Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Golden Slumbers

Once there was a way to get back homeward
Once there was a way to get back home
Sleep pretty darling do not cry
And I will sing a lullabye

Golden slumbers fill your eyes
Smiles awake you when you rise
Sleep pretty darling do not cry
And I will sing a lullabye

Once there was a way to get back homeward
Once there was a way to get back home
Sleep pretty darling do not cry
And I will sing a lullabye

Golden Slumbers from the B side of the landmark Beatles album, Abbey Road.
When I hear this, I am almost immediately drawn back to high school when I first heard this, in a fresh out of the wrapper vinyl disc on a Panasonic turntable with top of the line, for the time, anyway, headphones.  I was at the home of a Sophomore gymnast new to our high school team.  The whole vinyl platter was a master piece of recording.  The Fab Four demonstrated in this single collection that they could play anything, and play it well.  The drum riff in Carry That Weight ended once and for all the question of Ringo’s ability as a drummer, and the guitar riffs are pure brilliance.  The tunes on the ‘A’ side may be more well known, but it was the ‘B’ side that caught my attention.  I listened to them over and over again, wearing out several Vinyl’s and a couple of Cassette tapes.
So, why am I reminiscing tonight over an album by a band that broke up over 40 years ago, two of whom are dead?
I guess I’m daydreaming.  I had a visit today from two high school friends today.  They were in the class that graduated the year after mine, but we were friends none-the-less.  The brother of one of them was probably my best friend in high school.  We were in the same grade, went to the same church and were in the same Boy Scout troop.
He died in the Nam, it just took him a few years to realize it.
So today I had lunch with my high school best friend’s brother, and another friend from back then.  It was great, and hard at the same time, but mostly it was great.

And in the end,
The love you take
Is equal to the love you make.

Thanks, Bill and Vickie.  You never know how much this meant to me.

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