A new year, turn the page.  We prefer predictability do we not?  We cannot help ourselves.  Each of us is a standard issue mammal, albeit a language enabled one.  Like every living thing our bodies seek homeostasis, that delicate balance which makes living easier, an economy of energy exchange.  Those undisturbed circumstances, you know those interludes of peace, when conditions do not demand the expenditure of extra effort, of additional (unbudgeted) energy to sustain our lives.

The new year 2024 is not going to be a groundhog day repeat of 2023.  But this we can count on.  The new year will be a challenge.  Let’s disabuse ourselves of the fantasy of predicting the future.  There is a wild card in the deck, more than one even.  Other human beings, Nature/climate change are two that immediately come to mind.

Let’s be loose, enjoy the ride, give thanks that you and I got a ticket to be here, and let us do what is in our power to lend a hand to others around us.

Here is my pick of a tune for the first day of 2024.  Dancing In The Dark is Bruce Springsteen’s biggest hit.  I first heard this cover by biz coletti while watching Slow Horses, Season 3, Episode 8 on Apple TV.  The line that I like most: Hey there baby, I could just use a little help.

Dancing In The Dark

By biz coletti

I get up in the evening
And I ain’t got nothing to say
I come home in the morning
I go to bed feeling the same way
I ain’t nothing but tired
Man, I’m just tired and bored with myself
Hey there baby, I could use just a little help

You can’t start a fire
You can’t start a fire without a spark
This gun’s for hire
Even if we’re just dancing in the dark

Message keeps getting clearer
Radio’s on and I’m moving ’round the place
I check my look in the mirror
I wanna change my clothes, my hair, my face
Man, I ain’t getting nowhere
I’m just living in a dump like this
There’s something happening somewhere
Baby, I just know that there is

You can’t start a fire
You can’t start a fire without a spark
This gun’s for hire
Even if we’re just dancing in the dark

You sit around getting older
There’s a joke here somewhere and it’s on me
I’ll shake this world off my shoulders
Come on, baby, the laugh’s on me

Stay on the streets of this town
And they’ll be carving you up all right
They say you gotta stay hungry
Hey, baby, I’m just about starving tonight
I’m dying for some action
I’m sick of sitting ’round here trying to write this book
I need a love reaction
Come on now, baby, gimme just one look

You can’t start a fire
Sitting ’round crying over a broken heart
This gun’s for hire
Even if we’re just dancing in the dark
You can’t start a fire
Worrying about your little world falling apart
This gun’s for hire
Even if we’re just dancing in the dark

Even if we’re just dancing in the dark
Even if we’re just dancing in the dark
Even if we’re just dancing in the dark
Hey, baby

Written by Bruce Springsteen