Sunday, a day traditionally reserved for mindful reflection.  I awakened early this morning aware of a dream that I was leaving behind.  It was an interesting dream, unlike the violent, terror laced dreams that came on occasion during the Trump administration.  When you have a bully to contend with, the dreams are of panic.  A bully inspires dread.  Without the incessant blustering, the yammering on twitter, I feel relatively secure, able to focus upon fighting the pandemic, doing my part to build goodwill in the aftermath of his racist, predatory regime.

Now, Trump is merely a garden variety bully.  Stripped of the office of the presidency he can be dealt with as a bully is customarily dealt with.  A punch in the face often is sufficient.

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Occasionally I hear this song played on the radio.  I listened to it again yesterday and knew the tune was the one to be featured for today.  It was written for the 1982 film, An Officer and a Gentleman that starred Richard Gere.  The story is quintessentially American, indeed a story of humanity.  Life is a crap shoot, hazardous, permeated with misfortune and good luck.  It is a story of tragedy and of love.  This theme song for An Officer and a Gentleman is so closely associated with the movie, the Youtube video which I selected features clips from the movie.

You will want to read the backstory of the tune after viewing/listening to the video.

Finally, a thought for the week ahead:

STAY LOOSE
…make little signs that say “yes.”

Up Where We Belong

by Joe Cocker and Jennifer Warnes

Who knows what tomorrow brings
In a world, few hearts survive
All I know is the way I feel
When it’s real, I keep it alive

The road is long, there are mountains in our way
But we climb a step every day

Love lift us up where we belong
Where the eagles cry on a mountain high
Love lift us up where we belong
Far from the world below, up where the clear winds blow

Some hang on to “used to be”
Live their lives, looking behind
All we have is here and now
All our life, out there to find

The road is long, there are mountains in our way
But we climb a step every day

Love lift us up where we belong
Where the eagles cry on a mountain high
Love lift us up where we belong
Far from the world below, up where the clear winds blow

Time goes by
No time to cry
Life’s you and I
Alive, today

Love lift us up where we belong
Where the eagles cry on a mountain high
Love lift us up where we belong
Far from the world below, up where the clear winds blow

Love lift us up where we belong
Where the eagles cry on a mountain high
Love lift us up where we belong

Lyrics by Jack Nitzsche, Will Jennings, Buffy Sainte-marie

Up Where We Belong is a song written by Jack Nitzsche, Buffy Sainte-Marie and Will Jennings that was recorded by Joe Cocker and Jennifer Warnes for the 1982 film An Officer and a Gentleman. Warnes was recommended to sing a song from the film because of her previous soundtrack successes, and she had the idea for the song to be a duet that she would perform with Cocker. Jennings selected various sections of the score by Nitzsche and Sainte-Marie in creating the structure of the song and added lyrics about the struggles of life and love and the obstacles in the way that we attempt to dodge. It was released in July of that year to coincide with the release of the film.

On February 24, 1982, Joe Cocker performed “I’m So Glad I’m Standing Here Today” with the jazz group the Crusaders at the Grammy Awards.  Their collaboration on the song for a Crusaders album had earned a nomination that year in the category of Best Inspirational Performance.  Singer-songwriter Jennifer Warnes saw the show from home.  She had been a fan of Cocker’s since her teens and at one time had a poster of him on her wall showing him performing at Woodstock,  and her love for the singer was still evident on this night many years later. “I was so moved, I was hollering out loud with joy, jumping up and down … After a difficult battle with drugs and alcohol, Joe was in total command once again. I knew at that moment that I would sing with Joe.”

Meanwhile, plans were being made for An Officer and a Gentleman to be distributed by Paramount Pictures, and studio executive Frank Mancuso was insistent upon having some kind of music to use to promote the film. The director of the film, Taylor Hackford, was also interested in producing an original title song to help market it, but there was no remaining budget for such a recording.  He proceeded with the idea anyway, working with Joel Sill, who was head of music at Paramount at the time, without anyone else at the studio knowing that they were doing so.  — wikipedia