Once upon a time, in a small town in the slow and rolling mountains of Western Massachusetts, I used to write songs and play them on a guitar with a harmonica around my neck. It looked kind of like this, minus 15 years or so.
I still pull out my harmonicas from time to time, mostly to jam with other musicians. But it had been a long time since I’d placed my hands on the guitar. Last week, however, I had the occasion shake off the dust.
My seldom-mentioned “real” job is a curious blend of writing, consulting, and HR-related responsibilities for a very fine strategic marketing firm in Baltimore. Last week, I ran our annual staff retreat. As I was preparing, I was reminded of a song I’d written back in my Bob Dylan days, and thought it might be just the thing to set a theme for the retreat. I played the song, and my colleagues seemed to like it, but they are kind, sensitive people, so it’s hard to tell for sure whether they were just being nice.
I offer it here in case you have a few extra minutes and want to see what happens when my words are put to music.
To have a listen, click on the words that follow: Best Together. If you are so inclined, feel free to download the file by choosing “save page as” in the file menu. At least that’s what you Mac users should do. You people who use PCs need far more help than I could ever offer. If you can’t figure it out and want the song, just email me and I’ll send it to you.
This song is a direct descendant of the “talking blues” songs written by Bob Dylan (in the early years), and before him, Woody Guthrie. I’m sure that Woody learned the style from someone else before him, but I’m no music historian.
Wow, I thought that song was lost to the mists of time. How on earth did you track down a copy?
I didn’t realize that my friend Drew was so high-maintenance, but his comment seems to imply that he feels wronged to not have been explicitly named as the person who, upon request, sent me the MP3 of Best Together, which I had lost and he, apparently, had not. I wonder if this acknowledgment is sufficient to quiet his spite or if I also need to praise him. I guess I’d better just cover my bases while I’m at it.
Here goes:
Drew, in addition to being a talented singer/songwriter/guitar, banjo, fiddle, and mandolin player/occasional hollerer, is also quite pretty,
Matthew
Let it be known that in those intervening 15 years, Robbi had to suffer through Matthew actually learning how to properly play the harmonica. Just imagine that bridge repeated again and again and again, at all hours of the day, even in the bathroom, with barely perceptible changes in the upper registers of its aural assault. For this alone she will go to heaven.
Kudos! (To all three of you, of course.)
What a terrific Valentine. And kind of an ode to odd couplings. (Not that you guys are so.) And as I listened, I found myself imagining how Robbi might illustrate it. (Not that I don’t like it as a song. Because I do.)
Thanks for sharing.
I like it! Would have been a good Valentine’s song.
Um, is that THE Tolly-Ho? If so, YAY!
By the way, Tolly-Ho is moving locations soon. You know, just in case you’re in Lexington and looking for it again.
J.T.: Of course it is THE Tolly-Ho. There is no substitute.
For the rest of you, Tolly-Ho is a mighty fine eating establishment in Lexington, Kentucky, where I once had the pleasure of eating a Mega Ho Triple for breakfast, as shown: http://www.thebarnstorming.com/Life/IMG_7803.html
This was part of my annual pilgrimage to watch the NCAA tournament a few years back. My adventures (largely food-based, with a bit of basketball thrown in for good measure) are here chronicled:
http://www.thebarnstorming.com/archives/2007/03/i_eat_kentucky.html