Jumpin Jack Flash

On my morning run I listening to Don McLean's "American Pie," and remembered the "day the music died." Let's see, on this 40th anniversary of Woodstock as I page back through the memory files, what day was it that the music died for me?

As I turn one of those yellowed pages of my memory I see the faint picture of me hearing "Yellow Submarine" for the first time. The Beatles went from standing on the deck singing, "I Want to Hold Your Hand" as they beheld the simple beauty of one to whom they sang, "I Saw You Standing There," to growing their hair really long (instead of perceived long) and telling all the world that no more hand holding and deck standing, it was time to "live in a yellow submarine."

I remember then thinking maybe I had taken too long a nap and the Rip Van Winkle syndrome was overtaking me as the guitar chords became shrill and electric. What happened to "my music." Of course back then to say such a thing was to be "left behind."

So it was only years later that one of our own wrote words about a "generation lost in space with no time left to start again...Jack be nimble Jack be quick, Jack lit out on a candlestick but fire is the devil's only friend...." The young sage then met a girl in the "sacred store where he'd heard the music years before but the man there said the music wouldn't play."

Okay, before I go too far with this, every generation has "their music" and some other generation often thinks its "the death of us." But having said that, I liked when you could mostly understand the words and I relished "stories" in songs, and I like....well some kind of melody...so there.

So as I listened to the "old sage" Don I remembered. I did not drive my Chevy to the levy to find that the levy was dry cause I have a VW and I did not catch the last train to the coast with "the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost" cause I did not need to since I work for those three, but I did recall that, "Long, long time ago I remember how the music used to make me smile."

No, "we did not all live in a yellow submarine," but to be fair I think I can remember my dad saying something like, "What the heck is 'sitting in my la la waiting from my ya ya?" So on this 40th anniversary of Woostock, "Peace bro...and sis of course."
Bless you,
jody jseymour@davidsonumc.org