My My, Hey Hey (Out of the Blue)

Music.  Hardly a day passes when I do not listen to the sweet tunes and melodies.  It has the power to transport you into the past, future, or some dreamlike dimension.  It can make you feel powerful emotions: sadness, fear, pain, grief, anger, love, peace, joy, comfort, and so many more.  There is music I listen to that takes me back to when I was a kid.  Some remind me of my Dad and even now I feel describe how I feel about our relationship now.  Timeless songs that meant one thing to me when I heard them when I was young and still mean something different to me now, but are still relevant even today.

I catch myself listening to Neil Young, Cat Stevens, and Jethro Tull.  These musicians and their songs make me think fondly of my Dad.  Memories surface of past times and even more recent memories.  One that profoundly I think describes the relationship I have with him is Old Man by Neil Young.

Neil Young playing at Wembley Stadium in London 1974 with Crosby Stills Nash and Young

Old man, look at my life
24 and there’s so much more
Live alone in a paradise
That makes me think of two
Love lost, such a cost
Give me things that don’t get lost
Like a coin that won’t get tossed
Rolling home to you
Old man, take a look at my life
I’m a lot like you
I need someone to love me
The whole day through
Ah, one look in my eyes
And you can tell that’s true
Lullabies, look in your eyes
Run around the same old town
Doesn’t mean that much to me
To mean that much to you
I’ve been first and last
Look at how the time goes past
But I’m all alone at last
Rolling home to you
Old man, take a look at my life
I’m a lot like you
I need someone to love me
The whole day through
Ah, one look in my eyes
And you can tell that’s true

Words end up falling short.  Words set to music have the ability to say more than I could possibly express.  I feel in my bones that this song means so much more to me and how I feel about my Dad.  I feel now I am so much like him and just one look in my eyes that you can tell that’s true.

Then there is Cat Stevens.  His song Wild World was a favorite of mine when I was little and even now I feel so much more of what the song means to me.  Like I know the song is about a girl leaving him but to me it was me leaving my Dad.  We all must leave home eventually and I always felt like this song was his way of telling me he loves me and to be careful out in the world.

Cat Stevens

But if you want to leave, take good care
Hope you have a lot of nice things to wear
But then a lot of nice things turn bad out there

Oh baby baby it’s a wild world
It’s hard to get by just upon a smile
Oh baby baby it’s a wild world
I’ll always remember you like a child, girl

You know I’ve seen a lot of what the world can do
And it’s breaking my heart in two
‘Cause I never want to see you sad girl
Don’t be a bad girl

But if you want to leave take good care
Hope you make a lot of nice friends out there
But just remember there’s a lot of bad and beware
Beware

I always felt like it was a warning…and I now know it’s impossible to get by just by a smile.  I now have seen what the world can and will do.  You can try to escape the bad but there always ends up being times when you can’t escape.  Friends and family turn on you.  Love is gained and lost.  People who mean the world to you will pass away.  You do the best you can to continue down the road called life.

Nothing Gold Can Stay by Robert Frost in The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton

Nothing can stay in this world.  Everything passes away.  My advice is to spend as much time with the family and friends who stick by you when the going gets tough.  Learn to enjoy to down time.  Create something whether it be music, poetry, painting, knitting, crochet, or anything that brings you joy or pain.  You only have one life to live so give it all you’ve got.