From my mis-spent youth ..................
I post a weekly diary of historical notes, arts & science items, foreign news (often receiving little notice in the US) and whimsical pieces from the outside world that I often feature in "Cheers & Jeers".
OK, you've been warned - here is this week's tomfoolery material that I posted.
CHEERS to Bill and Michael in PWM and ...... well, each of you at Cheers and Jeers. Have a fabulous weekend .... and week ahead.
ART NOTES — an exhibition entitled American Photography — based on the work of Swiss-American photographer Robert Frank’s statement of intent for his 1954 Guggenheim Fellowship application (and numerous other unsentimental artists) — opens this week at The Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, Netherlands to June 9th.
Ming Smith photo (circa 1976)
PHOTO of the DAY — the other day when Bronzer broached the idea of US troops cleaning-house in Gaza, chief-of-staff Susie Wiles … had some indigestion.
YOUR WEEKEND READ #1 is this (gift article) in The Atlantic by Adam Serwer, positing that the attack on trans rights … will not end just with them.
THURSDAY's CHILD is the late great Pixie the Cat — an English kitteh who made a second home at a filling station/garage and had a following of more than 1,300 followers on Facebook — who has died at the age of fifteen.
Pixie the Cat
YOUR WEEKEND READ #2 is this short essay by Tasha Adams, the ex-wife of the Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes, beginning with the day she and her children drove away.
FRIDAY's CHILD is named Palmerston the Cat — the English kitteh who used to roam in the UK’s Foreign Office in London, but has now been lured out of retirement … with a post as "Feline relations consultant" at the UK’s government office (nearly 3,500 miles away) … in Bermuda.
Palmerston the Cat
BRAIN TEASER — try this Quiz of the Week's News from the BBC ...… and the usually easier, less UK-centered New York Times quiz.
THE OTHER NIGHT yours truly hosted the Top Comments diary with a look at Felix the Cat — whose creator had a rather sordid life, and did not live to see the 1958-60 cartoons that I remember most.
MOTHER-DAUGHTER? — film stars Jane Fonda (from the 1969 film They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?) and Molly Ringwald.
Jane Fonda (b. 1937)
Molly Ringwald (b. 1968)
...... and finally, for a song of the week ...........................… no time this week for a full profile, just to highlight a song. Years ago, I did a profile on John Prine, concluding with my favorite song of his, Dear Abby. Yet his most enduring tune is Angel from Montgomery, as he had the knack of being able to sing in the first person (in this case as a woman), as his insight was that special. There are also some unclear origins of the song .. all of which make a compelling story.
When recording his 1971 self-titled debut album, he had already written a song about lonely senior citizens, Hello in There — and his friend Eddie Holstein suggested writing another tune on the same theme. Prine decided on a slightly different theme: a middle-aged woman … who feels older than she is, wondering what life still can offer her:
I had this really vivid picture of this woman standing over the dishwater with soap in her hands, and just walking away from it all. So I just kept that whole idea image in mind when I was writing the song and I just let it pour out of that character’s heart.
As to the song title: perhaps as befits a songwriter, there are clues, yet no definitive answer. One theory is that the phrase itself is thought to be that of a pardon (from the governor of Alabama to a prisoner, issued in the state capital of Montgomery) — and the woman is living in her own self-made prison that she can't escape from, hence she needs a pardon. John Prine himself said (about the choice of Montgomery) that he believes it was because it was home to one of his musical heroes: Hank Williams. Finally, his friend Eddie Holstein suggests it was inspired by the large statue of the goddess Diana (on top of the Montgomery Ward building in Chicago, near where John grew up).
The following year of 1972 the song was covered by two singers: a Chicago woman named Bonnie Koloc, and also Carly Simon — yet her version went unreleased for twenty-two years (as her record company didn’t like her producer). John Denver recorded it in 1973.
Yet it was the 1974 cover by Bonnie Raitt that truly launched the tune. In 2020, she sang it at the Grammy Awards, where Prine was honored with a Lifetime Achievement award (just three months before his death from Covid).
"John Prine, who is sitting right over there, wrote 'Angel From Montgomery' and so many other songs that changed my life. As a young feminist, the idea that this young man could inhabit the world of a middle-aged woman in a thankless marriage really resonated with me."
In 2018, Brett Kavanaugh was confirmed to the Supreme Court after contentious hearings in which he was accused of sexual assault. On October 5, when it was announced Kavanaugh had enough votes to be confirmed, Prine dedicated the song to the women in the audience at his Ryman Auditorium performance in Nashville. "It's a sad, sad day when women can't be believed," he said.
The song has been covered by many (including Tanya Tucker, Ben Harper, Dave Matthews, Wynonna Judd, Natalie Maines and Hank Williams’ granddaughter Holly) and ranked as #351 on Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Songs of All Time list.
Here is a duet version from Bonnie Raitt … and someone else who performs it, Susan Tedeschi.
I am an old woman named after my mother
My old man is another child that's grown old
If dreams were lightning, thunder was desire
This old house would have burnt down a long time ago
When I was a young girl, I had me a cowboy
He weren't much to look at, just a free rambling man
But that was a long time and no matter how I try
The years just flow by like a broken-down dam
There's flies in the kitchen; I can hear 'em there buzzing
And I ain't done nothing since I woke up today
How the hell can a person go to work in the morning,
Come home in the evening … and have nothing to say?
Make me an angel that flies from Montgomery
Make me a poster of an old rodeo
Just give me one thing that I can hold on to
To believe in this living is just a hard way to go