Monday, November 21, 2016

party time



"To be on the side of people who are struggling for something doesn't necessarily mean you are being political."


~~ Bob Dylan




"...We weren't actually involved in Memphis politics, but that was the thing -- everybody not wanting to be part of it was Memphis politics."


~~ Bobby Emmons, keyboard player; writer of the song "Luckenbach, Texas"




"I don't believe in the Democratic Party or the Republican Party.  I just believe in parties."


~~ 'Samantha Jones' on Sex and the City







...And speaking of being "borne back ceaselessly into the past," thoughts and allusions to Time, and to The Past, were floating in memory and contemplation...in an interview on the Muscle Shoals documentary soul singer Percy Sledge declares, "Time -- always changes organizations, and things that you're doing in life."





That struck me as -- well -- it struck me.  I wasn't sure if Mr. Sledge was right, on that.  But he said it, so I'll listen.  I guess my own perception is that "Time" per se doesn't actively change something -- people change things, or evolve and apply new ideas and new technologies. 


I mean, time doesn't go out and write a new law, or song, or book, or elect a new president, implement a new program, or -- whatever.  People have to do that, if it's going to get done. 


I always see "Time" as -- well -- just hanging out. 


There in the background.  You check it -- you look to see what time it is, but you don't expect Time to -- finish your work, vacuum your carpet, write your essay, or whatever....




But Bob Dylan says something similar to the Percy Sledge statement, in the documentary No Direction Home -- he says,







about changes in his home town, "Just time, really.  No one can make time stand still."  But there again, like the other quote, he's saying that time changed things.  It still looks to me like people change things.  And maybe weather changes them, sometimes...I don't know. 


Maybe it's generational -- in that earlier wave of people, maybe it was a common expression to say, "Time.  Time changed that."  More laid-back, and philosophical.




Can't argue with Bob Dylan and Percy Sledge.  ...You win!  I agree! 





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