Optimism Circa 1960's

Three posts in one day - I'm on a roll! Guess I'd better do this while my fingers are hot because who knows, maybe the next inspiration will come three months from now.

For your viewing pleasure I have embedded another YouTube video, this one a performance by my favorite female musical artist, Laura Nyro, a live version of Save the Country. Back in the '60's, lots of people were jumping on the peace and freedom, anti-war bandwagon, many of them I suspect because their producers knew what was hot and where the $$$ were. But of this I am certain: Laura Nyro truly believed in what she wrote and she lived her songs. Sadly, she died of cancer in 1997 but her songs are every bit as relevant now as when she wrote them during her 30+ year career.

In Save the Country, Ms. Nyro matches perfectly the music to the lyrics. Uplifting, hopeful, sung with such pleading urgency and conviction. If I sounded cliched in my previous post, this adds to it: what happened to all of this? In 1969 when New York Tendaberry, the album containing this song, was released, I was just starting high school - what a different world back then! People have always been selfish throughout their existence but society had not yet evolved into the "me first" attitude that permeates 2007.

I watch the video performance and want to raise my fist and say, yes, we can do this, but like the previous post's performance, a terrible sadness comes over me as I say to myself that this video is from yesterday and the mood was different yesterday.

That said, am I somehow slipping to the left? Mais No! But I'd like to hope that war is not the answer to everything and that we in this 21st century can care enough to embrace ideals like what were expressed by the song that's in this post.

Well, I've said enough. Please, just watch the video and let it speak for itself. Laura Nyro was an amazing human being.