THE SOUNDTRACK OF MY LIFE (Or, PRELUDE TO AN INTRODUCTION - Blog Bit 1)

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My friend, Robin (the Girl Wonder), yakked me into doing this 'THE SOUNDTRACK OF MY LIFE' project with her. Although I had already done something very similar 5 years ago on a long defunct blog o' mine, I got to thinking that I would put together an updated version, utilizing some of my older stuffs and adding a few different songs and a wee bit o' new text.

I will be posting these 'SOUNDTRACK' blog bits off and on between my 'BATTLE OF THE BANDS' contests.

There's a storytelling technique where you start at the end and then explain what led up to that ending by using the flashback format. One of my very favorite examples of this is found in my choice for "Best Hollywood Film Noir" picture:

'SUNSET BOULEVARD' begins with Joe Gillis (William Holden), a Hollywood screenwriter, floating face-down dead in a swimming pool while the police department photographer is taking pictures of the corpse. Cops are gathered around, prepared to fish Joe out of the water. 

Then suddenly we hear the voice of Joe Gillis, narrating the movie from "the great beyond" and he tells us:

“The poor dope - he always wanted a pool. Well, in the end, he got himself a pool.”

And from that point, Joe goes to the beginning of the story and explains how he wound up in the wet and dead situation he's in.

[‘Sunset Boulevard’ is Hollyweird self-criticism, black comedy, and Noir at its “noirest”. It’s also an absolute classic, a genuine masterpiece that was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the National Film Registry due to its being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". And if you can't tell me what is the single most famous line of dialogue from 'Sunset Boulevard', shame, Shame, SHAME on you!]

Anyway, rather than begin with a song that 'splains li'l ol' me as a youngster, I've decided to begin with an overarching theme - a sort of prelude to an introduction.

Reincarnation is not something I "believe" in.
Reincarnation is something I know to be a fact of life.
 
Now, as soon as anyone says they believe in reincarnation, the first question a listener will ask is, "Who were you in a past life?" And a fool will answer with some famous name from history. They'll say, "I was Henry the Eighth, I was, I was", or "I was Marilyn Monroe", or "I was the great Irish tenor Yoey O'Dogherty" - as if everyone who's lived before was someone famous.

OK, OK... I can hear you. You wanna know RIGHT NOW who I was in a past life!

Well, to begin with, I don't know how many lives on Earth I've had, and if I was ever anyone you've heard of, that's news to me, too! I do feel confident in saying I was once a Jewish writer whose name has been lost to history. However, as that unnamed Jewish writer, I also believe I once saw, in the flesh, the most famous Man who ever lived. ...No, not Muhammad Ali. ...No, not Elvis Presley either.

Reincarnation is greatly misunderstood by many people. In the first place, Reincarnation and Soul Transmigration (where one thinks they could return as "a single drop of rain") are two different concepts that are often confused and mixed up together, like gin and vermouth. For the record, I do NOT believe in Soul Transmigration. You ain't comin' back as a raindrop, a tree, or a rock. I KNOW, however, that Reincarnation sometimes occurs.

In fact, I feel fairly certain that the world's most famous Man also reincarnated a number of times. But that's all another story and a discussion for another time in another place; this project is all about music. 

So, with my first 'The Soundtrack Of My Life' post, I am going to highlight a song that references one of the foundations of my Spiritual worldview. (The song also mixes up Reincarnation and Soul Transmigration, but that's because the songwriter didn't consult me before putting pen to paper. I would have gladly set him straight but... alas. Regardless, it's a pretty cool song that does speak of reincarnation.)

From Wackypedia:

"Highwayman" is a song written by American singer-songwriter Jimmy Webb, about a soul with incarnations in four different places in time and history: as a highwayman, a sailor, a dam builder on the Hoover Dam, and finally as an astronaut. ... In 1985, the song became the inspiration for the naming of the supergroup The Highwaymen, which featured Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, and Kris Kristofferson. Their first album, Highwayman, became a number one platinum-selling album, and their version of the song remained number one on the Hot Country Songs Billboard chart for twenty weeks. Their version earned Webb a Grammy Award for Best Country Song in 1985.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPHuQFN7L70

That's it for installment #1 of 'THE SOUNDTRACK OF MY LIFE'. See ya next time, Peoples.

~ Stephen T. McCarthy