Took a walk yesterday; a mid-winter warmup, the sidewalk was melted clear of ice.  Walking past Almond Marsh I felt sad, resonating with the gray sky, the muted brown of the decaying cattails. The melt water was a sheen of reflected light upon an ice covered marsh.  The world before me appeared ethereal drained of life, winter’s decay.  In the distance two Canada geese kept company on the ice.  Geese are adapted to a severe season.

I, the observer and writer, like the geese — am a survivor, adapted to the necessary, reciprocal extremes, the feedback loop of Nature.  That is the principle is it not?  What comes up, must come down.  What you give, is what you get.  And on, and on…  Infinity is illusion, a projection of our minds.  There’s life, and there’s death.  Eternal life!  Ha!  When there’s a beginning, there has to be ending.

The song by Alannah Myles, a meditation upon Elvis’s life and death says it better than I ever will: sensuous, transgressive, something “in the heart… leaves ’em cryin’ in the aisle.”

Is not religion that very human — “always wanting more?”

Black Velvet

By Alannah Myles

Mississippi in the middle of a dry spell
Jimmy Rogers on the Victrola up high
Mama’s dancin’ with baby on her shoulder
The sun is settin’ like molasses in the sky
The boy could sing, knew how to move, everything
Always wanting more, he’d leave you longing for

Black velvet and that little boy’s smile
Black velvet with that slow southern style
A new religion that’ll bring ya to your knees
Black velvet if you please

Up in Memphis the music’s like a heatwave
White lightning, bound to drive you wild
Mama’s baby’s in the heart of every school girl
“Love me tender” leaves ’em cryin’ in the aisle
The way he moved, it was a sin, so sweet and true
Always wanting more, he’d leave you longing for

Black velvet and that little boy’s smile
Black velvet with that slow southern style
A new religion that’ll bring ya to your knees
Black velvet if you please

Every word of every song that he sang was for you
In a flash he was gone, it happened so soon, what could
You do?

Black velvet and that little boy’s smile
Black velvet with that slow southern style
A new religion that’ll bring ya to your knees
Black velvet if you please

Black velvet and that little boy’s smile
Black velvet with that slow southern style
A new religion that’ll bring ya to your knees
Black velvet if you please
If you please, if you please, if you please

Lyrics by David Michael Tyson , Christopher William Ward

Christopher Ward, the writer of this song, said in Fred Bronson’s book “The Billboard Book of Number-One Hits”

“They sent me to Memphis to cover the 10th anniversary of Elvis’ death in the summer of 1987. They put me and a camera (operator) on a tour bus with 40 Elvis fanatics, which was an experience unto itself. I came to understand what the incredible passion was that these people had for this man, and what he really represented to them.”

For this song, Alannah Myles received a Grammy award for “Best Female Rock Performer”