This, and subsequent “The Army” entries, came about through my Niece requesting some information on my Army days. She was doing some sort of project that required a “behind the scenes” view of military life, so I started to jot things down.
I got a little carried away!
I suppose that this became the precursor to my blog, so I have Penny to thank for that!
I am offering these jottings exactly as originally presented, the only changes being the introduction of badges, where appropriate, and occasional comments, shown in blue.
I joined the Army in 1964, at the age of 16. As I was under the age of majority I had to have my parents’ permission to do so.
Despite the image of the Swinging Sixties you must remember that the majority of youth was unsophisticated, untraveled and, despite what they believed, very naïve. We had not benefitted, or…
Not only do I talk to the trees, I talk to all manner of things.
Each morning I go for a walk.
I have various routes, but all take in fields, woodland, the River Erewash, the Erewash canal, bridges, a main road, and suburban streets.
Some days I hardly see a living soul, others I see far too many!
My normal route takes me down my road, which has only some 9 houses. At the bottom of the road I have my first conversation, with a brazen hussy who rolls on the ground and will not let me pass before she is satisfied. Somewhere close by her brother will be watching. He is more timid and undemanding. Their Mummy lives at the end house and thinks they are both boys!
I explain that I have to get on, and continue on my way. She follows, then runs ahead. It is…
Thank you to Jim Adams, who tirelessly hosts Song Lyric Sunday and gives us the chance to share lots of favourite, and some not so familiar, songs.
The theme for this week, Avenue /Boulevard /Drive /Lane /Road /Street, is all about thoroughfares, means of getting somewhere, or where we live, or work, and there are myriad songs to choose from.
If you fancy sharing one of your favourite songs you can find out how to participate, and also listen to all the great entries, here.
The song I’ve chosen, this week, is “Any Road” by George Harrison. It is the opening track to his posthumous album Brainwashed, written in 1988 during the making of a video for his 1987 album Cloud Nine. The song was released on 12 May 2003 as a single in the United Kingdom and peaked at #37 in the UK charts.
George successfully battled throat cancer in 1997; in 2001 he underwent surgery to remove a cancerous growth from one of his lungs, and radiotherapy for lung cancer which had metastasised to his brain. Once he realised it was an irreversible situation, he worked further on the album’s songs – in conjunction with his son, Dhani, and his old collaborator Jeff Lynne – until he was unable to do more. Harrison’s final work on the album was carried out at a recording studio in Switzerland shortly before his trip to the United States for cancer treatment. On 29 November 2001, Harrison died, leaving “Brainwashed” not quite finished, but with a guide to completing it in the hands of his son and Lynne.
I always loved George Harrison and felt he was not given the attention and kudos due to him. He was a fine musician, singer, lyricist, and a genuinely spiritual man.
He loved to commune with nature in his garden and once put the whole property up as collateral in order to fund the Monty Python comedy team’s movie Life of Brian after their original backers, EMI, pulled out at the last minute. As a huge fan of the Pythons, he simply wanted to get to see the film − something that his friend Eric Idle has often described as “the most expensive cinema ticket in movie history”.
Here is George Harrison with Any Road. I hope you enjoy it.
Lyrics:
Give me that plenty of that guitar
For I’ve been traveling on a boat and a plane
In a car on a bike with a bus and a train
Traveling there, traveling here
Everywhere in every gear
But, oh Lord, we pay the price
With the spin of the wheel with the roll of the dice
Ah yeah, you pay your fare
And if you don’t know where you’re going
Any road will take you there
And I’ve been traveling through the dirt and the grime
From the past to the future through the space and the time
Traveling deep beneath the waves
In watery grottoes and mountainous caves
But, oh Lord, we’ve got to fight
With the thoughts in the head with the dark and the light
No use to stop and stare
And if you don’t know where you’re going
Any road will take you there
You may not know where you came from
May not know who you are
May not have even wondered
How you got this far
I’ve been traveling on a wing and a prayer
By the skin of my teeth, by the breadth of a hair
Traveling where the four winds blow
With the sun on my face, in the ice and the snow
But, ooh wee, it’s a game
Sometimes you’re cool, sometimes you’re lame
Ah yeah, it’s somewhere
If you don’t know where you’re going
Any road will take you there
But, oh Lord, we pay the price
With the spin of the wheel with the roll of the dice
Ah yeah, you pay your fare
If you don’t know where you’re going
Any road will take you there
I keep traveling around the bend
There was no beginning, there is no end
It wasn’t born and never dies
There are no edges, there is no sides
Oh yeah, you just don’t win
It’s so far out, the way out is in
Bow to God and call him Sir
But if you don’t know where you’re going
Any road will take you there
And if you don’t know where you’re going
Any road will take you there
If you don’t know where you’re going
Any road will take you there
Writer George Harrison Producer George Harrison, Jeff Lynne, Dhani Harrison
For Paddy, and all those unsung heroes who are the salt of the earth, thanks to Colleen for introducing some of them to us.
We approached an Irish monument. I’m always excited to see the world as it used to be, or relics of it and use my imagination to create how I think it was. It was late in the day and only stragglers wandered about. As I stepped through the gates I could see an elderly man […]
