St. Andrew's Day 2022

It's a brilliant, cool, and windy St. Andrew's Day here in the rolling hills of east metro Atlanta.  I was very pleased to unfurl the St. Andrew's Cross - the flag of Scotland - at our home to honor both the country and it's patron saint.

There's no feasting or dancing for me today. On the other hand I can enjoy thinking of the many years my wife and I attended the Clan Robertson and Clan Donnachaidh ceilidh. The event followed the closing day of the Stone Mountain Highland Games held annually in mid-October. Our gathering lasted deep into the evening and always featured a top shelf Scotch whisky tasting, plenty of dancing and singing, a few pipers pipping, harps and fiddles, and tables groaning with food, including the occasional haggis which often left a few guests groaning as well. At its height well over 100 guests attended, many of them from the farthest reaches of the Scottish diaspora.

It has been fifteen years since I last attended the games and an afterparty. Much has changed over that time as the main event approaches its fiftieth anniversary. For one, the famous tattoo that attracted pipe bands from around the world fell victim to high costs and the loss of its venue. In addition the organization has struggled somewhat to build and sustain interest in Scottish history and ancestry among younger people who will determine its future. As for me I'm quite content to let the St. Andrew's banner grace the entrance to the house and dream about renewed friendships, great music, and those wonderful Scotch eggs I enjoyed on so many Sunday evenings in Stone Mountain.



Wishing you and yours a happy St. Andrew's Day!

Winston Churchill: He Fought The Good FIght

The great British statesman, Winston Churchill, was born on this day 148 years ago. The 19th century American literary icon, Ralph Waldo Emerson, said "there is properly no history, only biography." You'll get some argument about that statement these days. On the other hand, in the last century and a half there is Churchill. I think we would be hard-pressed to find a better illustration of history as biography in that time frame. 

Churchill with his son and grandson in 1953

From his Wikipedia entry:


Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill KG OM CH TD DLFRS RA (30 November 1874 – 24 January 1965) was a British statesman who was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945 and again from 1951 to 1955. Churchill was also an officer in the British Army, a historian, a superb writer (as Winston S. Churchill), and an artist. He won the Nobel Prize in Literature, and was the first person to be made an honorary citizen of the United States.

The Lion at 10 Downing Street in London, 1940

Churchill in 1895

For more on information on Winston Churchill go here. And, thanks to Steven Hayward at Powerline, here is a teachable moment from the great political philosopher, Leo Strauss, on hearing of Churchill's death in 1965. In addition, we cannot forget Churchill as a historian. He was both an extraordinary observer and compelling writer. New readers should start their journey with My Early Life: A Roving Commission, first published in 1930. I have a feeling it will not be their last volume by Churchill.

Churchill was a master of the English language but even he struggled for the right words to both describe the reality his countrymen faced at the hands of Luftwaffe bombers during the the Blitz of 1940 and 1941 as well as rally them to endure what he knew would be their darkest hour:

The whole fury and might of the enemy must very soon be turned on us. Hitler knows that he will have to break us in this island or lose the war. If we can stand up to him, all Europe may be freed and the life of the world may move forward into broad, sunlit uplands. But if we fail, then the whole world, including the United States, including all that we have known and cared for, will sink into the abyss of a new dark age made more sinister, and perhaps more protracted, by the lights of perverted science. Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties, and so bear ourselves, that if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still say, This was their finest hour.

For seventy years, he served the people of Great Britain and the colonies from the role of soldier to that of statesman. Aside from the monarchy, especially the reign of Elizabeth II, there is arguably no other indivudual in the modern era who personifies England and its people more than Winston Churchill.

Sources


Photos and Illustrations:
public domain photos, Imperial War Museums

Billy Strayhorn: The Forgotten Arranger Behind The Ellington Sound

 

For jazz, pop and Great American Songbook enthusiasts today marks another important birthday, that of Billy Strayhorn. He was the genius songwriter and arranger behind many of Duke Ellington's hits including, Take the A Train, Chelsea Bridge, My Little Brown Book, Day Dream, Something to Live For, and Lotus Blossom. I have written about Strayhorn in a few posts over the years but never devoted one to him until I found Scott Johnson's Power Line tribute, Lush Life, from 2013. Do check it out and make a note of his mention of Terry Teachout's biography of Duke Ellington, a study that explores the Ellington-Strayhorn musical partnership at length.

Here's an added treat for some context: the Ellington-Fitzgerald version of Lush Life that Johnson references is again available on You Tube.

That song has a remarkable number of fine interpretations. He makes mention of my favorite version. And thanks to You Tube, readers can listen to the Johnny Hartman-John Coltrane offering and make their own decision.

To me, it's the best. Hartman is superb here. No equal. Add Coltrane and we have even greater music history all made possible by Strayhorn's remarkable tapestry of words and music.

C.S. Lewis: "Progress, For Me, Means Increasing Goodness And Happiness In Individual Lives."

Some day you will be old enough to read fairy tales

                                                                                                C.S. Lewis

I was introduced to the mind of C. S. (Clive Staples) Lewis through a gift from my best friend. He gave me a copy of The Four Loves as medication for some conflicting developments in a relationship with Marti, the girl of my dreams at the time. Eventually, Marti revealed her affection for a professor at UNC Chapel Hill. She moved on and I was left with a life-long literary relationship with Lewis and can only trust that Marti found equal tenure with the prof.

C.S. Lewis, one of the last century's leading scholars, novelists, and Christian apologists, was born on this day in 1898. Many readers likely know his name and even more know some of his work - The Screwtape Letters, The Chronicles of Narnia, The Space Trilogy, Mere Christianity, Surprised By Joy - but many may not be familiar with the depth and breadth of his literary accomplishments.

C.S. Lewis National Portrait Gallery, London

Immersed the the world of the university scholar where he was a close friend and colleague of J. R.R. Tolkein, Lewis enjoyed the community but also appreciated his privacy. For that reason, very few interviews and recordings of the man survive. One tape still with us is a fifteen-minute talk he gave over BBC Radio during a three part series of presentations between 1942 and 1944. The recording reveals the great warmth, friendliness, and integrity of the man.

The talks soon appeared as three separate books shortly after World War II. In 1952, the series was edited into a single book, Mere Christianity. It's now considered a masterpiece in Christian apologetics.

If you cannot enjoy a Lewis book you simply haven't read enough of his work. And there is enough to accommodate readers as his Wikipedia bibliography has almost eighty entries of poetry, fiction, and non-fiction. One or more of those entries will speak to you for a long time.

Aim at heaven and you will get earth thrown in. Aim at earth and you get neither

                                                                                                C.S. Lewis

Sources

Text:

title quote from "Willing Slaves of the Welfare State." an essay in God in the Dock, published in The Observer, July 20, 1958

William Blake: He Opened The Doors Of Perception To Infinite Imagination

To see a world in a grain of sand

And heaven in a wild flower

Hold infinity in the palm of your hand

And eternity in an hour

from Auguries of Innocence, William Blake, 1803

On this day in 1757 the British artist and writer, William Blake, was born in London. He is without a doubt my favorite anarchist. He helps me dream.

In his own time he was so eccentric his neighbors and friends thought he was a madman. As an engraver and illustrator he was caught between the decline of the guilds and the rise of industrialization. It was a time when men saw the value of their labors swept away from the cottage and into the factory under the watchful eye of the manager. For workers, the loss of autonomy, the shift in control and production, and the helplessness in the face of change led to a revolt against the Age of Reason and a rage against technologies it spawned. Two centuries later he would be recognized as both one whose vision, imagination and sensitivity were unmatched in the age of Romanticism, and a truly unique influence in the history of the Western world.

There is one certainty about Blake's work and that is its complexity. He is by far one of the most interesting visionaries to come out of the West and its traditions. I hope you will take time to examine him and his extraordinary contributions to our experience. To explore his work appropriately is beyond the intent of this blog and capability of its author. For readers who want to learn more about Blake, to me there's no finer work available than Jacob Bronowski's A Man Without A Mask, published in 1944, and it's expanded version, William Blake and the Age of Revolution, published in 1972.

William Blake                 Thomas Phillips, English, 1807

I have learned much from the artist and philosopher, William Blake, in an effort to balance my life between intellect and emotion. So far it's been a beautiful, productive, and fascinating journey. These works have been a part of that experience:

In the following illustration, The Ancient of Days, Blake depicts his character, Urizen, [You rising] as reason shaping the world and its experience. This engraving is also interpreted as God the Father [and often God the Son] as divining existence. It is a prime example of the complex and often confounding world of Blake's imagination.

The Ancient of Days                                   William Blake, 1793

Here Blake depicts Isaac Newton [and the Age of Reason] at the bottom of the sea shaping (the dividers, once more) the world of humankind on the earth. Newton has turned his back on the organic beauty of God's natural world.

Newton                                                   William Blake, 1795

Here, the Angel of Peace descends forcibly out of heaven illustrating God's reason (the dividers) brought into the world in the form of his Son to reconcile Nature (the recline female nude) and a redeemed humanity

The Descent of Peace             William Blake, ca. 1815

One of Blake's most familiar pieces is his preface to Milton A Poem. The preface says much about Blake's philosophy opposing the Age of Reason as embodied in Greek and Roman thought and the dangers a reliance on intellect can bring to a world based equally on emotion. Furthermore, the preface is a perfect illustration of Blake's religious mysticism as well as his veneration of Milton.

The stolen and perverted writings of Homer and Ovid, of Plato and Cicero, which all men ought to contemn, are set up by artifice against the Sublime of the Bible; but when the New Age is at leisure to pronounce, all will be set right, and those grand works of the more ancient, and consciously and professedly Inspired men will hold their proper rank, and the Daughters of Memory shall become the Daughters of Inspiration, Shakspeare and Milton were curb'd by the general malady and infection from the silly Greek and Latin slaves of the sword. Rouse up, O Young Men of the New Age! Set your foreheads against the ignorant hirelings! For we have hirelings in the camp, the Court, and the University, who would, if they could, for ever depress mental, and prolong corporeal war. Painters! on you I call. Sculptors! Architects! suffer not the fashionable fools to depress your powers by the prices they pretend to give for contemptible works, or the expensive advertising boasts that they make of such works; believe Christ and His Apostles that there is a class of men whose whole delight is in destroying. We do not want either Greek or Roman models if we are but just and true to our own Imaginations, those Worlds of Eternity in which we shall live for ever, in Jesus our Lord.

And did those feet in ancient time

Walk upon England's mountains green?

And was the holy lamb of God

On England's pleasant pastures seen?

And did the Countenance Divine

Shine forth upon our clouded hills?

And was Jerusalem builded here

Among these dark Satanic mills.

Bring me my bow of burning gold!

Bring me my arrows of desire!

Bring me my spear! O clouds, unfold!

Bring me my chariot of fire!

I will not cease from mental fight,

Nor shall my sword sleep in my hand,

Till we have built Jerusalem

In England's green and pleasant land.

Would to God that all the Lord's people were Prophets. Numbers xi, ch. 26



Readers may be more familiar with Blake's poem through this medium:

As this tribute comes to a close, I'd like to reference one of Blake's poems that virtually all children read before the end of their middle schools years a half century ago. It's remarkably simple in form yet its questions brim with imagination and wonder. I so hope that "The Tyger" is still read and heard by young students so they can remember its message over their varied lifetimes.

Tyger, Tyger, burning bright,

In the forests of the night:

What immortal hand or eye,

Could frame thy fearful symmetry?

In what distant deeps or skies,

Burnt the fire in thine eyes?

On what wings dare he aspire?

What the hand, dare seize the fire?

And what shoulder & what art,

Could twist the sinews of thy heart?

And when thy heart began to beat,

What dread hand? & what dread feet?

What the hammer? What the chain,

In what furnace was thy brain?

What the anvil? what dread grasp.

Dare its deadly terrors clasp?

When the stars threw down their spears

And water'd heaven with their tears:

Did he smile his work to see?

Did he who made the Lamb make thee?

Tyger, Tyger burning bright,

In the forests of the night:

What immortal hand or eye,

Could frame thy fearful symmetry?

William Blake                                      John Linnell, English, 1863

He who binds himself to a joy

Doth the winged life destroy

But he who kisses the joy as it flies

Lives in Eternity's sunrise

from Eternity, William Blake, 1803

Sources

Photos and Illustrations:
wikipedia.com
Blake portrait, National Portrait Gallery, Washington, D.C.
Newton, Tate Gallery, London, U.K.blakearchive.org/Blake

Text:
wikipedia.com, Blake entry
blakearchive.org/Blake
bartleby.com/235/284.html
Jacob Bronowski, A Man Without A Mask, Seeker and Warburg, London, 1944

Advent 2022

 

The word, "advent," comes from the Latin "adventus," meaning "arrival." Today in the western Christian tradition there are two arrivals, that of a church year as well as its first season, Advent. The four week journey through the season anticipates both the birth of Jesus Christ as the Light of the World and his return at the Last Judgement.

As we enter into the seasons of Advent and Christmastide, it is time once more to explore almost two thousand years of words, music, and visual arts created for this holy time.

The Descent of Peace                                    William Blake

I give you the end of a gold string.

Only wind it in a ball,

It will lead you to Heaven's gate

built in Jerusalem's wall.

from William Blake's poem, Jerusalem

Today's music is Conditor Alme Siderum (Creator of the Stars of Night), a plainsong dating from the 7th century. 

Here is some background on the hymn including its original text and an English translation. For a more detailed exploration of the hymn and its many variations over the past 1500 years, go here.

Cool Man Willis

 

One of the most significant books in the historiography of the South, Ulrich Bonnell Phillips's Life and Labor in the Old South, begins with these words:

Let us begin by discussing the weather for that has been the chief agency in making the South distinctive. . . . The summers are not merely long but bakingly hot, with temperatures ranging rather steadily in the eighties and nineties of the Fahrenheit scale.

The early 20th century one-story Southern home, with its high-roof, wrap-around porch, and traditional "dog trot" breezeway, is a vernacular response to that bakingly hot summer. Homes of this type can still be found throughout the South. In fact, contemporary construction in the region often incorporates its features in vestigial form. But what has made the South so popular these days? I believe in particular the subtropical climate remains the most powerful draw. The New South's social and political climates also contribute to the demographic shift. Still, Southerners must deal with the heat. And that brings us to the significance of this week in the history of American invention and its application and impact in our lives.

On November 26, 1876, a son, Willis H. Carrier, was born into an old New England family. In 1902, Carrier developed an electrical system of conditioning air in a stiflingly hot and humid Brooklyn printing plant. The new environment ensured stability in the paper and the perfect alignment of four-color printing. It was soon a huge success in several industries that demanded such requirements. By the 1920s, air conditioning became popular in retail trade and entertainment, especially the movie theater. It was a small jump from commercial systems to home systems, and by the 1930s, air conditioning began a slow but steady increase in usage until the post World War II era when it boomed. In two generations, Carrier's application had impacted almost every facet of American life and spread quickly throughout the world in the second half of the century

From an environmental perspective, air conditioning made the South livable year round. One could work hard outside on a mid-summer Georgia day and find comfort in an air conditioned break at work and a cool, comfortable supper and evening at home. Today, we take this comfort for granted across the nation giving it attention only when it's time to change the filter or the compressor dies.

Carrier posing with a 1920 model chiller

If you call the South "home," take a moment today to thank Willis for his contribution, an invention you're going to appreciate perhaps as early as March of 2023 when that heat begins its sure progress to "bakingly" unbearable levels in the Southern summer.

For more information on the impact of air conditioning on the American experience check out these sites:

http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2011/07/keepin-it-cool-how-the-air-conditioner-made-modern-america/241892/

http://www.oldhouseweb.com/how-to-advice/how-air-conditioning-changed-america.shtml

As Shoppers Rush Home With Their Treasures

On this Black Friday 2022 I thought it would be interesting to focus on the broader outcomes of shpping rather than the phalanxes of shoppers invading store aisles across America.  Although our free market economy isn't as free these days it still provides us opportunities of choice among an almost overwhelming variety of products. And every time we make a choice it leads to some far-reaching consequences in addition to our personal satisfaction.

Sam Walton's 5&10. The next step was Discount City and the world.

Three quarters of a million people now live in the three counties from Fayetteville north to the state line in the northwest corner of Arkansas. This is Walmart country. It is the holy land of free enterprise where Sam Walton opened his first Walmart Discount City in 1962. Over those few decades as Walmart grew into the "world's third largest public corporation," the company transformed the plateau prairie into a prosperous landscape. The change came quickly once the company that visited its suppliers said, "No more!" From that day forward those salesmen who wanted their products on Walmart shelves had to visit Bentonville for an audience with the buyers. It is no wonder today that almost 100 business aircraft fly out of the area's two general aviation airports, Rogers Muni-Carter Field and Bentonville Muni-Thaden Field. It is no wonder that more than thirty airlines provide 260 scheduled weekday arrivals and departures out of Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport.

As one would expect, the Walmart holy land is a classic example of the money generation model in action. The retail reach of thousands of stores and services far exceeds the area's three-county grasp. Granted, it isn't like shopping at Waterside in Naples but it's damn close if you don't need the palms and bromeliads. There's no beach either, but an abundance of nearby lakes provides plenty of broad and deep water in addition to 3,000 miles of shoreline.This is but one element of the quiet and relaxation to be found after a thirty minute drive east or west of US71 and the money model madness.

A few years ago I made these observations on Walmart Country. It is a nice compromise watching day by day as fall colors invade a large grove of trees across the fence. For me it's new trees and new birds, but the old barn, with its missing boards and battered tin roof, recalls the long history here. It is a diverse history as well, quite fitting of a place where the Ozark and Boston Mountains spill into the prairie grasslands of the Great Plains and the llano winds of Texas whisper from a mere few hours away.

I supposes for many this will always be flyover country. After all, hardly a minute passes in the day when you can't see eight or ten contrails from the commercial jets flying between Denver, St. Louis, Chicago, Atlanta, Dallas, L.A., and beyond. Still, the Cessnas, Dessaults, Bombardiers, Beechcrafts, and occasional Gulfstreams on approach and departure here tell another story. It may not be for everyone. but here in the Arkansas holy land, life is very, very good.

Although Alice Walton, daughter of Sam and Helen Walton, no longer lives in Northwest Arkansas, she has retained a life-long interest in the region. As the 19th richest person, and second richest woman in the world, she has devoted much of her good fortune - $59 billion - and that of the Walton Family Foundation to enriching life in the Bentonville-Fayetteville corridor and beyond. 

There's no better example of their benevolence than the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art  in Bentonville. Opened in 2011, the facility is a 200,000 s.f. complex of several galleries and other spaces surrounding a lake at the bottom of a forested ravine. It is itself a work of art - designed by architect, Moshe Safdie, and engineer, Buro Happold - with a cost estimate exceeding $50,000,000. There is no admission fee to view the permanent collection.

George Washington                                     Gilbert Stuart, 1797

The family endowed the museum with an $800,000,000 gift to sustain operations, maintenance, and museum acquisitions in perpetuity. This circumstance makes Crystal Bridges an immediate leader among American museums and positions it for a great future as a seed for art and community in the Southern Plains and Mississippi Valley.

Kindred Spirits                                           Asher Durand, 1849

What makes Crystal Bridges different is its mission: to welcome all to celebrate the American spirit in a setting that unites the power of art with the beauty of landscape. We explore the unfolding story of America by actively collecting, exhibiting, interpreting, and preserving outstanding works that illuminate our heritage and artistic possibilities.

Currently, the museum has 400 works on exhibit tracing the American experience from the heroic portraiture of the 18th century to today's constructions, assemblages, and kinetic art. 

The Lantern Bearers                          Maxfield Parrish, 1908

Wandering the galleries of this extraordinary building is a pleasing instructive journey and one most people would never expect in a smaller metropolitan area. The caveat here is the place's identity as the sixth fastest growing area in the country, thanks in part to it being the home of Walmart, Tyson Foods, J.B Hunt Transportation Services and 2,000 offices of companies supporting those industries.

Sound Suit                                         Nick Cave, 2010

Today Alice Walton's vision is at the heart of an art and education network "exploring the unfolding story of America" for a million residents and millions of visitors. We should thank Alice Walton and the Walton Family Foundation for their foresight, generosity, and desire to share their good fortune. Perhaps their example will both encourage others to make good use of the fertile, entrepreneurial environment this nation affords its super achievers and find joy in sharing the fruits of their circumstance.

It will be interesting to see how the sons and daughters of Helen and Sam Walton continue to use their wealth that currently exceeds $100 million. The family and its foundation have a history of sharing it quietly and somewhat modestly. When Helen died in 2007 she gave her entire share - over $16 billion - to a variety of charities in a multi-year disbursement. Alice, as a 73 year-old, childless divorcee who loves art, horses, and the University of Arkansas, could be positioned to do some spectacular things in the near future. Time will tell.

There's one thing for certain. You may not be able to fund a museum but in the long run that treasure you bought today could be of far more benefit than you ever imagined.

Sources

Photos, Illustrations, and Text:

Wikipedia.com, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art

Thanksgiving 2022

Happy Thanksgiving

2022

Here is a prayer for thanksgiving by Martin Luther...

God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, You looked upon all that You created and declared it good. Grant that we, this day, might regard Your creation with the same esteem and appreciation, seeing You at work in every daily operation. Help us to give thanks as we recognize Your loving work in all abundant blessings. Most of all, let us see not only Your creation, but also its redemption, through Jesus Christ. Amen

... a song of thanksgiving written in 1636 by Lutheran pastor, Martin Rinkart, and set to music composed by Johann Cruger in 1647...

...and a final wish for the day from our house to yours...

Need An Addition To Your Thanksgiving Menu?

 

Only two days before Thanksgiving and still looking for something to accompany the bird?

May I suggest a traditional Maryland holiday dish that has been a part of many special dinners dating from my highchair days. It's Skipjack Oyster Dressing. The official Maryland recipe we've used over the last twenty years has been a hit even among most doubters but, oysters being what they are, you'll always have some holdouts. They'll never know what they're missing. 

One of our guests asked about the term, "skipjack." Skipjacks, the state boat of Maryland, are shallow-draft, sailing vessels developed on the Chesapeake Bay for harvesting oysters. They are the last working boats under sail in the United States, according to the Maryland State Archives. There's also a brief entry about them on Wikipedia, including a list of active boats. I first saw them in the early '50s. At that time, there were about 100 working the Chesapeake. Today around twenty remain in use for commercial fishing. 

Hope you enjoy a taste from the Bay. If your menu is set or you need some time to think about it there's always Christmas dinner.

Remembering A Day Of Great Loss

It is common knowledge that President John Kennedy died on this day. It is not well known that we lost three internationally famous and influential personalities within seventy minutes that day, the others being C.S. Lewis and Aldous Huxley. Although they could hardly come from three more distinct and disparate perspectives, all three of them shared deep concerns about the future of the planet and its inhabitants.

Lewis was one of the last century's leading scholars, novelists, and Christian apologists. Most readers likely know his name, but many may not be familiar with the depth and breadth of his literary accomplishments. From this writer's perspective, if you cannot enjoy a Lewis book you simply haven't read enough of his work. I was introduced to the author through a gift. My best friend gave me a copy of The Four Loves as medication for some perplexing developments in a relationship with Marti, the girl of my dreams at the time. Eventually, Marti moved on with a professor of English at UNC Chapel Hill. I was left with a life-long literary relationship with Lewis. I trust Marti found similar satisfaction with the prof.

Although Lewis was far from reclusive, he appreciated his privacy. For that reason, we have few interviews and recordings of the man. Fortunately, we do have a portrayal that gives some insight into what made him a beloved writer:

Aldous Huxley shared the life of the mind with Lewis but little else outside of his English background and writing skills. A humanist and lifelong pacifist, Huxley was a prolific writer best known for his novels and essays. Among the novels is Brave New World, a dystopic world view written in 1931 as a parody of utopian novels popular earlier in the century. From a spiritual perspective, he was an agnostic who maintained a strong interest in mysticism, universalism, and Vedanta. Later in his life, Huxley would be remembered for his experiments with hallucinogenic drugs and his accounts thereof. Here he is in a 1958 television interview discussing threats to freedom in the United States:

Both Lewis and Huxley cast long intellectual shadows across the globe and Kennedy left us with "a fleeting wisp of glory" that follows us to this day. I can enjoy what the three of them  brought to us, but for me I'm most likely to follow this advice from Lewis:

Some day you will be old enough to start reading fairy tales again.

The Enduring Songbook Of Savannah's Favorite Son, Johnny Mercer

Mercer statue, Ellis Square, Savannah, Georgia

November 18, marks the 113th anniversary of the birth of John Herndon Mercer (1909-1976). For fans of the Great American Songbook, this is a significant event. Mercer won four Academy Awards for Best Original Song and had another twelve nominations. Indeed he was quite a music master.

Born into wealth in Savannah, Mercer often recounted how his Aunt Hattie hummed to him in his crib and "he hummed right back at her." It was the beginning of a musical career that would produce more than 1500 published songs, a few thousand more unpublished songs and song fragments, scores of poems and prose pieces, an unfinished autobiography, and a major chapter in the history of American music in the twentieth century.

In Mercer's Savannah, a rich Southern culture blended with that of a diverse and exciting port city. He spent his childhood fascinated by train and ship whistles, and the sounds and rhythms drifting from the black churches around town. He was thrilled by the chance to slip away from his mother's watchful eye and visit the black business district on West Broad Street - now MLK Boulevard - where he listened to race records. The family's summer home on the Vernon River, about ten miles south of town, immersed him in the natural world of Georgia's tidal creeks and salt marshes. By his teen years, he loved hearing the dance and jazz bands every summer at the famous Tybrisa Pavilion on nearby Tybee Island. He also began writing songs and skits for his student productions at Woodberry Forest School in Virginia.

When the family business failed in the late '20s, any hope of returning to Woodberry or attending college dimmed. He grew bored at home and shipped off to New York to become a Broadway performer. The demand for singers was weak, but he began tinkering with lyric writing when he wasn't singing or working odd jobs. Here is his first published song lyric:

Lyrics are meant to be heard, but it's not always easy to appreciate them without the poetry on the page, so here is a sample of that early genius as work:


Out of Breath (1930)

lyrics by Johnny Mercer
music by Everette Miller


Mine's a hopeless case,
But there's one saving grace,
Anyone would feel as I do;
Out of breath and scared to death of you.
Love was first divined,
Then explored and defined,
Still the old sensation is new;
Out of breath and scared to death of you.
It takes all the strength that I can call to my command,
To hold your hand.
I would speak at length
About the love that should be made,
But I'm afraid.
Hercules and such
Never bothered me much,
All you have to do is say "Boo!"
Out of breath and scared to death of you.

Yes, it's pretty simple, comic stuff, but it had flashes of wordplay and bouncy rhythm. It was perfect for the Garrick Gaieties revue of 1930.

One of the chorus girls left Johnny out of breath as well. Her name was Ginger Meehan and she was Bing Crosby's squeeze at the time. Eventually, Mercer won her over and they married in 1931 after Johnny secured a staff job writing lyrics. The following year, his persistent work paid off when he partnered with Hoagy Carmichael, already well-known for his sensational song, Stardust. After several months, the collaboration produced Lazybones, Mercer's first hit song. It was full of black dialect and all the stereotypical perceptions of the day.

By the time Lazybones became popular, the New York music industry was in full transition thanks, in part, to the rapidly growing film industry in California. Films needed songs and with his prospects cooling in New York, Mercer traveled to Hollywood where he met his old friend, Bing Crosby, who had already made the transition to the West. The early years were a challenge for Mercer, but that changed in 1936. That year, Crosby offered to sing one of Mercer's songs in the film, Rhythm on the Range. The film wasn't much. The song was a runaway hit:

I'm An Old Cowhand
words and music by Johnny Mercer

I'm and old cowhand
From the Rio Grande,
But my legs ain't bowed
And my cheeks ain't tanned.
I'm a cowboy who never saw a cow,
Never roped a steer 'cause I don't know how,
And I sure ain't fixin' to start in now.
Yippy I O Ki Ay,
Yippy I O Ki Ay.

. . .

And I learned to ride
'Fore I learned to stand,
I'm a ridin' fool who is up to date,
I know ev'ry trail in the Lone Star State,
'Cause I ride the range in a Ford V-Eight

. . .

And I come to town
Just to hear the band,
I know all the songs that the cowboys know,
'Bout the big corral where the doagies go,
'Cause I learned them all on the radio.

. . .

Where the West is wild
'Round the borderland,
Where the buffalo roam around the Zoo,
And the Indians make you a rug or two,
And the old Bar X is a Bar B Q.
Yippy I O Ki Ay,
Yippy I O Ki Ay.


I think Mercer came into perfect form with this one. With a little help from his pal, Crosby, his name became associated with songwriting among Hollywood's shakers and makers. In these early years, he struggled through a few flop movies, but he learned the ins and outs of Hollywood, and continued writing poetry to music.

Mercer went on to great fame after I'm An Old Cowhand. Movies, records, and radio brought his folksy, common sense, "free and easy, that's my style" personality into homes across America and made him a beloved next door neighbor. Mercer could be serious with a lyric, but he was equally capable of making us laugh at ourselves and our circumstances. Here are two outstanding examples:

I'd say almost every American can hum the title line of Hooray for Hollywood, but it's the rest of the lyric that really sparkles. Here's the song as it appeared in Busby Berkeley's 1937 blockbuster film hit, Hollywood Hotel. If you don't want to miss any words, the original lyric is below.

Hooray For Hollywood

words by Johnny Mercer
music by Richard A. Whiting

Hooray for Hollywood!
That screwy bally hooey Hollywood,
Where any office boy or young mechanic
Can be a panic,
With just a good looking pan,
And any bar maid
Can be a star maid,
If she dances with or without a fan,

Hooray for Hollywood!
Where you're terrific if you are even good,
Where anyone at all from Shirley Temple
To Aimee Semple
Is equally understood,
Go out and try your luck,
You might be Donald Duck!
Hooray for Hollywood!

Hooray for Hollywood!
That phoney super Coney Hollywood,
They come from Chilicothes and Paducahs
With their bazookas
To get their names up in lights,
All armed with photos from local rotos,
With their hair in ribbons and legs in tights,

Hooray for Hollywood!
You may be homely in your neighborhood,
But if you think that you can be an actor,
See Mister Factor,
He'd make a monkey look good.
Within a half an hour,
You'll look like Tyrone Power!
Hooray for Hollywood!


Over three decades Mercer wrote the lyrics to hundreds of songs, collaborating with the country's top music writers, including Harold Arlen, Bernie Hannigan, Hoagy Carmichael, Harry Warren, Gene DePaul, Henry Mancini, Jerome Kern, Rube Bloom, and Matty Malneck.

In 1971, Mercer appeared in what he called a "parlor evening" performance as part of the 92nd Street Y's Lyrics and Lyricists Series. At the end of the program, Mercer delivered an unforgettable medley of his "bread and butter" songs. I'd say most songwriters and performers would be pleased to have five songs in such a list. Mercer had twenty-nine. Regardless of your age and interest in popular music, you may be surprised at how many of these songs you recognize today:


Lazybones (1933), music by Hoagy Carmichael

Goody, Goody (1936), music by Marty Malneck

Too Marvelous For Words (1937), music by Richard A. Whiting

Jeepers Creepers (1938), music by Harry Warren

Satin Doll (1958), written with Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn

You Must Have Been A Beautiful Baby (1938), music by Harry Warren

That Old Black Magic (1943), music by Harold Arlen

Accentuate the Positive (1944) music by Harold Arlen

Fools Rush In (1940), music by Rube Bloom

I Remember You (1942), music by Victor Schertzinger

Day In - Day Out (1939), music by Rube Bloom

Dearly Beloved (1942), music by Jerome Kern

Come Rain or Come Shine (1946), music by Harold Arlen

Tangerine (1942), music by Victor Schertzinger

Hooray For Hollywood (1938), music by Richard A. Whiting

Laura (1945), music by David Raksin

Dream (1944), words and music by Johnny Mercer

On the Atcheson, Topeka and the Santa Fe (1946, Academy Award for Best Music, Original Song), music by Harry Warren

Something's Gotta Give (1954), words and music by Johnny Mercer

One For My Baby (1943), music by Harold Arlen

In the Cool, Cool, Cool of the Evening (1951, Academy Award for Best Music, Original Song), music by Hoagy Carmichael

Skylark (1941), music by Hoagy Carmichael

Autumn Leaves (1950), music by Joseph Kosma

I Wanna Be Around (1962), words and music by Johnny Mercer and Sadie Vimmerstedt

Blues in the Night (1941), music by Harold Arlen

Charade (1963), music by Henry Mancini

Summer Wind (1965), music by Henry Mayer

Moon River (1961, Academy Award for Best Music, Original Song), music by Henry Mancini

Days of Wine and Roses (1962, Academy Award for Best Music, Original Song), music by Henry Mancini


That's plenty of "bread and butter" on one man's plate, but we need to keep in mind that he had seven more songs nominated for an Academy Award that never made it into the medley. What a talent.

If you're curious to learn even more about Mercer, your minimal immersion requires three books, one website, and one audio disk.


THE BOOKS:






A good starting point is, Johnny Mercer: The Life, Times and Song Lyrics of Our Huckleberry Friend. It was collected and edited by television producer Bob Bach and Ginger Mercer, Johnny's widow. There's nothing scholarly about it. It is simply a nostalgic look at Mercer's career through photos, letters, notes, sheet music covers, lyrics, and tributes. Photos are always worth their thousand words, and the book gives readers the chance to study the lyrics to almost 100 Mercer songs. One highlight is the publication of the texts of four Christmas greeting cards. In two of them, Johnny worked his lyrical magic using all the surnames on his card list. The book concludes with incomplete lists of his published songs and motion picture contributions.







Philip Furia takes a more scholarly approach to Mercer in his book, Skylark: The Life and Times of Johnny Mercer. This book is a well-balanced treatment of a life characterized by great success as well as trouble and torment. It is well known that Mercer could be not only a gentleman and generous friend when sober, but also a vicious drunk who frequently sent roses to his victims the day after his verbal assaults. But Furia is at his best analyzing the process of songwriting, devoting many pages to a single song, and detailing the origin and evolution of the lyric. If you want to skip the nostalgia and go straight to reading a very good biography, Furia has written your book.







Gene Lees was a music biographer, lyricist and jazz historian who was a personal friend of Mercer's beginning around 1950. He brings more of a Hollywood insider perspective to the Mercer story, and does so with an entertaining, informal style. If this is what you look for in a biography, then Portrait of Johnny: The Life and Times of John Herndon Mercer is your book. The book doesn't have Furia's tight organization, but it is full of personal recollections and opinions from scores of close friends and associates. The high point for me is the author's extensive use of direct quotes from Mercer's unpublished autobiography. On the other hand, Lees gives his readers almost too much detail on Ginger Mercer as the terror in her family's life. Some readers may say the book is more of a layman's psychological analysis than a true biography. Regardless, it provides a nice balance to Furia's book in spite of the duplication.



THE WEBSITE:

If you want to use the Internet as a source of information on Johnny Mercer, there is no better site than the Johnny Mercer Foundation.  The home page may look a bit complex, but don't let that fool you. The links open windows to hundreds of pages of information and media.





THE AUDIO CD:

You can find scores of audio CDs featuring the songwriting and singing talent of Johnny Mercer. For me there is one essential CD and an "honorable mention." The essential is An Evening With Johnny Mercer, the 92nd Street Y Lyrics and Lyricists program Mercer did in 1971. I think it's a great hour to spend with the man and his music.

The "honorable mention" is Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Johnny Mercer Songbook. Fitzgerald's brilliant eight-album Songbook Series was recorded between 1956 and 1964, at the height of her vocal quality. The Mercer tribute is included here because of her near-perfect diction - you do want to hear the words - the fact that Mercer was the only lyricist honored in the Songbook Series.

I have provided you with some details about Mercer's life, his contribution to American popular music, and best of all, several examples of his words and music. In addition, for those interested in learning more about him, I listed several sources in a variety of formats. There's plenty more to know. For example, you'll find that Mercer was both the source of the idea and a founding member of Capitol Records. You'll also read that he was extraordinarily generous. And you'll also find out that almost throughout his life, the fame and fortune came at great personal cost. That seems to be the rule. Still, Mercer's gap-toothed smile and performance talent brought a wealth of entertainment to millions of Americans during his active years beginning in the mid 1930s.

Almost two generations have passed since Mercer's death in 1976. He may be gone, but that mountain of music and the ideas he left behind are very much alive and well. Mercer stays with Great American Songbook and jazz enthusiasts through the singers and organizations that keep his music and legacy alive. Here is a list of past and present singers

THE SINGERS:

Margaret Whiting (Long associated with Mercer as a performer and family friend, she was a most significant individual promoter of Mercer's music late in her life.)

Frank Sinatra

Mel Torme (extensive recordings from the Mercer catalog, but no single album)

Sylvia Syms

Nancy LaMott (outstanding interpretation; her untimely death was a great loss to the music world))

Susannah McCorkle

Diana Krall (extensive recordings from the catalog, but - very sadly - no single album)

Bobby Darin (a landmark album recorded with Mercer; it's a classic)

Maxine Sullivan (simply swinging jazz from a great vocalist)

Shari Lynn

Jenny Ferris

Blossom Dearie (close associate of Mercer in his last years who kept his memory and music very much alive until hear death in 2009)



That just about covers my Mercer birthday tribute this year. I want to end with three favorite Mercer lyrics that have become embedded in our culture as great American songs and jazz standards over their sixty years. They are:


Midnight Sun

Lionel Hampton and Sonny Burke wrote Midnight Sun in 1954 as an instrumental and had a big hit with it. The story goes that Mercer heard the tune on the freeway heading to his office. By the time he got there, he had the lyric. Ella Fitzgerald has "owned" this song for fifty years.

Your lips were like a red and ruby chalice warmer than the summer night
The clouds were like an alabaster palace rising to a snowy height
Each star its own aurora borealis suddenly you held me tight
I could see the midnight sun.


Early Autumn

Early Autumn was composed in 1949 by Ralph Burns and Woody Herman.

When an early autumn walks the land and chills the breeze
And touches with her hand the summer trees,
Perhaps you'll understand what memories I own.
There's a dance pavilion in the rain all shuttered down,
A winding lane all russet brown
A frosty window pane shows me a town grown lonely.


Laura

In 1944, the film, Laura, appeared with a theme song composed by David Raskin. The next year Mercer added the haunting lyrics.

Laura is the face in the misty lights,
Footsteps that you hear down the hall.
The laugh that floats on a summer night
That you can never quite recall.

And you see Laura on the train that is passing through,
Those eyes how familiar they seem.
She gave your very first kiss to you
That was Laura but she's only a dream.



If you do pick up a book or check out a website, you'll find that Mercer was quite a diverse personality. As a lyricist, composer, performer, businessman, and philanthropist, he shaped much of the American popular music industry for forty years, beginning in the mid 1930s. You'll also find that, almost throughout his life, the fame and fortune came at great personal cost. That seems to be the rule. Still, Mercer's gap-toothed smile and performance talent brought pleasure to millions of Americans during the mid-century. He's still with us in so many ways.

So happy birthday, Johnny. You're just about too marvelous for words.





References: Books by Bach and Mercer, Furia, and Lees; Johnny Mercer Foundation; Georgia State University Archives, and The Complete Lyrics of Johnny Mercer, by Kimball, Day. Kreuger and Davis.

Gram Parsons And The Search For A Fusion Sound

Parsons in 1972

Gram Parsons spent his brief musical life searching for what he called "cosmic American music," a sound emerging out of gospel, R&B, country and rock traditions. He was born on this day in 1946 into a wealthy Florida family, a circumstance that encouraged both his exploration of music and the drug abuse that killed him in 1973 (September 17). Parsons performed with The Byrds and The Flying Burrito Brothers before attempting a rocky solo career that went nowhere until he met a young singer in Washington, D.C. Her name was Emmylou Harris. Parsons soon partnered with Harris and they went on to produce some of the finest sounds from the early fusion days of country and folk-rock. With his passing, one of American music's greatest inventors was stilled, but others, including Emmylou, would use his inventions and adapt them over the next forty years into the country rock music we know today.

Here is some music to help you understand the history. The first recording is a Gram Parsons-Bob Buchanan song that appeared on The Byrds album, Sweetheart of the Rodeo, released in 1968. It was both a Parsons concept and groundbreaking for the band by going deep into classic country and introducing Parsons to a rock audience.

Here's a Parsons-Chris Hillman song, dating from 1969 and the days of The Flying Burrito Brothers. Parsons can be identified by his signature marijuana leaf Nudie suit.

And here is Parsons with Emmylou Harris performing their song, In the Hour of Darkness, from the album, Grievous Angel, released four months after his death.

With barely a decade of musical composition and performance behind him Gram Parsons made a lasting and profound impression on American popular music. We will continue to hear that influence for a long, long time.


For more on the Gram Parsons story, read this comprehensive Wikipedia entry with many links to his discography.

Sources

Photos and Illustrations:
public domain, publicity portrait of Gram Parsons for Reprise Records

Text:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gram_Parsons

Serve An Iconic Southern Punch This Holiday Season

 

With Halloween behind us the holiday party triad of Christmas, New Year's, and Twelfth Night will be upon us quickly and it's never too early to think about a menu.  If you think about serving a punch and want something really special this post is for you. Long-time readers know one of my favorite preparations for these occasions is Savannah's very own concoction known as Chatham Artillery Punch. In 1977, I was introduced to it at the Lion's Den in the DeSoto Hilton - now the DeSoto Hotel - in Savannah. If you assemble your batch this week it should be perfect for sharing on December 4 when artillerymen honor Saint Barbara, their patron saint. In the weeks following Saint Barbara"s Day the punch mellows into an even more delicious and potent beverage.

Chatham Artillery Punch is a drink to be enjoyed responsibly in an appropriate setting. Keep in mind the longer it ferments, the more powerful, deceptive and tasty it becomes. If made this week, by Christmas it should be legendary. There is a point - say after two months - at which it becomes a lightly fruited rumtopf perfect for topping ice cream or bundt. I suspect however that using it in Old Savannah as something other than a beverage would be a sacrilege.

In the past I've posted a recipe for 50 servings but this year it's reduced by half for two reasons. First, it's an expensive endeavor, and, second, a small cup can be enjoyed for a long time. The origin of today's recipe is lost to history but the assemblage of scattered notes over the decades - like the spirits themselves - produces a deliciously potent punch. A Georgia National Guard newsletter noted that a pair of soldier's socks, the stockings of a soldier's wife, and sand from Iraq were added to the punch in 2006. We're not going that far. On the other hand I will say that quality ingredients make a quality product.

Chatham Artillery Punch

Yield: 25 servings

1 quart strong green tea (soak about 1/4 pound of tea for a day, then strain)

Juice 5 lemons

10 ounces brown sugar

1 quart Catawba wine (a muscadine wine may be easier to find and works as well)

1 quart Santa Cruz rum (use Virgin Islands style rum, light or dark)

1 pint brandy

1 pint dry gin (I like the flavorings in Bombay Sapphire)

1 pint rye whiskey (Bulleit 95 Rye Small Batch is a perfect choice)

1.5 pints Queen Anne cherries

1.5 pints pineapple chunks

1.5 quarts champagne


To prepare, sterilize a crock or similar vessel. Mix the tea and lemon juice, then dissolve the brown sugar and gently stir in all the alcohol except the champagne. Add the cherries and pineapple chunks carefully. Cover the crock tightly and sit aside in a cool, dark place for at least one week - a month is better. Careful sampling is permitted to insure the fermentation process is working as planned. To serve, pour the mixture carefully over a block of ice, add the champagne, stir gently, and serve immediately. IMPORTANT: Never refrigerate to cool ahead of serving or serve with ice cubes.


Enjoy!

Distinctive Unit Insignia of the Chatham Artillery

The Chatham Artillery survives today as Battery B, 1st How. Battalion, 118th Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, 48th Armored Division Artillery, Georgia National Guard.  The regiment traces its roots to 1751 and the 118th Field Artillery, Georgia Militia. Their latest deployment was to Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom in 2009.

Regardless of what's in your cup on the evening of December 4, remember the men and women of the Chatham Artillery at their annual banquet in Savannah. Raise your cup to their nearly 250 years of service and remember their motto: "He does not know how to give up."

Enjoy!