The morning is bright and cool, reminding me of the Wisconsin North Woods which are subject to spells of midsummer cool days.  The human mind strives to recognize patterns. Our default is the assumption that our mind-made pattern is the form of reality, which we presume will persist .   Thus I am “tipped off balance” by a palpably cool day in late July after a run of days in 90 degree summer heat. 

Certainly I and others have become accustomed in outlook to the pandemic.  Freedom of movement without concern about contracting an airborne virus, carrying a spectrum of potential long term disabilities, loss of taste, of smell, of mental acuity, perhaps death, — has receded into our memories.  Receiving the vaccine has helped but not eliminated our habit of caution.  I remember occasions of being present for a concert with thousands of fellow citizens, under a summer sky, together bathed in ecstasy of tune and lyric, the story of our lives, delivered live, on stage.  Perhaps this is no universal truth, but for me those experiences in memory were analogous to heaven, as close as I need be to paradise. 

Yesterday we attended a concert at the United Center in Chicago, a joint performance by James Taylor and Jackson Browne.  Concert attendees who were vaccinated were not required to wear a protective mask.  There in an arena nearly filled with fellowmen and women, all present for the music, the sensation was indescribable.  That alone was worth the price of the ticket.

I greatly enjoyed the tunes written and performed by James Taylor, though I’d not followed him in the past, and was familiar with only several of his most popular songs.  Familiar with more of Jackson Browne’s music, I felt mesmerized by a live performance of songs, which I knew only by the studio versions.  Live on stage, you could feel the force of the performers personality, and feel the magnetic-like field of exchange between band members, and support vocalists.  It is obvious to me that music is the force that keeps us spiritually alive, that holds us together, that allows us to create a future.   While on stage Taylor said, how deep was their felt need to make music, and how much they needed us, the audience.  I think that I understand.

Browne and Taylor joined on stage to offer this song, written by Jackson Browne, The Pretender.  The tune is somber, a lament, an accurate snapshot of life of the majority of us at this point in time in the United States.  The song describes the effect of the prime directive of capitalism, “the economy” upon the employee-worker.  Put another way, the lyric paints a picture of a “bread winner” who experiences the day to day as a closed-end struggle, “settling,” for the “legal tender”.  The facts are grim, and the vista can be entertained, held for contemplation when wrapped by melody of guitar chords and the harmony of human voices.  The song is about many things, intertwined themes. 

I felt tears come while I listened.  “Are you there?”  “Say a Prayer for The Pretender,” is about each of us.

The Pretender

By Jackson Browne

I’m going to rent myself a house
In the shade of the freeway
I’m going to pack my lunch in the morning
And go to work each day
And when the evening rolls around
I’ll go on home and lay my body down
And when the morning light comes streaming in
I’ll get up and do it again
Amen
Say it again
Amen

I want to know what became of the changes
We waited for love to bring
Were they only the fitful dreams
Of some greater awakening
I’ve been aware of the time going by
They say in the end it’s the wink of an eye
And when the morning light comes streaming in
You’ll get up and do it again
Amen

Caught between the longing for love
And the struggle for the legal tender
Where the sirens sing and the church bells ring
And the junk man pounds his fender
Where the veterans dream of the fight
Fast asleep at the traffic light
And the children solemnly wait
For the ice cream vendor
Out into the cool of the evening
Strolls the Pretender
He knows that all his hopes and dreams
Begin and end there

Ah the laughter of the lovers
As they run through the night
Leaving nothing for the others
But to choose off and fight
And tear at the world with all their might
While the ships bearing their dreams
Sail out of sight

I’m going to find myself a girl
Who can show me what laughter means
And we’ll fill in the missing colors
In each other’s paint-by-number dreams
And then we’ll put our dark glasses on
And we’ll make love until our strength is gone
And when the morning light comes streaming in
We’ll get up and do it again
Get it up again

I’m going to be a happy idiot
And struggle for the legal tender
Where the ads take aim and lay their claim
To the heart and the soul of the spender
And believe in whatever may lie
In those things that money can buy
Though true love could have been a contender
Are you there?
Say a prayer for the Pretender
Who started out so young and strong
Only to surrender