one thousand times

Today, a favorite song by Wolfgang Press is on my mind. I do so love the lyrics, whther sung by them or Sir Tom Jones. 'Tis a nice song just before bedtime, you know? So, with no further ado, here it is.

A Girl Like You

You go to sleep
I want to sail in your head
And when you speak
you know you got to make sense
You want to say that it's me you know best
I said a girl like you
she was born to be blessed

My hands are yours
you can take them from me
And take my mouth
I - I have nothing to say
You want to fly to some other place
I said a girl like you
she was born to be kissed

Born to be kissed
one thousand times
and your mother too
one thousand times

You wanna say it
you say you long to be free
but when you fall
you want to fall back to me
You want to fly and that's no disgrace
I said a girl like you
she was born to be blessed

My hands are yours
cause I don't know how to pray
and take my mouth
I - I have nothing to say
And lift my heart to a higher place
to a girl like you
who was born to be kissed

Born to be kissed
one thousand times
and your sister too
one thousand times

one thousand times
and your mother too
one thousand times
your sister too
one thousand times
a girl like you
one thousand times
one thousand times
here comes the sun
here comes the sun

* * * * *

Quite lovely... I'm going to watch the video again now.
Later!

you can't go home again

Here's the trouble with time travel: in order to get what you want, you have to DO what you DID. Past choices are the path followed to today, like it or not. Any change in those past choices will affect your present day. Your high school sweetie turns out to be a hound dog, so you choose to NOT sleep with him on your birthday and NOT get knocked up? Congratulations on the loss of the future daughter, and subsequent son, who you love so dearly.
I watched "Peggy Sue Got Married" this afternoon, in lieu of going to a local cinema. Partly I chose to stay home because I didn't want to go into the tire-melting heat of the summer day. But that wasn't the only factor. I've had this movie beside my computer for several days now - maybe even more than a week! - so I could see Nicholas Cage sing.
Mama and I had gone to see the movie when it first came out in 1986, while I was still attending college here. We had both loved it and loved seeing Nicholas Cage and Kathleen Turner. So, I bought the movie when it was released on VHS and she and I watched it again. Then I purchased it -for a final time?- when I was switching over to the dvd format, so we could watch it any time we wanted.
Why the sudden desire to see Cage's performance again? Well, one of my favorite songs on Tom Jones' "the lead and how to swing it" is titled "A Girl Like You". The beat is hypnotic and sensual and rhythmic... well, you get my drift, right? Coupled with that singular Welsh voice, the song makes for great company. I had a copy of the cd quite a few years back, but it was lost along the way; perhaps it was borrowed and never returned? I only know that when one of my friends posted some lyrical phrases from one of Sir Tom's songs, I simply HAD to have that cd once more. The folks at eBay were kind enough to allow me to 'win" it.
Meanwhile, as I was waiting for my "prize" to arrive, I started searching youTube on the off chance that the song had ever had a video... and it did!!! Not by Mr. Jones, no indeed. That would have been quite the find! But, no. Instead, I found several DIFFERENT songs by that title, songs which were good but not THE song. Then, success! I found the actual video by the original group, The Wolfgang Press, a group who so impressed Mr. Jones that he had asked them to write, for him, another song for that same album (cd). They complied, giving him "Show Me", another strong single, to me at least. I don't know that any of the songs ever made it to the radio.
So, what's the connection to the movie??? Well, the lead singer reminded me of Nicholas Cage. Just superficially, mind. Right height, right build, right smoky eyes and smokier voice. Oh, yeah. And I remembered that Cage had sung a couple of songs in the movie, so I wanted to compare, see how well I was remembering. I was SO off! In the movie, his voice was such a kid's voice through much of it, not yet having mellowed with time, smoke, and drink until his later years... but his singing voice was just fine. There was something about the way he looked while singing, while holding the microphone, and THAT was what had triggered the memory while watching the music video.

postscript

Timing is everything. This morning, on the only news program I watch, Tom Jones was featured. They even showed concert clips of him doing all three of the songs mentioned in my last post! He's 71 now, so Mother Pat would have been 70 in March.
His look is different now and seems to have changed shortly after we saw his show. He's allowed himself to show his age, gray hair, gray beard, and it becomes him. I still think HE is a "sex bomb" and I'd still like to see him in concert again. Tom has a new album - oops! I mean, CD - out and the songs are quite different, with several old traditional standards and folk tunes. I had seen him at the MGM Grand, one of the cornerstones in Las Vegas, and apparently he still performs there. Maybe I can plan a trip to coincide with his in the next year or two.
Although the sound of the new songs is more serious, this isn't the first time he's delved into vastly different material. He did the same in 1994 when he released "the lead and how to swing it", one of my favorites. Take a listen. THIS is what being mid-fifties is all about for me. He was 54 in this video, recorded at the House of Blues in Los Angeles in 1994. I'm 53 now, still vital, still dancing, still.
Thanks to the tomjonesintl.com site for the video and the information! I had wondered about the title of the album and I like it even more now, knowing it was a tribute to Sir Tom's dad. Now, if I could only find a video for one of my favorites on the CD, "A Girl Like You". That would be so fine! Meanwhile, the original by Wolfgang Press will do nicely.

it's not unusual

‘Doc, I can’t stop singing ‘The Green, Green Grass of Home.’ ‘That sounds like Tom Jones Syndrome.’ ‘Is it common?’ 'Well, ‘It’s Not Unusual.’ =)

The above joke was posted on a friend's facebook page and made me smile. As I replied to her, "OMG, Tom Jones is soooo fabulous!! When I saw him in Las Vegas in 2007, he sang "Sex Bomb" to ME! Yes, he did! (swoon!)"
Seriously, he DID! I had bought the tickets in December of 2006 and snagged front-row tickets for my husband and my mother-in-law for his show. Incredible! Even more so, the concert was on Mother Pat's 66th birthday and I knew she was going to love the show at least as much as I would. THAT was very important to me. You see, the trip to Las Vegas was a last hurrah with her, as she had Stage 4 colon cancer and was doing very poorly. We had no idea just how poor her health was until we saw her. She had become considerably weaker since the Christmas visit and would actually die a month after the trip.
The trip to Las Vegas was one she had been trying to get us to take with her for years. She had retired early and had nothing but time, whereas we both worked and were lucky to get two weeks of paid vacation a year. To go to Las Vegas would take at least most of a week, leaving us little time for anything else. So, going to gamble with Mother Pat kept getting pushed to the bottom of the list. A real shame, in hindsight. She truly enjoyed the place, as do I, and she knew how to get around and where to find the best, and cheapest, entertainment.
I think the next time I go there, I'll have to find a place where her name can become part of the city.