A Taste Of Thyme Sweetened Honey
Last night I attended a concert by a cover band of Eagles music. A few years ago, I was lucky enough to hear The Eagles perform live. That concert and those songs continue to change my life, to be sources of hope. My wife was with me for that event. At the time she was well into treatment for breast cancer. The side effects of the life saving treatment were painful beyond my ability to understand. The songs performed live by the men who conceived the lyrics became her lifeline, something to hold on to, until better days arrived.
That concert of a few years ago was opened with Seven Bridges Road. Last night once again the song was performed. I shed a few tears while listening to the harmonies. My tears were not nostalgia. The sadness was for what we are doing to one another, and to this wonderful earth upon which we depend. This earth supplies what we need to sustain ourselves, and may be invested with the beauty and meaning that will keep us sane. Or we may invest it with anti-immigrant sentiment, misogyny, militarism, and unrestricted exploitation for profit. We have both options within us. Why are we choosing the darker path?
Steve Young was inspired to write “Seven Bridges Road” during a sojourn in Montgomery, Alabama, in the early 1960s: according to Young “a group of friends…showed me a road that led out of town…After you had crossed seven bridges you found yourself out in the country on a dirt road. Spanish moss hung in the trees and there were old farms with old fences and graveyards and churches and streams. A high-bank dirt road with trees. It seemed like a Disney fantasy at times. People went there to park or get stoned or just to get away from it all. I thought my friends had made up the name ‘Seven Bridges Road’. I found out later that it had been called by that name for over a hundred years. The song was recorded by the Eagles in 1980.
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I love this blog!