Wish You Were Here Can’t Be Wrong

Nostalgic Music Month Day 29

Pink Floyd by Jon Hilton

As I was developing as a human being, the music of Pink Floyd entered my life. I was first influenced by the album the Dark Side of the Moon and the music was thought-provoking and resonated with my experiences in life. There wasn’t a lot of media that addressed the feelings facing the teenage mind. This music provided an explanation for the way I felt back then. The Wall was an experience that provided a visceral punch in the senses. It was so far removed from anything I had ever seen, it provided a paradigm shift in my thinking.  I remember watching this movie in Brunswick, Maine and I remember the people I watched it with. D.H., E.C., and G.N.

  1. Comfortably Numb–  Suffering is a part of life. As young people, we aren’t quite sure of this. I think I was hoping the world would be a happy place all the time. But it isn’t and that is ok. Sometimes there is suffering to help you get to the next level of whatever you are experiencing in life.  Sometimes the pain of suffering is too much for all people and we need to feel comfortably numb. Life ads experience and value is added by the hard times we face. Those are the valuable lessons of life. They are not learned in books but through experience and thoughtful reflection.   Is there anybody in there? Just nod if you can hear me. Is there anyone at home Come on now. I hear you’re feeling down. Well, I can ease your pain. Get you on your feet again.
  2. Another Brick in the Wall (part 2)– There is no more ironic song to the story of my life. This is about the brainwashing that takes place in western culture. Our system is designed to produce producers and consumers, not thinkers and creators.  I was listening to this while being brainwashed in that system. And I didn’t have any idea. A young mind is impressionable and moves in a thousand directions. It is easily influenced and manipulated. The problem has and will arise as the obvious reality of the world doesn’t match the story we are/were taught.  Beliefs change, personally and as a society. Accept the change. We don’t need no education . We don’t need no thought control. No dark sarcasm in the classroom. Teachers leave them kids alone. Hey! Teachers! Leave them kids alone. All in all, it’s just another brick in the wall. All in all, you’re just another brick in the wall. 
  3. Money– Iconic song which talks about greed which we all deal with to some degree. Our society labels us by how much money we make. In fact, when you meet someone, one of the first questions you ask is, what do you do for work? It allows them to be put into a box that you can understand and relate to.  Yet, I would argue that has very little to do with who a person really is. There are very rich people who are terrible people and very poor people who possess the highest moral character. How much money you have has a lot to do with your beliefs surrounding it.  You can have all the money in the world and it doesn’t guarantee you a thing.  Money, it’s a crime. Share it fairly but don’t take a slice of my pie
    Money, so they say. Is the root of all evil today. But if you ask for a rise
    It’s no surprise that they’re giving none away. 
  4. Time – Where does it go? Time is a concept that humans have created to mark our activities. It allows us to organize and for some determines the compensation for work performed.  In reality, we are only going to have so long in this experience of life. As you age, the uncomfortable truth that it is going to end becomes more and more of a reality. This physical body will give out and the ride will be over. We hope we will have freedom and stability of thought until the end. But that is not the case for thousands of people. Either their bodies or their minds give out before the end.  Making the most of the time that we have should be the highest priority in life. Enjoy every second you have. Don’t waste your time bitching and complaining. The ride is going to end, why dislike the experience so much. Focus on the good that is present in every moment, because it could be gone before you know it. And you run and you run to catch up with the sun but it’s sinking. Racing around to come up behind you again. The sun is the same in a relative way but you’re older. Shorter of breath and one day closer to death
    Every year is getting shorter, never seem to find the time. Plans that either come to naught or half a page of scribbled lines. Hanging on in quiet desperation is the English way. The time is gone, the song is over. Thought I’d something more to say.
  5. Wish You Were Here– A sentiment that everyone can relate to. No matter where you are in life there are people that you wish were around you more and sharing experiences with. From all of our past histories and stories, there are characters we miss, for all the elements they provided to our stories. Some moments were extremely happy, some were sad, but the shared experience is the thing that binds people. It provides the meaning of everything.  Life brings people into your life and whisks them away as well. All provide a lesson and a spice to your life.  I have been blessed in life to have experienced a lot of spice. And to all the people who provided them over the years, I wish you were here. We’re just two lost souls
    Swimming in a fish bowl. Year after year. Running over the same old ground. And how we found. The same old fears, Wish you were here.

Spin Doctors by Mike Martin

October 29, 2017- Nostalgic Music Month: Spin DoctorsMy brother Kevin Canders told me that I had hit the “bottom of the barrel” when announced to the family that I had decided to take a job selling vacuums. He was wrong.

This is an abbreviate post. It’s Sunday, and thanks to an emergency brake job, a skylight repair, two hockey practices, and a Halloween skating party. I have all of 15 minutes to write this, I could use an entire day.

My most productive period as a door to door vacuum cleaner salesman was from the spring to the fall of 1993. I was a “Van Master” working for Dan Wallace (DW)-a Kirby Vacuum Company legend. We had spent the spring recruiting college kids, out of work construction workers, and one trust fund baby.

Frank Brophy was smart and could answer just every Jeopardy question correctly. Dependency issue got the best of him, and by the time I had met him 1992, he was a shell of his former self. He didn’t have a driver’s license and starting selling Kirby’s with help from the Bangor, Maine public transit.

I think Frank worked for six months before he sold first Kirby, but by the fall of 1993, he was a door knocking machine and a staple on my Kirby sales van. Although several people accompanied Frank and me on our van, Josh Enman and Shawn Towne (after we drove to Milo, got Shawn out of bed, and force him to sell a Kirby to his neighbor on his very first demonstration) were the core of our sales crew.

We sold several Kirby’s daily on the days that worked, but we also never passed up the chance to (Blank) Off as DW would say. One of those days when we decide that there were better things to do, we took the Kirby van to a Spin Doctors concert in Portland. Maine. I must say, it was well worth missing out on the money that I would have made otherwise.

The Spin Doctors are a rock band from the USA that was formed in New York City. They are best known for two hit songs.

Spin Doctors – Two Princes – YouTube

 

This one, got a princely racket

That’s what I said, now

Got some big seal upon his jacket

Ain’t in his head, now

You marry him, your father will condone you

How ’bout that, now

You marry me, your father will disown you

He’ll eat his hat, now

Marry him or marry me

I’m the one that loves you baby can’t you see?

I ain’t got no future or a family tree

But I know what a prince and lover ought to be

I know what a prince and lover ought to be
Spin Doctors – Little Miss Can’t Be Wrong – YouTube

 

Little miss, little miss little miss can’t be wrong

Ain’t no body gonna bow no more when you sound your gong

Little miss, little miss little miss can’t be wrong

Whatcha go’n do to get into another one of these here

Rock ‘n’ roll songs

Please, have a great day, and if you have any questions, drop us a line and please partake in #OctoberNostalgicMusicMonth and while you are at it take a trip to Greenville, Maine-I understand the foliage is majestic this time of year! #visitGreenville

 

 

 

#OctoberNostalgicMusicMonth #visitGreenville

 

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