Corky Siegel on “Auld Lang Syne”

This came over my transom this morning.
Corky Siegel is a blues and world musician based in Chicago for over 40 years. I’ve known him since around 1982. His writing always makes me smile! Enjoy ~

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Cousin Corky’s New Year’s Message

Should old acquaintances be forgot?

There are so many weird lyrics in Auld Lang Syne. I got goosebumps singing it but I never even knew what it meant.

Well I’m not the only one who didn’t understand these lyrics. Historians call this: “The song that no one knows.”

So last year as I was preparing to lead everyone in song at midnight at Evanston’s New Year’s Eve First Night celebration, I decided I was going to find out what it really means and also sing a more literal translation (see below). Last night and this morning in preparing for tonight’s concert and sing-along (again at Evanston’s First Night) I delved deeper, and as it turns out, Auld Lang Syne is a brilliant yogic treatise on how to begin the new year with a clear head and a big heart.

I contemplated the first line:

“Should old acquaintance be forgot and never brought to mind.”

Really? Are we saying we want to “forget” old acquaintances? Old friends? They should never even be brought to mind? I should not remember any of you fondly or otherwise? I love my acquaintances. Boo! 😦

If you look up the word “acquaintance,” you will see two primary meanings:

1) “A person you know but who isn’t a close friend,”

This can mean a friend, but not a “close” friend. However, all our friends are close friends. (Watch: ONE)

2) “A person’s knowledge or experience of something.”

Certainly the song is suggesting we forget “experiences” and not our good people. And surely it’s not suggesting we forget our beautiful experiences at the Grand Canyon or the Redwood Forest, but instead those memories that keep us awake at night: the displeasing agitations of the mind, our fears, our grudges … may they be forgot.

 

“Make Good Art!” – Neil Gaiman

Much thanks to Joel Zaslofsky from The Value of Simple  for turning me on to this:

Neil Gaiman addressing the University of the Arts (Philadelphia) Class of 2012…

“Make Good Art!”

Neil Gaiman is only one of the most brilliant, original, life-inspiring fiction writers I know of … He wrote among other things: “Coraline”, “American Gods”,  “Neverwhere” (with Terry Pratchett), and DC’s “Sandman” comics.

This message is for everybody, not just “artists” or “creatives” – we ALL could benefit from spotting our mountain and heading for it on purpose, every day of our lives.

If  you’re sleep-walking through your life (like I did for so many years) I hope this helps to inspire you to Wake Up!

 

Aaahhh! Fairyland…

Cast some eye-ttention on these marvelous photos ~

http://digitalphoto.cocolog-nifty.com/digitalphoto/cat4164851/index.html 

I found them on Pinterest, thanks to Beth’s comment at Bridget P’s Color of the Year post. One of these is on her board, and I followed *it* home 😉

The source-site seems to be in Japanese, so all I know (for sure) is that they were taken with a Nikon camera.

Beth captioned it as a “Long exposure photo during firefly season in Okayama, Japan.”  That’s no doubt a fact… though I see Fairyland, as captured by Gustav Klimt ~

Do remember to come back to earth eventually, please …