New Year's Rocking Attic Revisited

I find this hard to believe, but it's been three years now since the last edition of the New Year's Rockin' Attic. In 2006, 2007 and 2008 I finished the "broadcast year" with the heavy metal "Auld Lang Syne" by Rockosaurus Rex and some other seasonal delights.

I've been poking around the Attic again and found those eventful podcasts tucked behind a strange looking vase that started talking to me about the Phoenix Islands. That's a tale for another day.

For now I offer this links/download opportunities with the whimsical thought that maybe I should start thinking about dusting off the microphone.

Uncle Warren's Attic #16: New Year's Rockin' Attic (Jan. 1, 2007)
Click here for the podcast

Uncle Warren's Attic #46: New Year's Rockin' Attic II (Dec. 30, 2007)
Click here for the podcast

Uncle Warren's Attic #56: New Year's Rockin' Attic III (Dec. 28, 2008)
Click here for the podcast

And then there's the closest thing to a lost episode of Uncle Warren's Attic - the seldom heard fourth New Year's Rockin' Attic! The reason it's seldom heard is that I wasn't satisfied with the results - and because it ends with a promise to return to regular podcasting - so I pulled it from circulation after just a couple of days. But now here it is - and it's not at all as bad as I remember.

Uncle Warren's Attic #59: New Year's Rockin' Attic IV (Dec. 29, 2009)
Click here for the podcast

Best covers of 2011

Here's an interesting site for people who enjoy varied interpretations of familiar tunes.

You can find a selection of the Best Cover Songs of 2011 and the Best Cover Albums of 2011, as well as full albums of covers.

Fun stuff.

Tis the season

It's a most amazing and inspiring story, of overcoming hardship (no room at the inn) and government red tape (everyone return to their hometown to register? Really?) to bring a child into the world who from the first was a beacon of hope.

However you celebrate this time of year, or even if you don't, please accept this in the spirit of peace and joy it's intended:

Merry Christmas.

Cross posted to Inward and Indeed.

Best introduction of a character in TV history: Hoban "Wash" Washburne

You never have a second chance to make a first impression. My first impression of Wash in Firefly is: I love this guy.

1. It's a Wonderful Life

I did this one already, in the blog post that started me thinking about my favorite movies in 25 words or less:
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On the brink of suicide, a man is introduced to the reality that every individual has immeasurable value and a purpose.
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Bert! What do you know about that? Merry Christmas!

2. Serenity

Nine disparate characters make a life and a family together against all odds. With Firefly, simply the best science fiction saga of our time.

3. The Wizard of Oz

A children's story for all ages; unforgettable songs, iconic images and joyous performances. (Only needed 13 words that time!)
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Anyone who knows me has heard me quote from this film numerous times, most likely "Shucks folks, I'm speechless."

When I finally saw this film on a big screen (was it for the 60th anniversary in 1999?), my biggest surprise was noticing at last that Scarecrow is packing heat in the Haunted Forest. One could argue this is proof he really does have a brain!

4. Casablanca

Everyone needs to believe in something bigger than themselves - even if it means making painful choices. No film illustrates this truth better than this one.
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(I had the pleasure of seeing this movie in a crowded college lecture hall in the early 1970s, before films were readily available, so most of us had never seen it before. The audience reaction to the line following "Major Strasser has been shot" is the best moment I've ever had in a movie theater. Delirium.)

5. E.T. the Extraterrestrial

The most glorious symphonic score ever composed for a film (Yay, John Williams!), accompanying a timeless odyssey that touches the heart.

6. To Kill a Mockingbird

Perhaps the best child performances ever; a heroic father figure; riveting courtroom drama and the tragedy of justice unserved; compelling mystery; what's not to love?

7. A Christmas Story

Jean Shepherd's greatest tales portrayed nearly perfectly, capturing a time and place that is both vintage and universal. A complete delight any time of year.

8. Field of Dreams

The full range of emotions and a fantastic mystery, followed by one of the great payoffs: "Hey - Dad? You wanna have a catch?" 'Nuff said.

9. Up

A sweet and heartbreaking opening love story, followed by a wondrous mix of fantastic adventure, growing friendships and occasional uncontrollable laughter. Simply a pure delight.

10. Raiders of the Lost Ark

In keeping with my post the other day, here (slowly but surely) come my favorite 10 movies, with the "why" in 25 words or less.

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#10 - Raiders of the Lost Ark. A game-changing thrill ride - quests, daring feats, heroic acts, a feisty beautiful heroine (Karen Allen!), mystery and intrigue, and Nazis - I hate these guys.
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I find that, although these are remarkable bits of film-making, the list is more about my emotional or intellectual reaction to the movies, and mostly the former. Give me a thrill and a lump in the throat, and you're one of my favorite films.

So, Citizen Kane and Gone With the Wind and other  admittedly great films don't make this list, but - well, you'll see.

Christmas Hymns and Carols

Update: Here's an updated link to hear/download Uncle Warren's Attic #14.

My favorite all-time music of this season is from the Robert Shaw Chorale: Christmas Hymns and Carols, Volumes I and II. On the day after Thanksgiving, Mom would break out the 33 1/3 rpm Robert Shaw records, slap them (OK, place them gingerly) on the turntable and it was Christmastime: "Joy to the world! The Lord is come ..." (You can hear that moment recollected in UWA #14.)

Of course, the day I discovered eBay I started looking for the 78 rpm version of those albums, which were recorded in the post-war 1940s, a cappella with gorgeous vocal arrangements. Here's a threesome of how good it sounded ...

Greatest movie - 25 words or less

A friend of mine started a Facebook thread talking about the worst big-budget movie of all time. He said The Patriot. I said Titanic. Others made their case for Pearl Harbor and Waterworld. Others chimed in with their own moments when they walked out of the movie theater feeling cheated out of two or three hours of their lives.

Along the way he brought up why he'd mentioned the subject:

For admission essays Columbia University is now asking prospective students to state in 25 words of less the greatest movie of all time. Naturally, I turned the question on end and wondered what's the worst.

It's fun to think about movies that failed to deliver, but I also like the original premise: An elevator speech about what you think is the greatest movie of all time, and why. You have just 25 words to state your case – depending on the size of your words, that's essentially a Tweet.

It's A Wonderful Life: On the brink of suicide, a man is introduced to the reality that every individual has immeasurable value and a purpose.

There's 21 words, and if you make me include the title I still kept it to 25. Hey! This is fun. I think I'll do this with my whole top 10.

How about you? What's the greatest movie of all time, and why? You have 25 words. Go! (For fans of films like Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, the 25 words doesn't have to include the title.)

Free album: Wanting to Live Forever (1986)

On the morning of Jan. 27, 1986, I woke up with a powerful urge to create something, so I picked up the 12-string and started strumming chords. D - G -D - G - D - G ...

I liked the sound but I couldn't think of a new way to make a transition to a third chord - and then the words started coming out.

I sat down this cold morning to write myself a folk song;
I sat down this cold morning to right the world's eternal wrongs.

Best and worst lines ever, in one song

I liked Neil Diamond before he was Neil Diamond. I was a big fan from his very first single, "Solitary Man," on Bang Records in 1966. Always thought he got a little full of himself when he moved to Uni Records and especially after he landed at Columbia. Instead of nifty little pop-rock songs like "Cherry Cherry" and "I'm A Believer," he started writing bombastic epics. Some of them worked out, some of them didn't, and once he managed both in the same song.

It's "I Am I Said," which has some of his best lyrics and the very worst ever, within seconds of each other.

Free album: Purring Like A Lamb (1975)

Today's free album finds a twentysomething w.p. bluhm working his first day job in Waupaca, Wis., and spending weekends playing in the radio station's recording studio, tracking back and forth between the two big monoraul reel-to-reel machines.

It was also my first experience outside the realm of nylon six-strong guitar plucking, as the newly earned money in my pocket allowed me to buy the 12-string guitar that I still favor today. These tunes were my first experiments with the new, fuller sounding instrument.

Free album: 'Watershed' by w.p. bluhm (1985)

The fall of 1984 through early 1986 was the most prolific period of my life as an amateur songwriter so far. In the summer of '85, enamored of Springsteen's Nebraska, I recorded Watershed with just my voice on solo guitar. The results were so-so. After recording a multitracked album, Folks Songs, that December, I had second thoughts about the Springsteenesque approach and, in a blaze of work Dec. 21-22, 1985, I recorded this "official," multitracked version of Watershed.

To me, these 14 songs fit together as well as any group of songs I've ever assembled among the 20 albums I've inflicted on friends and family. I handed out C-45 cassette copies to anyone willing to listen.

If you want to sing out, sing out

I got nothing to add to these sentiments.

Nostalgia for the revolution, and the new revolution

Scott Alexander posted this video on Facebook on Wednesday with the comment, "Why does this song still sound great after 47 years? I never get tired of it!"

It's true. This song exploded out of the radio lo, these 46 years ago.  My response to his question was, "Like the Beatles' stuff, it sounded like nothing we ever heard before. It was just the Beatles Invasion before this song; after that it was called the British Invasion."

Shrinking the aural stash

I've been putting some of my vinyl collection up on eBay, motivated by a couple of things - mostly that sometime in the next year we'll be moving a second time (sold the old house, planning to build new, and currently living in an interim place) and moving 30 boxes of LPs was not fun. But it's also to pay down my personal debt a bit - no album sounds as beautiful as the sound of "Goodbye, MasterCard!"

This week I'm parting with my more recent Bruce Springsteen albums, and I'm using this blog to direct your attention there - and sharing some of the product descriptions, because I had a little fun writing 'em ...

Woo-hoo

Like Major Bowes' Amateur Hour and Star Search before it, American Idol appeals to the idea that there's a lot of talent out there just waiting for the opportunity, and every year some people seize the opportunity more than others.

I had never heard "Black Horse and a Cherry Tree" before Katharine McPhee sang it in a memorable Season 5 finale against Taylor Hicks – you know, the year Chris Daughtry really won. I had been rooting for Hicks all along and believed he was a shoo-in with Daughtry out, but this performance by Ms. McPhee rattled my smug cage.

I heard the "real" version in a store the other day and thought, "Hey, that's the Katharine McPhee song." Still one of the show's most memorable moments.

Artie Shaw's pocket symphony

Brian Wilson has famously used the phrase "pocket symphony" to describe the Beach Boys classic recording "Good Vibrations." If what he means is that a lot of interesting themes are colliding in the space of three minutes as opposed to the more luxurious time span of a symphony, then here's a pocket symphony that was a big hit in 1940: "Frenesi" by Artie Shaw and his orchestra.

One of the premier band leaders and jazz clarinetists of the swing era, Shaw packed a little ballroom dancing, some classical elements and international flair and of course big band jazz into three perfect and infectious minutes. Like "Good Vibrations," when you dissect the song in your mind it's hard to believe so many music delights can occur in such a short time span. Shaw was an innovative musician and this, to me, is his masterpiece.

Made for these times

"I keep looking for a place to fit where I can speak my mind..."

The mark of a great artist is that she puts words or images to a thought or feeling that is inside many people but hasn't been expressed in a way that most of us will understand. Brian Wilson is a great artist.

In the song "I Just Wasn't Made For These Times," Wilson puts words and music to the awkward feeling that each and every one of us feels when we recognize there is no one else in the world quite like "me."

"I've been trying hard to find the people That I won't leave behind ..."

The search for friendship, the search for meaning, the search for "fitting in." Ultimately we won't find complete fulfillment from other people. John Maxwell writes about being in the audience when someone asked his wife if "John makes you happy" and getting surprised when she responded, "No." Then she explained that true happiness is something you find inside yourself and not the responsibility of other people - and he realized she was right.

"They say I got brains, but they ain't doing me no good; I wish they would ..."

As a result of that realization, Wilson sings, "Sometimes I feel very sad," and he gets frustrated when his hopes and expectations don't quite come true ...

"Each time things start to happen again, I think I got something good goin' for myself, but what goes wrong ..."

The sadness makes Wilson wonder if "I guess I just wasn't made for these times," but in giving voice to the sadness, he touches something in every heart, the sense of uniqueness that is both the joy and curse of our existence. He sings about the loneliness of being unlike any other living soul on Earth.

"Every time I get the inspiration to go change things around, no one wants to help me look for places where new things might be found - Where can I turn when my fair weather friends cop out? What's it all about?"

But there is also the joy in realization - If Brian Wilson can give voice to my loneliness, I'm not alone.

And if each of us is a unique being, how precious that is: How important it is that we treat each other with the respect and care that something precious and unique deserves.

None of us will ever quite fit in precisely, because we were designed to be different. That can make us sad and lonely, but it can also give us strength and inspiration, voiced in such motivational clichés as "If it's going to be, it's up to me."

Looking for a place to fit where you can speak your mind? So is everyone else - so gain power from that fact and speak your mind anyway.

Do the thing you fear, and you will find, like Brian Wilson did, that you have something to say that people need to hear.

Sing Sing Sing/Christopher Columbus

Long before Iron Butterfly, there was Gene Krupa. Long before "McArthur Park" and "Hey Jude," there was this nine-minute top 40 hit. Oh, you had to flip the record halfway through to hear the whole thing, but there it was.

And the live version from Carnegie Hall, from the live album that is still in print decades later, is still one of the greatest performances ever recorded in person.

This is the original record from the mid 1930s, still packing all the punch it had from the start. I can imagine folks hearing it for the first time and wondering "What is THAT?!" And buying it and playing it over and over again, like my dad when he was a teenager, and his son who wore it out the rest of the way ...

Still crazee for Slade after all theeze yeerz

I have always loved sharing music, and time has been kind to many of the obscure artists I foisted on friends many years ago. I remember telling people they had to listen to this album by Judee Sill, John Kongos, Linda Perhacs, Emmitt Rhodes, Bachman-Turner Overdrive, Tufano & Giammarese. In many cases it took years, but my faith in those artists was rewarded, often with a remastered re-release replete with essays about overlooked genius and the like.

But I'm still waiting on Slade. Oh, Slade is a legendary band in most of the world, but in the U.S. of A. they're kind of an afterthought. They're the band that made the original version of Quiet Riot's big hit "Cum On Feel the Noize" and had a couple minor hits in the 1980s - "Run Run Away" and that other one ...

I remember listening to Slade in my college radio station and reading about how they had seven or eight No. 1 songs in a row in their home country of Britain. I remember telling my friends they really should check these guys out, because they're the next big British invasion. Every song they performed had so much energy it would be another band's big concert finale: "Mama Weer All Crazee Now," "Gudbuy T'Jane," "Coz I Love You," "Skweeze Me Pleeze Me" and, of course, "Cum On Feel the Noize." Which, I guess, is what Quiet Riot finally figured out.

But they never really caught on in America the way I figured they would. Don't know why. I remember playing Slade's version of "Noize" for the teenager in my life at the time, and she said it's OK but not as good as the note-for-note copy that was Quiet Riot's rendition. It drove me, um, crazee. I listen to their album "Sladest," the greatest-hits collection, and wonder how none of those songs sparked America's imagination. I listen to "How Does It Feel," one of the loveliest and most melodic rock anthems ever recorded, and am frustrated not to hear it mentioned in the same breath as many less worthy songs.

It's fun to have a little band that only you appreciate suddenly find its way to mainstream acceptance.  That's never really happened with Slade, and that amazes me. This is one incredibly great band.

In the cool of the evening light

When the temperatures start to rise every year, and the girls start wearing their summer clothes again, the world just seems a more pleasant place, even though I've reached the age where they just pass me by. The best song Bruce Springsteen has released in the last 20 years.

Did you ever take a ride take a ride on a roller coaster ...

Four years before the Ides of March had their one big hit, "Vehicle" (you know, "I'm your vehicle, baby, I'll take you anywhere you wanna go ..."), the Chicago-area band put out a little single called "Roller Coaster" on Parrot Records.

I thought it was great, bought the record new in 1966 and have played it over and over over the years. Alas, the world was not ready for the Ides of March, and I had to wait four more years to see them on the charts.

By then, my first reaction to "Vehicle" was, "The Ides of March? Can't be the same band, can it?" The horns, nowhere to be heard on "Roller Coaster," and the clearly different vocal style made me suspicious. But there was the name "Peterik" on the label - writer Jim Peterik to be precise. Yep, same band.

The record (pun intended) will show that "Vehicle" was a much more commercially successful song than "Roller Coaster." But me, I like this one better. A girl in love is the greatest thrill the world has ever known ...

Our troubles were torn in half

Aunt Fritzi salutes The Coasters.

"Play Those Oldies Mr. Dee Jay"

The odd thing about "Play Those Oldies Mr. Dee Jay" is that the songs it salutes weren't especially old when Anthony and the Sophomores released it. I am almost certain I owned this record before The Beatles invaded America, which makes it an early-1960s tune. The person who posted this YouTube video suggests it came out in 1963.

I purchased my copy in a cutout bin, on Mercury Records, probably for a dime. I had never heard the song on the radio, I think I confused the band with Little Anthony and the Imperials, and when I played it at home I asked myself, "Why wasn't this song a hit?" It reminds me very much of the Barry Mann tune, "Mister Bass Man," and perhaps it was written and released to grab a little of the reflected glory of that big hit.

It's almost 50 years since this song came out and failed to chart, and I remain convinced that "Play Those Oldies Mr. Dee Jay" deserved (and deserves) to be recognized. It's pretty much the perfect Doo Wop music anthem. And that note Anthony belts out on "Til Theeeeeeeeeennnnnnnnnn" – Whew!

Yellow Balloon weather

Hot, sunny days like we've had this weekend inevitably bring my mind back to the summer of 1967, when Dad and Mom took us to Disneyland for the second time. (Unlike six years earlier, when Dad drove the whole way from New Jersey to Anaheim, Calif., including a wretched journey across the Mojave Desert, this time we stopped in Salt Lake City and flew the rest of the way.)

Somewhere in the middle of Nebraska (I want to say Kearney), we started hearing a wonderful little tune on the radio - "Yellow Balloon" by The Yellow Balloon. These 41 years later, it still give me an inner smile. I learned years later that The Yellow Balloon was formed by Don Grady, who played one of My Three Sons on television. It's an interesting factoid, but the main reason I like "Yellow Balloon" is because it sounds so much like the sixties.

I was deep into the Top 40 charts at the time, and I'd listen with pencil and paper poised for the weekly countdowns on WABC and WMCA in New York. When we returned to the East, I told my friends to listen for a song called "Yellow Balloon," because it was going to be a huge summer hit. But it never migrated to New York radio. Wait, maybe it was a "Long Shot" on WMCA, but the rest of the dour East Coast did not delight in the song the way I did.

Maybe that's another reason I moved to the Midwest when I turned 18 and never looked back.

The Haley Reinhart Album

OK, congratulations to Scotty McCreery, winner of this year’s American Idol competition, and Lauren Alaina, the sweet young thing who finished in second place. I come to sing the praises of the third-place finisher, a bright jazz-blues-rock singer from Wheeling, Ill., who has the power to make this middle-aged music aficionado download the studio versions of all of her performances at $1.29 a pop.

Haley Reinhart took her time figuring out what she wanted to do with her gifts, with near-disastrous results – she landed in the at-risk Bottom Three no less than four times. But beginning with a memorably sultry performance of (of all things) Elton John’s “Bennie and the Jets,” Reinhart emerged as the most talented and creative of this year’s crop of would-be Idols.

And the professionals took notice. Producer Jimmy Iovine arranged for Reinhart to cover a then-unreleased tune from Lady Gaga’s new album – sure, it was a shameless promotional gimmick for Gaga, but Reinhart is the one who was offered the gig and (despite the disparaging remarks of the Idol judges) she knocked it out of the park. Then the members of Led Zeppelin gave her the right to do one of their songs – after 10 years of telling Idol “no way.” The result, “What Is and What Should Never Be,” was the single best performance by any contestant this season.

There are 13 Reinhart solo tracks available at iTunes. Putting on my record producer’s hat, this is how I arranged them and have been enjoying during the commute:

1. “Yoü and I” - the aforementioned Lady Gaga cut is an infectious power ballad that builds to a crescendo built on the chord structure to the “Hey Jude” coda. Betcha can’t listen to it just once. The judge’s criticism of her song choice was inexplicable, although it had the side benefit of focusing Reinhart’s energy to come back with the searing version of Song #4 later in that show. “Yoü and I” serves as an energetic opening tune for the album. (Video below)

2. “Rolling in the Deep” - In an episode called “21st Century Songs,” Haley went for with the current #1 song in the country. Smart thinking - and an effective and catchy rendition.

3. “What Is And What Should Never Be” - The song begins with a jazzy bluesy vibe and ends with an psychotic hard rock explosion, and Reinhart negotiates those genres seamlessly. The studio track has the added benefit of no awkward pause in the vocals where she tripped on the stage during the live performance - although it also lacks the marvelous guitar licks that her dad, Harry Reinhart, added live. A track that demands to be played very loud.

4. “House of the Rising Sun” - The song requires raw power and aching vulnerability; in other words, it’s right in the middle of Haley Reinhart’s wheelhouse, and she delivers bigtime. After the unexpected and unjustified criticism of her first song that night, she blistered this one in what (until the Led Zep track) was the most memorable moment of the year.

5. “Call Me” - a competently delivered cover of the energetic Blondie anthem. Hey, after the power of the last two songs we need a party tune.

6. “Piece of My Heart” - In the early rounds where she was still searching for her identity, the judges heard her growl and said she could be the next Janis Joplin. Although this proved there was only one Joplin, it also proved Reinhart might be the next best thing. It’s a good performance that suffers only in comparison with the original. The “We Will Rock You” style drum set adds a dimension.

7. “Bennie and the Jets” - the turning point that turned her star power on. Reinhart weaves slinky jazz vocal elements around the clunky Elton John classic and turns it into something smooth and sexy. How did she find that in this song?! “B-B-B-Bennie and the Jetsssss,” indeed.

8. “Beautiful” - This Carole King gem has always been one of my favorites from “Tapestry,” and Reinhart does it justice. “You’ve got to get up every morning with a smile on your face and show the world all the love in your heart.” Yep!

9. “I (Who Have Nothing)” - Raw power, aching vulnerability - did I mention Reinhart’s wheelhouse?

10. “Blue” - On country week Haley unleashed her yodel and turned this LeeAnn Rimes nugget into something memorable.

11. “You Really Got a Hold On Me” - Motown week brought this rollicking cover of the Smokey Robinson classic.

12. “Earth Song” - The judges criticized her for picking this Michael Jackson tune as the “song that inspired her,” but in its context as part of this Haley Reinhart album, this fits right in as the dramatic penultimate song.

13. “I’m Your Baby Tonight” - And to conclude our 43-minute jaunt, a Whitney Houston hit. Judges over the years have warned these young singers not to attempt songs by the really really big stars, lest they be overshadowed by the memory of the original. There was no such criticism here. And this rendition ends with a quick little jazzy "I'm your baby, baby beee tonight ..." Perfect way to end the set.

And there you have it, folks, a really nice album by one of the best vocalists American Idol has ever unearthed. The folks behind the show told her to try being Janis Joplin, Stevie Nicks or Alanis Morrisette - their suggestions showed they didn’t really know who she could be. The ease with which she melded with Tony Bennett on “Steppin’ Out With My Baby” in the final show of the season, and her duet with Casey Abrams on Art Blakey’s “Moanin’,” gave the strongest hint of the heights of Haley Reinhart’s talent. More, please!

Brushing away the cobwebs ...

No, really.

What is happening here is being caused by a force that, up until a few days ago, was entirely beyond the scope of man's imagination.

Crickets chirp when they're feeling, um, creative

The lack of entries in this blog, and the lack of new podcasts since Christmas, should not be construed as the end of anything.

Astute followers of the Attic have no doubt noticed the recent uptick of activity at WarrenBluhm.com, where I am offering words of encouragement and reflection. This site is my place for aural delights, of which there ought to be more in the foreseeable future.

Just checking in to say "hey" and apologize for what may sound like crickets chirping. Well, note the subject line ...

Putzing around the Attic

Uncle Warren's Attic is a continual work in progress. I'm fiddling with some ideas on where to take the podcast next, and meanwhile I've decided to revert to the original purpose of this site, which was and is to supplement the podcast and talk about music and the other eclectic stuff that makes it onto the podcast.

Meanwhile, I've been posting my more philosophical or political thoughts over at a place I'm pretentiously calling WarrenBluhm.com. Check it out if you'd like a piece of my mind, or to share a piece of yours in the proverbial comment section.

UWA will be back soon!

Opening the book on a new year

Lyrics to a little ditty I wrote back in the day ...

Live Till You Die

Nobody said that it would be easy,
Everyone said it could not be done,
But nobody said it would not be worth it,
So go for it now — you've only just begun.

There's no shame in failing before the end comes.
While there's life, there is hope, there's a seed.
It's better to try, give it all that you have,
Than attempt to do nothing and succeed.

There's just too many people out there
Not caring if they live or die
There's just so much to find out there —
You can't laugh if you're afraid to cry.

So this is my plea: Live till you die.
There's no reason you should give up now.
Tomorrow's a blank page to write what you wish —
The rising sun will show you how.

Cross posted to WarrenBluhm.com