Dick and Mick

Reviewing, and reveling in, the lyrics of the Rolling Stones' "Rip This Joint" (Exile on Main Street), lines play through my head like cheerful billboards --

Mama says yes, Papa says no,
make up your mind 'cause I gotta go --

I'm gonna raise hell at the Union Hall
(how does one "raise hell" at a Union Hall??)

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Rip this joint, gonna save your soul --

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...start my starter, gonna stop the show....

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Mister President, Mister Immigration Man -- Let me in sweetie to your fair land....

(is that a request you make to an immigration official...?  sweetie...?)

Tampa
Memphis
Buffalo
Washington, D.C. (referred to as "old D.C.")
San José
Santa Fe
New Orleans
Dallas
Birmingham
"Alabam'" -- they just like saying -- nay, singing -- the names of American places...!!

..."Dick and Pat in old D.C., Well they're gonna hold some shit for me."

President of the United States at the time the song was written and put out -- Richard Nixon, and his wife, First Lady Patricia ("Pat") Nixon. 

Pretty irresistible.  ("Hold some s--t"...what kinda s--t?  A little Acapulco Gold...?  Mick's teasin' us.  President and Mrs. Nixon would not have been "holding" anything for any of the Rolling Stones unless it was maybe some tea and cookies, and that would probably only have happened if I had been there to talk them into it.

Couldn't help but wonder -- was President Nixon aware that he & his wife had been mentioned, in a humorous way, in a great song, on a transcendant album, by the Rolling Stones?  Would his daughters have heard the song & mentioned it to him?  I hope so -- he could have used a good laugh, I think.

Recently came across article about Pres. Nixon in Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia -- [outtake] --------------------Nixon's presidency was doomed by his personality, [biographer Richard] Reeves argues:  "He assumed the worst in people and he brought out the worst in them....He clung to the idea of being 'tough'.  He thought that was what had brought him to the edge of greatness.  But that was what betrayed him.  He could not open himself to other  men and he could not open himself to greatness."

Nixon believed that putting distance between himself and other people was necessary for him as he advanced in his political career and became president.  Even Bebe Rebozo, by some accounts his closest friend, did not call him by his first name.  Nixon stated of this,

"Even with close friends, I don't believe in letting your hair down, confiding this and that and the other thing -- saying, 'Gee, I couldn't sleep'...I believe you should keep your troubles to yourself.  That's just the way I am. 

Some people are different. 

Some people think it's good therapy to sit with a close friend and, you know, just spill your guts... [and] reveal their inner psyche -- whether they were breast-fed or bottle-fed.  Not me.  No way."  When told that most Americans, even at the end of his career, did not feel they knew him, Nixon replied, "Yeah, it's true.  And it's not necessary for them to know."--------------------------------------------------[end outtake]

"Not me.  No way."  lol - not laughing "at" the former president, but laughing with him....there's wisdom in what he says, and characteristic vigor and curtness in the way he says it -- I can just "hear" him...!

"I believe you should keep your troubles to yourself.  That's just the way I am."

Was thinking recently how sometimes if there's a problem, or a struggle, it's good to communicate about it to someone, while other times you feel more strength and positivity by not discussing it with anyone.  (Nobody else's business...!)  Both tactics can be effective, and it's up to the individual to select which one works for them in which situation.  And other people should respect that -- no one should try to tell another person how to feel.

(And as soon as I'm done typing this, I'm gonna go find someone I can "bother" by telling them how happy, joyful, and optimistic they ought to be....)

"Round and round and round we go....
Ahh-h-h--h -- let it rock!!..."

-30-