“A guitar has moonlight in it.”
- James M. Cain
I had a coincidence (is there such a thing, really?) yesterday. If you read what I wrote in that post, you know it was about Jim Croce's song Operator (That's Not the Way it Feels) being, in my view, the perfect song about love, albeit love lost. It's the one I would nominate to shoot into space for aliens to discover and know about the human emotion of love and sorrow. I also suggested that since the song is over 50 years old, some of its references may not land with younger listeners, like pay phones, operators and matchbooks.
Okay there's that. I have a young female singer/songwriter, Abigayle Oakley, that I follow on Substack. She's in her mid-20s I believe. I think she writes charming and engaging songs and has the voice to go along with them. On her site, she puts out a song she's written each week and talks about how it came to be. Sometimes she'll post a casual video of herself playing one of her creations or on occasion, a cover song. Yesterday it happened to be a cover. What was that cover? Jim Croce's Operator. It was a little freaky but it did my heart good to see this young person revere this vintage tune. It proves once again that a good song is timeless. It conveys some universal human emotion that we connect with regardless of the specifics. All great art does that. I would add her version here but it's only available on Substack. I'll post one of her others below. Check her out. She's a talent.
Also, speaking of timeless, we watched the movie Moonstruck last night with friends who had never seen it. It's almost 40 years old now. I was refreshed by the power of a simple story with no agenda or PC guardrails. It starred Cher in one of her first major roles. No matter a person's opinion of Cher, I think even her most ardent detractors would have to admit that she was charming and fabulous as Loretta. If you've never seen the movie, do. If you've seen it, it's worth a revisit.
Birthdays in Music: No one.
Name That Movie: “Ma, I love him awful.”