And I Love Her ...

Nothing today. Or a nothing day. Just a song:

And I Love Her, Santo and Johnny

Music Changes Everything

Some nights become very, very difficult.

And then I turn on the music. And I can make it through another night.

For Cher this was personal. It was never my story. It was never our story. But it helps me get through the night. If I play it really, really loud. And drown out the pain. Smile.

Believe, Cher

Four Years Of Love

I can honestly say that listening to this song while reading a James Herriot book or paging through the oversize atlas of satellite images of Yorkshire can put me into the depths of unimaginable despair.

One Year of Love, Freddy Mercury

One year of love is worth more than a lifetime alone. 

I don't know if it is true that one year of love is worth the subsequent heartache and despair.

But it is what it is.

I think of Dolly Parton, "I Will Always Love You."

I GoTo Pieces ...

I Go To Pieces, Del Shannon
... yes, I still do.

Written by Del Shannon, it was the first hit for Peter and Gordon that was not written by the Beatles,  according to a YouTube comment.

The Limbic System

From Wiki:

The limbic system (or paleomammalian brain) is a complex set of brain structures that lies on both sides of the thalamus, right under the cerebrum. It is not a separate system, but a collection of structures from the telencephalon, diencephalon, and mesencephalon.

The limbic system includes the hippocampus, amygdalae, anterior thalamic nuclei, septum, limbic cortex and fornix. It supports a variety of functions, including emotion, behavior, motivation, long-term memory, and olfaction. It appears to be primarily responsible for our emotional life, and has a great deal to do with the formation of memories.

When the USAF first sent me to Yorkshire many years ago, I must have listened to Freddie Mercury's and Montserrat Caballe's Barcelona CD a thousand times. 

If there is one album I most associate with Yorkshire it is that one. It was the only album I listened to over and over between 2001 and 2007. Gradually I listened to it less and less.

Tonight I happened to see another copy of the CD (I have several, plus the DVD) and noted that I had never downloaded it to my iTunes.

Wow, listening to it as it downloaded. The limbic system is incredible.

All I can say is wish I could discuss the emotional rush one gets when the limbic system starts firing.

Barcelona, Freddy Mercury and Montserrat Caballe

An Archival Note

I'm transcribing one of my journals. I have kept journals for year; hand-written, now in the process of typing them out.

I transcribe them randomly. I am transcribing a journal I wrote back in 2005. It was a year after my last trip to Yorkshire. It is interesting to read what I wrote and what I remember. I remember "the rules" one way, but must have had the memory wrong based on what I wrote. Very strange, indeed.

No video tonight. The two more recent videos are all I need tonight.

I Can't Stop Loving You ...

There is nothing Roy couldn't sing ...

I Can't Stop Loving You, Roy Orbison