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Retirement Blues
The Story behind the song!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RO5sIqpcqoY
The photo above reminds me of my dad. I miss him dearly!
Here is a song that took quite a while to come together. I have played this introduction piece on my guitar for decades. It was one of the first things I played to help break in the new strings. I was going for a bluesy feel, so Retirement Blues became sort of a working title somewhere along the way. Of course, I hadn’t retired yet and I doubt that I ever will.
The melody and lyrics slowly came together once the first few lines appeared: “I’m older than I look, I’m younger than I feel”. That felt like a good start but where do I go from there. Then came, “Crusin’ down the highway, my hands upon the wheel of life”. And what did I do with the Wheel of Life? “I spin it every chance that I get”. Each time I spin it I come to realize that “The Jackpot is avoiding me, but I’ll keep placing my bet”. Always an optimist.
Which brings to mine one of my favorite Quotes: “An optimist builds castles in the sky... A dreamer lives there… A realist collects rent from both of them." Anonymous
This quote kind of sums up my life. I have always taken an optimistic approach to life trying to see the good in everyone and everything. As a Dreamer, I build all sorts of rooms in the castle I live in where I store all my hopes and wishes that I truly believe will come true. But then along comes the Realist, the most frustrating of the three. He is constantly interfering with my dreams and is not always in step with my Optimistic Nature.
Does this mean that I have a Multiple Personality Disorder? I must say that, if I do, I use it to help me write songs from different points of view. See, the Optimist in me always finds the positive spin on everything I do. LOL
I think Retirement Blues is a perfect way for me to kick off this New Year! The last line of the lyric explains how I really feel about clocks, calendars, and time in general.
“I’m riding on a roller coaster, TIME – GET OUT OF MY WAY!”
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