{"id":622,"date":"2020-09-17T20:15:38","date_gmt":"2020-09-17T20:15:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/billdeasy.com\/wp\/?page_id=622"},"modified":"2020-09-17T22:53:39","modified_gmt":"2020-09-17T22:53:39","slug":"1970s","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/billdeasy.com\/wp\/?page_id=622","title":{"rendered":"1970s"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-youtube wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-embed-aspect-4-3 wp-has-aspect-ratio wp-embed-aspect-16-9\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"1970s\" width=\"819\" height=\"461\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/WwDo5R5dDWc?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201c1970s\u201d is unusual for three reasons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Its\u2019 origin. Several lines first appeared as ad libs in the break down section of performances of \u201cIt\u2019s All Right There\u201d from <em>Good Day No Rain<\/em>. I found myself doing vocal riffs night after night and they began to take shape and feel like something all their own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It\u2019s shameless and relentless self-referencing. Specifically, I cite \u201cLost in America\u201d and \u201cBlue Sky Song\u201d. (\u201cMidnight Ghost\u201d became part of the recurring ad lib as well but didn\u2019t make it into \u201c1970s\u201d for some reason.) This is tied in with reason #1. That kind of stream of consciousness free association is common when I sing live which explains how it wound up in the final version of this song.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Its flagrantly autobiographical nature. It\u2019s rare that I write this directly about my personal history. And yet it\u2019s not quite chronological\u2026or even logical, for that matter. It seems to open with me returning home, possibly from a Gathering Field tour in the 1990s, and running through the schoolyard of my childhood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>I reached the rock-bed gate.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Not too soon and not too late.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Gathering Field members would meet in that schoolyard and leave our cars by the rock-bed gate as we jumped into our giant Dodge van to go pursue our rock and roll dreams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When I sing the song, I picture that version of myself. It\u2019s a summer evening and the schoolyard is empty. I reach the rocks and open the fence, muscle memory set in motion from a thousand childhood homecomings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Then, again, it veers into the live free-form lyrics I\u2019d developed at gigs that included my family all there waiting for me. This gets dicey at shows where the mention of my folks and siblings can choke me up sometimes. Before I can linger too long in the family reunion, though, it takes another sharp turn into a love song with my childhood sweetheart (and future bride) standing there too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Your brown hair falling. Your brown eyes shining.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>The future calling from right behind me.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Sweet seventh-grader smile made sweeter for the miles.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It\u2019s innocence and hope with a wisp of melancholy thrown in for good measure stumbling into a bluesy-chorded bridge then a Gladys Knight \u201cdoo-doo\u201d Dave Brown guitar solo and out into one final burst of very specific details:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Rooftop crosses atop the school, church, convent and rectory that bordered my childhood domain; the Converse All-Stars that gave my boy-feet wings; small pink box houses that lined the schoolyard perimeter; the bubbles of tar that remained after the lot had been paved that I\u2019d lie poking and popping with great concentration; the giant blue water tower that hovered close by like a 4-legged alien cyclops; then, finally, Saint Bartholomew\u2019s, which was the name that encompassed all that was my world as a kid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>All preserved in a song. A song I\u2019ll sing for eternity under a sky&#8230;from&#8230;the&#8230;1970s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-9d6595d7 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/music.apple.com\/us\/album\/1970s\/1180228703?i=1180228711\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"216\" height=\"78\" src=\"http:\/\/billdeasy.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/applemusic-1.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-190\"\/><\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/track\/1qC5QEc23VKtcQ6gGXhBeV\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"216\" height=\"87\" src=\"http:\/\/billdeasy.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/spotify-1.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-191\"\/><\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"font-size:30px\"> Archives<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><a href=\"http:\/\/billdeasy.com\/wp\/?page_id=610\" data-type=\"page\" data-id=\"610\">Blue Sky Song &#8211; 9\/11\/2020<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"http:\/\/billdeasy.com\/wp\/?page_id=24\" data-type=\"page\" data-id=\"24\">Midnight Ghost &#8211; 9\/4\/2020<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201c1970s\u201d is unusual for three reasons. Its\u2019 origin. Several lines first appeared as ad libs in the break down section of performances of \u201cIt\u2019s All [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-622","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/billdeasy.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/622","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/billdeasy.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/billdeasy.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/billdeasy.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/billdeasy.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=622"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/billdeasy.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/622\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":629,"href":"http:\/\/billdeasy.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/622\/revisions\/629"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/billdeasy.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=622"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}