August 3, 2023 (Song #2042):  “People’s Parties/Same Situation” by Joni Mitchell from Court and Spark. LYRICS & SONG HISTORY APPLE MUSIC 

Sometime in the spring of 1984, a double-sided cassette tape with both “Ladies of The Canyon” and “Court and Spark” made its way from a sidewalk record seller into my AIWA walkman.  The first time I listened to these two Joni Mitchell albums, I lay on my bed for two hours and didn’t move. Just like everyone else, I’d heard “Help Me” and “Big Yellow Taxi” and “Circle Game” and “Both Sides Now” and “Chelsea Morning”, but these records were something else altogether.  I can’t explain why, except that the songs seemed to be other-worldly.  Almost 40 years later, I still consider Joni’s voice and songwriting to be the pinnacle of the art.  

Last year, I was one of the lucky ones who saw Joni Mitchell sing at the Newport Folk Festival with the amazing Brandi Carlile.  I love Brandi and her shows at Newport are always fabulous, so I’d pushed my way to the front of the standing crowd and stood a few feet from the stage to watch her perform; when Brandi announced that Joni was joining her, I finally understood the crying, screaming, fainting teenagers in the black & white news footage from 1964 when the Beatles came to America.  That was us!  Everywhere I looked there were people sobbing, including me.

So now, a year later, it’s my 60th birthday and I’m ready to make a change.  Some of you probably knew this was coming: I am giving myself the gift of time and new interests. Therefore, today’s SOTD post will be the final “Song of the Day” for a while. I may strike it back up again, I may not. 

“What are you going to do with your time, Suzanne??,” you ask? Well, first, I’ll spend less time on this computer and more time with Peter and our kids.  I’d like to walk more, bike more, do more yoga, visit more with my parents, siblings and friends, finish some of the books that are in piles next to my bed, get through a New Yorker or two, be a better, well-rested teacher once the school  year starts, maybe sell one of my songs to a movie, maybe write a movie, maybe take up cooking or sewing and, of course, make more music.  Yes, I’ll definitely continue to sing every day and hope you do, too.  The website will still be here with lots of links to lots of songs and, who knows?, maybe I will post again occasionally.  

Thank you ALL so much for your support during the past 5 ½ years.  It’s been a pleasure. Sing Daily & Stay Healthy! Xoxo

August 2, 2023 (Song #2041): T-1*: 

While combing through my list of the 600+ songs I’ve never posted,  I was confused when I realized that during the 5 ½ years and 2041 songs I’ve posted as a Song Of The Day, I never shared this song:  “Helplessly Hoping” written by Stephen Stills and performed by Crosby, Stills & Nash.

How is it possible that a song that’s brought me so much joy has been neglected? 

The answer can only be that the world is full of so much “good” music that it’s impossible to capture all of it in a finite amount of time. 

A similar, related answer is that I find most music in this world “good”, so the possibilities for connection are endless.

If you know me, you know that I feel that way about people, too.

So, there I am in a nutshell, on the day before my 60th birthday and the beginning of my seventh decade on this planet: I am a sponge for all things beautiful, fun, poignant, and relevant – which includes you.

Thank you for joining me on this “Sing Daily!” journey.

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This song, along with “Closer To Fine” by the Indigo Girls (SOTD #12): “By My Side” (no lyric video) from Godspell (also never posted) and “You Can Close Your Eyes” by James Taylor (SOTD #108) are four of my favorite songs to sing with friends and family. If you see me on my birthday tomorrow, please sing along with me.

Happy Birthday to Kevin Cazzetta (hope you’re enjoying retirement!) and cousin Jeffrey Winston! 

July 28, 2023 (Song #2036): T-6*:  Celebrating the Eagles: “Lyin’ Eyes”, “Peaceful Easy Feelin’”, “Take It To The Limit” (featuring Randy Meisner, who died yesterday) and “The Last Resort”,

T-6 brings me to 2016, the year that Mannasses Ogutu graduated from Staples High School.  “Manny” came into our lives through Eric Seidman and the A Better Chance program. 

When I asked my kids to describe Eric they immediately said: he is kind, funny, a great conversationalist, knowledgeable on a million subjects, always interested in everyone around him & tall. 

I met Eric at Colgate my freshman year in 1981; from the moment we met, I thought of him as an older brother-from-another-mother because we share so much in common: a love of skiing (Eric spent a year skiing in Alta the year after I did), a love of music (we both sang in the Colgate a cappella groups), a love of people and, particularly, a love of Leslie Seidman (see SOTD from June 25th) (ok, we love her in different ways, but still).  Eric is also my personal memory bank: if I ever can’t remember anything that happened to me, I just ask Eric. 

Eric is the kind of guy who makes it hard to say no to him: he’s incredibly smart and charming and can basically persuade a person to do anything, which is how we fell under his spell as he told us about a program for which he was volunteering in Westport: A Better Chance.   We were completely blown away by the mission of this organization and then he said: “You guys need to be a Host Family” (ABC scholars live in a group home during the week and spend each Sunday and one weekend a month at their Host Families’ homes).  Wait-a-whoa… What? 

We were fascinated by the idea, though not actually ready to dive in until 2013; man, oh man, are we glad we did.   In the fall of 1993, Rose started her freshman year at the University of Maryland and Bennett was a junior at Staples; we went to the ABC house in Westport to meet Mannasses Young Ogutu and his father, Nahashon and cousin, Lydia (a few months later, we also met his mom Stephanie).  To say that it was “love at first sight” sounds crazy, I know, but it was.  The minute I hugged Mannasses I felt as if we were bonded for life.  Eric, of course, was right. 

Today’s SOTD is one of Manny’s favorites (along with apples and anime), which reminds me of another one of my favorites (“Peaceful Easy Feeling”), that I used to sing with my friends Kevin & Ed (see SOTD from June 20th), and, I may have gotten this memory wrong (Eric?), but I think one of Eric’s favorites is “The Last Resort”.   Enjoy, Big Er. xoxo

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August 1, 2023 (Song #2040): T-2*:  Rabbit-Rabbit People.  “Wayland The Rabbit” by Seals & Crofts (no lyric video today, but you can click on CC below the video to read the lyrics.)

T-2 is a song that reaches way down into my core; it reminds me how grateful I am to have had a chance to learn how to deal with the good, the bad and the ugly in life. As Coach John Wooden said: “Things turn out best for the people who make the best of the way things turn out.”. And, since today is also the 1st of the month, it reminds me of my mom and her group of close girlfriends (“Camp Thunder Thighs”) who said “Rabbit Rabbit” on the first of every month for “good luck”.  Mom’s friendships with these people (and many others) taught me, among other things, what it means to be a good friend.  I am so grateful for the lessons and am even more grateful that what I learned from her is alive and well in my own children and their wonderful friendships.

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