Hardly at home to anyone

Wednesday, and very wet.  Forecasters tell us we should see lots of rain, especially up in this mountain ranges on either side of us.  That means, for many folks, flooding. When I started my short commute this morning the rain was misty with occasional very large drops kerwhacking down on the canvas top of the Miata.  The latter became more frequent until, by the time I reached campus, it was simply raining steadily.

If Wednesday is indeed Mr. Maleable, then I intend to mold him into a much-needed productive day with uninterrupted time to focus on a couple of outstanding projects.  As Wimsey says to Bunter on occasion, "I'm hardly at home to anyone."  Or, as the reclusive Garbo is supposed to have said, "I want to be let alone."  Let's see if Wednesday is that cooperatively moldable.  I have my doubts.

The music this morning was beautifully paired.  From the steering-wheel tap-along-ability of Jimmy Buffet to acoustic bluesy vintage Bruce Cockburn.  The first three tunes were related by their similar rhythm, though about as far away from each other as possible in terms of their lyrics.  Fountains of Wayne did their recent cover of the classic Burt Bacharach tune Trains & Boats & Planes, a big hit for Dionne Warwick back in 1966.

Each one of these tunes have well written lyrics and the last three can stand as excellent poetry even without the music.  Cockburn's If I Had a Rocket Launcher, one of his better known songs, makes the strongest stance of this group of tunes. Written in Chiapas Mexico in 1983, after visits to Guatemalan refugee camps (through OXFAM Canada) about the atrocities he saw being committed there.

Here comes the helicopter -- second time today

Everybody scatters and hopes it goes away

How many kids they've murdered only God can say

If I had a rocket launcher...I'd make somebody pay

Compare that with the much more laid-back narrative of Mama Just Wants To Barrel House All Night Long: 

I was up the road on easy street

Watching everybody stand around and cheat

A man comes up and says, "Move along

Down to the corner where you belong"

But mama just wants to barrelhouse all night long

I hear the city singing like a siren choir

Some fool tried to set this town on fire

TV preacher screams "come on along"

I feel like Fay Wray face to face with King Kong

But mama just wants to barrelhouse all night long

Hmmm.... seems to be a Cockburn lyric week for me so far.  Maybe the iPod is rewarding me for having noted two of his songs yesterday as well.

Today's full playlist:

 - Jimmy Buffett: Margaritaville

 - Fountains Of Wayne:  Trains & Boats & Planes

 - Bruce Cockburn: If I Had a Rocket Launcher

 - The Guggenheim Grotto: Map of the Human Heart

 - Bruce Cockburn: Mama Just Wants to Barrelhouse All Night Long