nostalgic songs look back fondly on the songwriter’s childhood and simpler times, and the present is either presented as hard or having lost its innocence along the way. “Younger Me” is a different kind of story.

The song perfectly encapsulates a more compelling kind of nostalgia that does not rewrite the complexities and confusion of childhood: “Overthinking, losing sleep at night / contemplating if it’s worth the fight”. The lyrics are crisp and vital, evoking specific details (“To pace a bedroom floor”), and are wonderfully free of cliché. For Brothers’ Osborne, the future hold both threat and possibility, and the past contains both hurt and experiences from which to learn and grow. 

Brothers Osborne’s music has always had a broad appeal amongst pop and country fans, and “Younger Me” perfects this balance. This is a dazzling pop anthem if ever I heard one, yet the sharp storytelling proves that Osborne is a bona fide country songwriter too. 

T.J. Osborne is gay and proud with this song and shows that it is possible not only to be queer in country music, but also to celebrate these aspects of ourselves. “Younger Me” is the perfect embrace that a queer kid might need, a Pride anthem for country music fans.

Thank you, Dylan, for introducing me to this song.

2 Comments | posted in Music, Poetry

March 8, 2022

Follow Your Arrow

By Joe

Follow Your Arrow
Songwriters: Shane L. Mcanally / Kacey Musgraves / Brandy Lynn Clark

If you save yourself for marriage
You’re a bore
You don’t save yourself for marriage
You’re a horrible person
If you won’t have a drink
Then you’re a prude
But they’ll call you a drunk
As soon as you down the first one

If you can’t lose the weight
Then you’re just fat
But if you lose too much
Then you’re on crack

You’re damned if you do
And you’re damned if you don’t
So you might as well just do
Whatever you want

So, make lots of noise (hey)
Kiss lots of boys (yup)
Or kiss lots of girls
If that’s something you’re into
When the straight and narrow
Gets a little too straight
Roll up a joint, or don’t

Just follow your arrow
Wherever it points, yeah
Follow your arrow
Wherever it points

If you don’t go to church
You’ll go to hell
If you’re the first one on the front row
You’re self-righteous son of a-

Can’t win for losin’
You’ll just disappoint ’em
Just ’cause you can’t beat ’em
Don’t mean you should join ’em

So, make lots of noise (hey)
Kiss lots of boys (yup)
Or kiss lots of girls
If that’s something you’re into
When the straight and narrow
Gets a little too straight
Roll up a joint, or don’t

Just follow your arrow
Wherever it points, yeah
Follow your arrow
Wherever it points

Say what you think (Say what you think)
Love who you love (Love who you love)
‘Cause you just get so many trips ’round the sun
Yeah, you only
Only live once

So make lots of noise (hey)
Kiss lots of boys (yup)
Or kiss lots of girls
If that’s what you’re into
When the straight and narrow
Gets a little too straight
Roll up a joint, I would

And follow your arrow
Wherever it points, yeah
Follow your arrow
Wherever it points

Kacey Musgraves’ single, ‘Follow Your Arrow,’ caused some controversy in the often non-accepting country music industry when it came out. But according to the up-and-coming singer, the song started out as a simple gesture to a close friend. Musgraves said, “It started off as a poem, honestly, for this friend who was going off to Paris for four months studying and she was leaving everything she knew behind, going to a foreign country [and] didn’t know the language. I gave her this little arrow necklace and I wrote a little poem and it had ‘follow your arrow’ in it, ‘kiss lots of boys,’ and it kind of started there, but it turned into a bigger idea.”

The song is about self-acceptance, imploring listeners to not worry too much about whether others judge their life choices. The song’s live and let live lyrics regarding gay people came just three years after Chely Wright made headlines by being the first country star of her caliber to come out of the closet. Although some potential fans surely write off Musgraves as too liberal, the song didn’t halt Musgraves success. Either Wright and other openly gay country singers, like Billy Gillman, made a significant enough impact on changing listeners’ minds in a short span of years, or Musgraves’ ageless messages of loving your neighbor and minding your own business overshadowed socio-political divisiveness enough for her not to get banished from country music.

 I thought I’d do a Musical March for my poetry posts this month. Some of the greatest songs either began as poems like “Follow Your Arrow” did or they are poetry within themselves.

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March 3, 2022

Amazon Knows

By Joe

When I was younger, there was an Auburn football and baseball player named Bo Jackson, one of the best to ever play for Auburn University and one of the most famous football players to come out of Auburn University. When he went to play professionally in the NFL and MLB, he did a series of Nike ads with the slogan “Bo Knows.” Jackson was the first athlete in the modern era to play professional baseball and football in the same year. He was a suitable spokesman for Nike’s shoe geared toward an athlete engaged in more than one sport or with little time between activities to switch to sport-specific footwear. The premise behind the ads was that Bo knows everything and can do anything.

Like “Bo Knows,” it’s incredible what Amazon.com knows about us. Because I have Amazon Prime, I also have Amazon Music. One of the features of Amazon Music is a station called “My Soundtrack,” in which Amazon picks music they think you will like. When I was driving to meet my new apartment manager to sign my lease, I listened to the “My Soundtrack” station. All the songs it played were songs I could sing along to and knew all of the lyrics. The playlist it began to play went something like this:

  • “9 to 5” by Dolly Parton
  • “Son of a Preacher Man” by Dusty Springfield
  • “Harper Valley PTA” by Jeannie C. Riley
  • “You Don’t Have to Call Me Darlin'” by David Allan Coe
  • “Ode to Billy Joe” by Bobbie Gentry
  • “Islands in the Stream” by Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton
  • “Coal Miner’s Daughter” by Loretta Lynn
  • “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry” by Hank Williams
  • “I Will Always Love You” by Dolly Parton
  • “Act Naturally” by Buck Owens

Those are the ones I can remember at the moment. I guess it knows me pretty well. I love classic country music. Though my taste in music can be rather eclectic at times, you can usually bet that I can sing along to it if it’s classic country.

Anyway, it’s amazing what information the internet gleams from us. Sometimes it’s downright scary. Amazon has a fantastic algorithm to determine what I might like, and TikTok is just as good about what I might like. The internet gods seem to know my taste in men and my nostalgia for classic country music. However, dating apps can’t seem to match me up with anyone who wants to match up with me. They need to work with Amazon and TikTok to get their algorithms to work a bit better.

In other news, I signed my new lease and will be moving into my apartment the first week of April. It is officially mine on April 1. I’m so excited, but now I have to get packed. Also, the pain from my dental work came and went all day yesterday. I ended up taking a sick day. I expect that I will be at the museum today working. I have a few things that I need to do, so I can’t take another day off. I haven’t been to the museum since Saturday, so I have some catching up to do.

1 Comment | posted in Music

February 25, 2022

Heaven

By Joe

My friend Dylan sent me this song, and I immediately fell in love with it. It seems very appropriate for a blog post. The song details Sivan’s struggle with coming out as gay. He explains “When I first started to realize that I might be gay, I had to ask myself all these questions—these really really terrifying questions. Am I ever going to find someone? Am I ever going to be able to have a family? If there is a God, does that God hate? If there is a heaven, am I ever going to make it to heaven?” I think many of us have asked these same questions, especially those of us who grew up in a religious family.

In the video, the black and white clip, shows Sivan being embraced by a man whose face is not shown, although it was later proven that it was the singer’s boyfriend, Jacob Bixenman, while being soaked in the rain and pays homage to the LGBTQ movements and accomplishments that have come before him. The clip shows assassinated gay rights leader Harvey Milk alongside footage of Pride parades and same-sex weddings. Sivan’s message that accompanied the clip read; “We have always been here. we will always be here. this video is dedicated to all who’ve come before me and fought for our cause and those who now continue the fight. in dark and light times, let’s love forever.” 

Enjoy

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