I've grappled with how to approach today's post. I could have written an Online radio sampler highlights post, recommending seasonally appropriate music, as I did two years ago. I could argue that a moving melody is still a moving melody regardless of when you hear it. That doesn't feel right today, though.
I could have written a Context? post, recalling what a radio talk show host said yesterday. Her dad allowed his kids to shoot off fireworks but insisted that they wear goggles, which she said compromised the coolness factor of fireworks for her considerably. That would have been a seasonally appropriate post, but it would have sidestepped the disturbing time we're in politically.
I also considered writing about my reaction to seeing the lineup of performers for this year's "Pops Goes The Fourth" Boston Pops celebration. Referencing a "Kids In The Hall" sketch, I planned to ask, "Who's playing Boston? Who's playing Boston? Bell...Biv...DeVoe. Can't watch the show without a whole lotta milk..." A few readers might have appreciated the inside reference and gotten the joke, but that, too, wouldn't have addressed the seriousness of America's current situation.
Since yesterday, I've thought about an exchange I had with a neighbor. I was talking with a neighbor about his plans to watch the fireworks tonight when another neighbor arrived. We had this exchange:
Neighbor: What are we celebrating again?
Me: Being an ostensibly free country.
Neighbor: A free country in name only...
That's the precarious perch on which we're teetering in America. As Heather Cox Richardson pointed out on a recent edition of "The Bulwark" podcast, democracy isn't dead yet. I'd like to believe that's true. I'd also like to believe, as Senator Elizabeth Warren said, "Together, we have power." Millions of people participated in the No Kings protests, and it's heartening to believe that the attendance at today's Free America protests may well be similar.
Having said that, this still doesn't feel like the right day for jaunty, jingoistic tunes. Last night, I played Ferrante & Teicher's version of "Shenandoah," as it's a beautiful melody and, in my opinion, the strongest track on the "Spirit Of 176" album. I followed it up with Paul Simon's "American Tune," which is more lyrically appropriate now than ever.
I think that's the right tone for today--although the most discordant portion of the Charles Ives/William Schuman piece, "Variations On 'America,'" wouldn't be out of place, either.
