Welcome to my regular Friday song/tune day, ladies and gentlemen, where I pick a piece of music that reflects my mood or the times, to share with you.

In Australia, we had our warmest November on record and now we’ve drifted into summer. It’s a weird time. The entire Australian populace is on holiday, moving en masse around the countryside come hell or high water. Our biggest trading partner and (former?) comrade doesn’t want to talk to us anymore. Our ally and trading competitor is fighting an internal war while its citizens die in their thousands each day as its national leader abrogates any duty of care.

I’ve picked this song for its mournful and wistful tone. I wish it didn’t have to be like this. It doesn’t have to be like this. Let’s all be friends and leave love enough alone. Cue Doug Ashdown’s Winter in America.

Take care, everyone. Be kind to others and to yourself.

Kind Regards.
Tracy.

36 thoughts on “Passions Run Deep”

  1. I’m mournful and wistful too. And angry, as our country looks sure to set forth in a thoroughly unseaworthy craft into stormy seas, having abandoned its nearest friends and neighbours. It’ll take more than a bit of music to cheer me up.

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  2. Thanks for sharing the tune, such as it is, Tracy.

    Regarding your admonition to “Be kind to others and to yourself” I thought you might like to know that one of the National News TV anchors (Lester Holt) has taken to closing his broadcasts with “Take care of yourself and each other.” The first time he did so, what I heard was “Take care of yourself and eat chowder.”
    I was hoping that he was announcing chowder as a cure for the COVID…BUT, um…no.

    Hang in there, T.

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  4. What a beautiful voice. “I wish I’d known enough of love to leave love enough alone.”

    We’re having our first wintry weather here in the back of beyond. Gray sky, wind, snow on the horizon, we’re told. There’s a new and distracting idiocy on the horizon and some political good news that made me think to myself that if Trump hadn’t been such a dick, we might actually know what his administration achieved. But we don’t and most of us wouldn’t care at this point, anyway. The man hasn’t governed much during the four years and not at all during the past 2 months. I know perfectly that we’re on the brink of civil war with 17 states’ attorneys general suing 4 other states for the way they conducted their elections. I cannot imagine what they want so badly that they are willing to overthrow what is in fact the oldest continuous democracy in the world (except Switzerland which, for some reason, people either don’t know about or have forgotten). I go in and out of emotional storms and have pretty much decided that’s how it’s going go be.

    Big hugs Tracy. ❤

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    1. Doug Ashdown is an Australian singer/songwriter. The song was quite popular here in the 70s and also in some northern European countries apparently! Anyway, it sprung to mind. Don’t know why.
      Unfortunately I am surprised by very little these days, Martha. Well, I guess I am a little surprised that some Republicans are intent on dividing their own country. Sending a big hug right back at you. In that introverted way, you understand. 🙂

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  5. ‘’Winter in America” is a new song to me and I found it to be full of longing and regret. Tracy thank you for this beautiful selection! May I suggest “River” by Sarah McLachlan on YouTube

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    1. Thank you, Sid. I really enjoy Sarah McLachlan’s song. Some people barely manage to survive the season to be merry. I let it pass quietly now that the children have grown up. It seems they too are not fans. I wonder how they will celebrate if and when they ever have children of their own?

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  6. Gosh….that’s a blast from the past Tracy 🙂 I haven’t heard that in years. Saw Doug at a couple of gigs as the support for other acts mainly OS ones

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  8. Doug Ashdown’s song immediately made me listen carefully to the words, something I don’t always do, as I tend to get drawn into the melody first. Living in the US, this past year especially but all of the past nearly 4 years with that wretched excuse for a president, the song plunged its sorrow into the depths of my being. I’m old, my future is limited to another decade if I’m lucky. But I worry for my children and grandchildren. This isn’t the world I thought I was helping to build for them. Though Doug Ashdown is singing (beautifully, wistfully) of a love he lost, his pain and regret are universal.

    I just posted the following note on my FaceBook page – sorry, but I don’t know how to post YouTube songs. It takes less than a minute to find the extraordinary performance of the Roedean School Choir.

    Listen to the future of our world – Roedean School is located in Brighton, England, provides education for girls in middle and high school. Go to YouTube and search for Roedean School performing Leonard Cohen’s song Hallelujah. The school is closed because of Covid 19 but it found a way to bring the students together to perform one of the most exquisite versions of this iconic song ever recorded. These young girls are surviving this interruption of their teenage lives with aplomb and grace and a passion for the work of music. They will one day be the leaders of their country.

    I am certain that all over the world, young people are rising above the terror of the raging virus and the disgraceful politics of so many “leaders” who have put personal power and wealth above the needs of their constituents. If there are enough young people like the children of Roedean’s choir and enough teachers like those instructing them, they will exit this health crisis and show the way to a better future for all of mankind. Please listen to their performance. You will be moved as I was, I am certain. And these children make me hopeful, something I need to feel at this moment.

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    1. Thank you for that heartwarming suggestion, Sharon. I agree that it is the best cover I’ve ever seen/heard of that song. What a wonderful achievement. If they can achieve that, those young people can achieve anything. Hip, hip, hooray for the arts and an arts education. It is as vital as STEM subjects to our collective well-being and future. Unsurprisingly, the arts is another area that is under attack by right wing politicians here in Australia.
      I’m glad you found something worth listening to in the Doug Ashdown song. Who knows why these songs pop into my head when they do …

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    2. Just listened to the Roedan School choir’s version of Hallelujah, Shari – it brought tears to my eyes, so beautiful was it. Thank you for pointing it out to is! ❤

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