Fact is, I just turned 57 a cuppla days ago...so if I'm not grown up now, chances are I never will be. I was born in 1956. Saw the Beatles. Heard the Stones. I asked the aged old question...Why do you build me up, Buttercup, just to let me down? My Papa wasn't a Rolling Stone...but I dug the song. Never crossed that bridge over the Tallahatchie River, or threw anything off of it. Never met the son (or daughter) of a Preacher Man.
I never ate Poke Salad...or met Poke Salad Annie. Never did the Mashed Potato. I never Stopped In The Name of Love. Never had a Love Child.
I wanted Somebody to Love. I Needed Somebody to Love. But never found somebody to love.
I had lots of musical sirens that sang to me growing up. Janis...Linda...Bowie...Costello...Richard Thompson. Sam Cooke and The Staple Singers. Early Pointer Sisters. Gladys Knight. Jerry Lee Lewis. Johnny Cash.
But when I grow up...I mean really get old...I want to be Willie Nelson. The braids...the bus..the entourage...the whole damned thing.
I think he is an example of a life well lived.
And here are a few of his best tunes..........