The Daily News
The song is over, it's all behind me
I should've known it, she tried to find me
Our love is over, they're all ahead now
I've got to learn it, I'm gonna sing out
I'll sing my song to the wide open spaces
I'll sing my heart out to the infinite sea
I'll sing my visions to the sky high mountains
I'll sing my song to the free, to the free
I'll sing my song to the wide open spaces
I'll sing my heart out to the infinite sea
I'll sing my visions to the sky high mountains
I'll sing my song to the free, to the free
When I walked in through the door
Thought it was me I was looking for
She was the first song I ever sang
But it stopped as soon as it began
Our love is over, it's all behind me
They're all ahead now, can't hope to find me
I'll sing my song to the wide open spaces
I'll sing my heart out to the infinite sea
I'll sing my visions to the sky high mountains
I'll sing my song to the free, to the free
I'll sing my song to the wide open spaces
I'll sing my heart out to the infinite sea
I'll sing my visions to the sky high mountains
I'll sing my song to the free, to the free
This song is over, I'm left with only tears
I must remember, even if it takes a million years
---Pete Townshend, The Song is Over
1 There once was a note, Pure and Easy, playing so free like a breath rippling by.
2 That tune wasn't on the Tommy album, which is floating above.
3 I know this.
4 Friday the madness ended.
5 Graduation happened, but in the scheme of things, much more took place when it stopped.
6 When it stopped, the insanity of an impossible time in my life stopped as well. Good things happened. College students did a staggered return home to waiting friends and family. Soldiers came home. Friends gathered. A crossroads. And wonderful changes in many areas occurred as we all moved forward another scissor step.
7 On Friday night Ponch and I and a few guys headed up to ATT Park for the Giants/A's game. We laughed and enjoyed an evening that felt we all had been released finally to enjoy all that is good in life.
8 He's marrying the very awesome Vicki Robledo this coming Sunday. This was a simple celebration with the Boyz. It had all stopped for all of us on Friday night, and we just sat at a ballgame like the Boyz of Summer.
9 Life completely changed on Friday night. Maybe a rite of passage. Very much a rite of passage.
10 Measured against an entire school year with intensity beyond anything I've ever done, this simple trip to the Yard blew everything that seemed so important out of the water.
11 It was the Giants/A's and five fans, laughing and enjoying a night of baseball.
12 The rest of the world with all its seeming importance vanished.
13 Saturday morning I got to the Graduation of the Year, The Chill Class of '08 at the SJSU Event Center. Sellout. Over 4010 in attendance, wall-to-wall. Huge screen with the speeches dissolving artistically. Everything top-notch. Over swiftly because no old poops were able to talk about how terrific other old poops were.
14 The Graduation was all about the students. They cheered for their leaders and for their peers. They cheered for their class, and they cheered just to cheer. It all worked. The best in the District had spoken, and it all worked.
15 And the second it was over I went home, cleaned up, and we took off to Capitola for my nephew Michael's graduation from UCSC. We were late for the ceremony but hit a great party in Capitola with close family and friends laughing into the cool evening. We laughed all night, at one point sitting in the glow of a crackling fire and enjoying the peace.
16 And yesterday I got to see my Dad. Nothing mattered more.
17 There once was a note. Listen.
18 Real life has begun. Ponch and Vicki on Sunday.
19 The following week we're celebrating both Caitlin and Nicole's graduation from college, again bringing in the family, and enjoying life without being owned by a school, or by anything else except Love.
20 Right after the Graduation and before Michael's party I played the Who's The Song is Over. If you know it, sing along. It's a beautiful song that simply worked.
21 As it played I rolled out of the SJSU Event Center and never looked back. I saw a graduate with her family walking off campus. She carried a white balloon on a string.
22 There once was a note. So...Tim Russert walks into a bar...
23 Listen.
24 I saw a bird soaring toward a single cloud.
25 I saw life, and joy, and all that is REALLY important, which is family and friends.
26 This is the last DN of this year.
27 Thank all of you for realizing this is more than just a "blog".
28 I report my things because very often they are your things as well.
29 I saw my Dad and my Mom, my sisters, cousins and friends. We will celebrate every wonderful event there is this summer. Everybody raised a glass, and we were all there, and healthy, celebrating our lives.
30 We all graduated.
31 At long last, I've got my life back. Get your life back.
32 Pure and Easy.
33 To all of you: thank you for riding along with me this very intense and frustrating year. It's been yet another year of exhaustion, insomnia, teevee, pondering, laughter, and mostly loving life no matter what else.
34 There once was a note. On the teevee Maria Shriver just yelled, "It's a rite of passage!"
35 Listen.
36 See you when we get back.
37 Live life.
38 Love life.
39 To Ken and Vicki: wishing you both a beautiful lasting Love.
40 There once was a note.
41 Listen.
42 Peace.
| |
 |
|
There once was a note, pure and easy
Playing so free, like a breath rippling by
The note is eternal, I hear it, it sees me
Forever we blend and forever we die
I listened and I heard music in a word
And words when you played your guitar
The noise that I was hearing was a million people cheering
And a child flew past me riding in a star
As people assemble
Civilization is trying to find a new way to die
But killing is really merely scene changing
All men are bored with other men's lies
I listened and I heard music in a word
And words when you played your guitar
The noise that I was hearing was a million people cheering
And a child flew past me riding in a star
Gas on a hillside, oil in the teacup
Watch all the chords of life lose their joy
Distortion becomes somehow pure in its wildness
The note that began all can also destroy
We all know success when we all find our own dreams
And our love is enough to knock down any wall
And the future's been seen as men try to realize
The simple secret of the note in us all
I listened and I heard music in a word
And words when you played your guitar
The noise that I was hearing was a million people cheering
And a child flew past me riding in a star
There once was a note, pure and easy
Playing so free, like a breath rippling by
There once was a note, listen
There once was a note, listen |
Recent Comments