The Exorcist

Today is Halloween, a night when children everywhere delight in things scary and macabre. As I do during my "musings", I find myself reflecting as to what was the scariest and most macabre happening in my experience. Ultimately I find myself coming back to my reading the book The Exorcist and my subsequent seeing of the movie. When the book came out in 1971, it was a bestseller and I, like many others, decided to read it. Once I began, I could not put it down and as the night grew darker and darker in my James Hall dorm room, it seemed as though the odors associated with the evil began to permeate the room. Reading The Exorcist was the scariest reading experience of my life. I still have that book, but I keep it segregated from the rest of my books because I still think there is something evil about it.

When the movie came out two years later in 1973, it scared the BeeJesus out of me. I have not been to a horror film since.

I am wondering, what is the scariest book you have read or the scariest movie? And why?

We are the Rabbits! The Mighty, Mighty Rabbits!

For me, returning was a blast to the past. The game was still held in the stadium where many moons ago the coaches tortured us by making us run up and down the concrete stadium steps to the point of exhaustion. Indeed the cement itself appeared to have begun to finally wear down from the thousands of "stadium runs" that have been performed over the years.

I purchased a program for this special night and, in browsing it, noticed three things. First, I noticed that unlike in my day, almost all of the players were black or Mexican. Out of the 37 faces and names that comprised the Varsity squad only three were white. In my day, it would have been more the other way around. However, oddly enough, and this is the second thing I noticed, while the football team was mostly black and Mexican, the entire coaching staff of six was white. Finally, the third thing I noticed was that at the back of the program the students had inserted an open letter to the head coach thanking him for all that he had done for them. Apparently, the Coach had served as a "father" figure for so many of the young men. Indeed, the Coach had been doing so for the last 37 years at the same school and, to my pleasant surprise, the Coach who so inspired his players was a fellow classmate of mine, a member of the Class of 1971.

Well, in fitting form, the Rabbits demonstrated the speed that rabbits are known for and were able to outrun the Granite Hill Cougars all night. During half-time the Homecoming Queen and King were crowned and, yes, the Homecoming Queen was African American. There was an unexpectedly good fireworks show and the Rabbits came back out after half-time and continued to run over and away from the Cougars. The Rabbits, the Mighty, Mighty Rabbits prevailed 35-20, and my Classmate received the traditional Gatorade bath that victorious coaches all over the country seem to receive.

After the teams had exchanged their display of good sportsmanship, I went down to the field and tapped my classmate on the shoulder. I congratulated him on the victory and on his career. I told him that seeing the game had been a special treat for me. And, in that moment, the Coach, in his Gatorade soaked attire, beamed with a joy that few of us will ever know.

I left that field thinking about the influence my football coach classmate has had on the lives of hundreds, if not thousands, of young men and women throughout his 37 years at our alma mater. I paid particular note of the apparent fact that while the complexion of those in attendance at the high school had changed, this man's dedication to them had not. I thought of all this and I began to think that of all of the graduates of Victor Valley High School Class of 1971, it just might be that this football coach classmate is the most "successful" of us all.

 

Gandhi

Perhaps the greatest man of the twentieth century was Mohandas Gandhi. Gandhi had a long career fighting apartheid in South Africa before returning to his native India to fight British imperialism there. Gandhi's philosophy of non-violent resistance became the hallmark for such leaders as Martin Luther King and also influenced the return of Nelson Mandela from his 27 years in prison. In 1982, an Academy Award winning film was released depicting Gandhi's life. In viewing it, and later reading about Gandhi and reflecting upon his accomplishments, my life was changed. The film can be found at

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TyPaMxk6VpQ

But most importantly begin the viewing at 2:45 of the movie and pay particular attention to the scene that lasts from 2:55 to 2:57. It is in that scene that the essence of Gandhi comes through and which forms the basis of my "Afro-Centric" aversion. But more on this in the next installment of Introduction.

Zoom

In 1977 I made a major investment in the latest technological fad that I felt was certain to bolster my social life. I went down to an electronics store just off of University Avenue in Berkeley and plucked down $120 on an eight track tape player. As I recall, I also soon bought an eight track tape of the latest hot r&b group... a group called the Commodores. Now the eight track Commodores tape had a number of "hip" r&b tracks on it, but the song that attracted me the most was a song entitled "Zoom". You can hear it at

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xyjkwh_commodores-zoom-1977_music

Truth be told, my social life did not greatly improve by my purchase of the eight track tape player. Indeed, the only eight track tape that I can clearly recall ever purchasing was that eight track tape by the Commodores. I think we all soon found the regular cassette tapes to still be the most economical and compact means of listening to music. Nevertheless, I still fondly remember that eight track player because at that time "Zoom" became almost an anthem for me.

The lead singer on the Commodores "Zoom" soon made some other hit ballads while with the Commodores. I enjoyed listening to many of them but did not pay too much attention until the lead singer left the Commodores and began his solo career. This new venture happened to coincide with the emergence of music videos and one of the first music videos that rather intrigued me was the music video for the former Commodores lead singer's signature song entitled "Hello". That video can be found at

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDZcqBgCS74

The "Hello" video intrigued me not just because it was a beautiful video with a beautiful song, but also because the beautiful woman who portrays the muse for the singer in the video happens to be a fellow Amherst graduate, Laura Carrington, Class of 1980.

I mention all this because a few hours ago, I watched Lionel Richie, the former lead singer for the Commodores and the singer/songwriter of "Hello" perform this song in San Jose and he mentioned that whenever he performs it around the world, invariably, the audiences know the song. Indeed, in reading about the song, it appears to have become one of his signature songs.  However, I must confess, he has so many and for two solid hours he performed them magnificently. Along with an Earth, Wind & Fire concert I attended in 2007, this ranks as the best concert I have ever attended. At 64, Lionel Richie can still put on quite a show. And most fitting of all is the song that he chose as his encore. Some of you may recall it and why it's message so resonated around the world. However, for those of you who do not so remember, well, I hope you will reflect and enjoy.

 

http://www.ask.com/youtube?q=we+are+the+world+music+video&v=OoDY8ce_3zk

There comes a time when we heed a certain call

When the world must come together as one.
There are people dying and it's time to lend a hand
To life - the greatest gift of all.

We can't go on pretending day by day
That someone somewhere will soon make a change.
We are all a part of God's great big family

And the truth
You know
Love is all we need.

We are the world
We are the children

We are the ones who make a brighter day

So let's start giving.
There's a choice we're making
We're saving our own lives.
It's true
We'll make a better day
Just you and me.

Well
Send them your heart

So they'll know that someone cares

And their lives will be stronger and free.
As God has shown us by turning stone to bread

And so we all must lend a helping hand.
We are the world

We are the children
We are the ones who make a brighter day
So lets start giving
There's a choice we're making
We're saving our own lives
It's true we make a brighter day
Just you and me...

Puff the Magic Dragon

In November of 1963, I turned ten years old. Living in Montana at the time, I recall only a few things. Sadly, I do not recall hearing Martin Luther King's famous "I Have a Dream" speech. But I do recall the day that Kennedy was assassinated. I also recall one of the more famous popular songs of the day - "Puff the Magic Dragon", a song that became one of the indelible links to my youth. The lyrics of that song go

Puff, the magic dragon lived by the sea
And frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called Honah Lee,
Little Jackie paper loved that rascal puff,
And brought him strings and sealing wax and other fancy stuff. oh

Puff, the magic dragon lived by the sea
And frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called Honah Lee,
Puff, the magic dragon lived by the sea
And frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called Honah Lee.

Together they would travel on a boat with billowed sail
Jackie kept a lookout perched on puffs gigantic tail,
Noble kings and princes would bow whenever they came,
Pirate ships would lower their flag when puff roared out his name. oh!

Puff, the magic dragon lived by the sea
And frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called Honah Lee,
Puff, the magic dragon lived by the sea
And frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called Honah Lee.

A dragon lives forever but not so little boys
Painted wings and giant rings make way for other toys.
One grey night it happened, Jackie paper came no more
And puff that mighty dragon, he ceased his fearless roar.

His head was bent in sorrow, green scales fell like rain,
Puff no longer went to play along the cherry lane.
Without his life-long friend, puff could not be brave,
So puff that mighty dragon sadly slipped into his cave. oh!

Puff, the magic dragon lived by the sea
And frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called Honah Lee,
Puff, the magic dragon lived by the sea
And frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called Honah Lee.

As a child, I grew up loving the song and the rousing manner in which we sang it in class. It was not until the Vietnam War era that I was alerted to the darker side of the song. As explained in Wikipedia,

The lyrics for "Puff, the Magic Dragon" were based on a 1959 poem by Leonard Lipton, a 19-year-old Cornell University student. Lipton was inspired by an Ogden Nash poem titled "Custard the Dragon", about a "realio, trulio little pet dragon."

The lyrics tell a story of the ageless dragon Puff and his playmate Jackie Paper, a little boy who grows up and loses interest in the imaginary adventures of childhood and leaves Puff alone and depressed. (Because of the line "A dragon lives forever, but not so little boys", the lyrics may imply to some that Jackie Paper dies.) The story of the song takes place "by the sea" in the fictional land of Honalee (the spelling used by author Lenny Lipton, though non-authoritative variations abound.)

Lipton was friends with Peter Yarrow's housemate when they were all students at Cornell. He used Yarrow's typewriter to get the poem out of his head. He then forgot about it until years later, when a friend called and told him Yarrow was looking for him, to give him credit for the lyrics. On making contact Yarrow gave Lipton half the songwriting credit, and he still gets royalties from the song.

In an effort to be gender-neutral, Yarrow now sings the line "A dragon lives forever, but not so little boys" as "A dragon lives forever, but not so girls and boys." The original poem also had a verse that did not make it into the song. In it, Puff found another child and played with him after returning. Neither Yarrow nor Lipton remembers the verse in any detail, and the paper that was left in Yarrow's typewriter in 1958 has since been lost.

In 1961, Yarrow joined Paul Stookey and Mary Travers to form Peter, Paul and Mary. The group incorporated the song into their live performances before recording it in 1962; their 1962 recording of "Puff" reached number two on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and spent two weeks atop the Billboard easy listening chart in early 1963. It also reached number ten on Billboard's R&B chart.

After the song's initial success, speculation arose — as early as a 1964 article in Newsweek — that the song contained veiled references to smoking marijuana. The word "paper" in the name of Puff's human friend (Jackie Paper) was said to be a reference to rolling papers, and the word "dragon" was interpreted as "draggin'," i.e. inhaling smoke; similarly, the name "Puff" was alleged to be a reference to taking a "puff" on a joint. The supposition was claimed to be common knowledge in a letter by a member of the public to The New York Times in 1984.

The authors of the song have repeatedly rejected this urban legend and have strongly and consistently denied that they intended any references to drug use. Peter Yarrow has frequently explained that "Puff" is about the hardships of growing older and has no relationship to drug-taking. He has also said of the song that it "never had any meaning other than the obvious one" and is about the "loss of innocence in children".

In 1976, Yarrow's bandmate Paul Stookey of Peter, Paul and Mary also upheld the song's innocence. He recorded a version of the song at the Sydney Opera House in March 1976, in which he set up a fictitious trial scene. The Prosecutor accused the song of being about marijuana, but Puff and Jackie protested. The judge finally leaves the case to the jury (the Opera House audience) and says if they will sing along with the song, it will be acquitted. The audience joins in with Stookey, and at the end of their sing-along, the judge declares "case dismissed."

*****

I suppose that these two opposing versions should be all that there are, but in my recent vacation travel to the island of Kauai, I was informed of a more allegorical interpretation of the song. According to one of the older vacationers, the song "Puff the Magic Dragon" was finalized while Peter, Paul and Mary were vacationing on the north shore of Kauai. Seeing the beautiful Pacific Ocean being buttressed by the cloud topped mountain of Bali Hai along the Na Pali coast brought back memories of the college poem and led to the lyrics being composed for the famous song. I suppose it would be easy to discount this island legend, except that in viewing the beauty of Honah Lee (Hanalei) and seeing the autumn mist (the autumnal rain clouds), I too came to believe that a magic dragon once lived by the sea. Indeed, in viewing the scenery and remembering the song, I became persuaded that the magic dragon still lives by the sea ... somewhere up in those mountains ... concealed by the clouds of our imaginations.

*****

http://www.lyricsfreak.com/p/peter+paul+mary/puff+the+magic+dragon_10205000.html