Loving And From The Heart

Had a songwriting moment this morning.

If I had song writing talent.

A little background. I recently read Graham Nash's autobiography. It was tasty.

One of my favorite musical memories is of a beautiful summer night at Meadowbrook, with my lovely wife Carol, both of us being serenaded by Crosby, Stills and Nash.

Absolutely gorgeous. Picture a perfect summer night, imagine the exquisite harmonies of these three talented men floating out across the audience.

When they sang the last note of the last song of the night I had tears running down my cheeks.

It was that beautiful.

In his book, Nash talks about writing the song "Our House." You know it well - "Our house, is a very, very fine house. With two cats in the yard, life used to be so hard, now everything is easy 'cause of you."

The song was a slice of life, as so many songs are.

Nash was dating Joni Mitchell at the time. They had spent a loving day shopping, eating out, and being together. Joni purchased a vase that caught her attention.

The first line of the song is: "I'll light the fire, you place the flowers in the vase that you bought today."

That is exactly what they did that day when they got home. Graham lit a fire, Joni added life to her vase.

That to me is the beauty of songwriting and poetry. You take something simple but meaningful and you write about it. And if it is real it resonates with people.

They had two cats. They had a love for each other as creative people and as mere humans that felt like the answer to everything.

Jump back to today's reality. Carol has been sick for four days now. Very sick. Tormented by a cold that just won't quit. I have the weekend off. Three days of peace, love and understanding.

I was thinking about crawling out of bed when Carol got up after a coughing fit. She spent some time in the bathroom to get things back under control. While she was in there, Lakota and Maka shifted over to her side of the bed.

I got up when Carol crawled back into bed and Lakota and Maka shifted to my side of the bed.

I looked back over my shoulder as I left the room to see our two precious cats lying side by side.

Boom. "Our House" popped into my head.

Our house - is a very, very fine house. With two cats on the bed, a cold in Carol's head, for me a cup of tea and a precious book.

I ain't no Graham Nash but you get the point.

That moment was precious to me. That moment was my life, my sick wife who I worry about, our precious cats intimate to each other and to Carol.

A moment every bit as precious to me as Graham Nash's day was to him.

By the way, there is one songwriter's story I have always gotten a kick out of.

John Lennon. "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds."

Everyone was up in arms because he wrote a story about LSD. He explained that he got the idea from a picture his son Julian drew of Lucy in the sky with diamonds and that it had nothing to do with LSD.

Read the lyrics and you will dig John's cheeky sense of humor. He knew because he was a Beatle, he could say anything he wanted to and people would be afraid to doubt him. Ain't no way that song did not come out of a trip on acid.

While you are researching song lyrics, look up the lyrics to "Our House." There ain't a hell of a lot more to it but what there is, is loving and from the heart. Painted beautifully.

If we as the human race had any goddamn brains or sensitivity that is how we would live our lives.

Loving and from the heart.