Keep the Car Running

There's very few things that will keep me up past midnight, especially on a work night. It's also a rare occasion where a Bob Dylan concert is not the highlight of the week, but both of these were the case this week. I stayed awake long enough to watch Barack Obama quote the great Sam Cooke song, A Change is Gonna Come. It was the biggest piece of history we've witnessed since the start of the Iraq war or perhaps September 11. I'm not ashamed to admit that I got goosebumps more than once watching the events of the election unfold.

I guess it's easy to get swept up in all the excitement & rhetoric to believe that this won't be politics as usual. T Bone Burnett wrote not too long ago:

presidents come & presidents go
they rise like smoke & fall like snow
'do you believe the things you say?
you're lofty thoughts are filled with hay
what is this faith that you profess?
that led to this colossal mess?
When you awaken from this coma
you'll find you were in Oklahoma
When you come out of this self-delusion
you're gonna need a soul transfusion.

It's also easy to be such a cynic to believe that nothing can change. Maybe it's no mistake that a president's mistakes are remembered more than his successes. Maybe it's a self fulfilling prophecy. One of the most patriotic things I can do is to keep an eye on Barack Obama's doings over the next four years & look for reasons not to vote for him the next time around. The most patriotic thing that you who did not vote for him can do is to look for the positives as reasons why you might want to re-elect him in four years. Maybe we'll meet somewhere in the middle & something might get done.

I look at it as though five of us are collectively purchasing a car. The cars we have to choose from fit some of our needs, others not as much. Maybe the best car to choose from has things we don't like about it. After we've handed over our money it's ours & we've got to live with it whether it was our first choice or not. The better we maintain it, the better it works for us, but we still have to ultimately decide whether it will safely get us where we want to go. If not, we'll have to get rid of it & get us a new one. Okay, it's a stretch, but it's the best I can do for now.

Five Favorite Songs of the Day

Goin' to Acapulco-Jim James & Calexico, I'm Not There Soundtrack

Palestine, Texas-T Bone Burnett, The True False Identity

There She Goes, My Beautiful World-Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, The Abattoir Blues Tour 2004

Blowin' in the Wind-Bob Dylan, University of Minnesota, November 4, 2008

Keep the Car Running-The Arcade Fire, Neon Bible

Happy Thursday, friends...

andrew