Lyrics in the Key of Life, Part I

In last week’s post I had cause to quote my favorite Springsteen line again: "But it’s a sad man, my friend, who’s livin’ in his own skin and can’t stand the company". I realized that there are a number of pop song lyrics that I’ve referred to over and over again through my life, just as a believer will fall back upon, say, favorite verses from the Bible…or the Koran…or Kahlil Gibran. And I wondered, are these lines that stick in my mind and come readily to my tongue because they’re so catchy, or is it because they speak to my personal worldview. And my wondering led to this rundown…
What key? What key?—The title of this post comes from Stevie Wonder’s magnificent Songs in the Key of Life, and as rich as that collection of songs is, this particular line comes from Fingertips Part 2 , the first hit by the then Little Stevie Wonder. The line is not even part of the official song lyric…Stevie didn’t write “What key? What key?” During the recording someone (with a deeper voice than 12-year old Stevie) shouts it out about three quarters through. It’s stuck with me for so long, first, because it was Lorna who pointed it out to me, making it an early bonding moment between us. But for its impact on my worldview, which is what this is all about, consider how in the playing of the song something as essential as the key can be momentarily misplaced, but regained. Soon enough, Stevie and his band get back in the same key and drive the song home to its glorious conclusion. That not only captures what happens in the oft-times chaotic creative process, but What key?…what key? can serve as a handy “safe word” to get couples through an array of domestic crises: The guests have arrived early and the dinner’s not ready yet--what key?…what key? The GPS has you driving around in circles and there’s no hard copy map in the car--what key?…what key? One partner wants missionary sex; the other wants doggy style--what key?…what key?  As opposed to yelling, “Asshole, you’ve ruined everything!”, What key?…what key? is a way more better way to ask for help while reminding your partner that you’re both involved in a cooperative effort.
"C'est la vie", say the old folks, it goes to show you never can tell—I probably would’ve found "C'est la vie” a pretty good statement on human existence even if Chuck Berry hadn’t written it into his song You Never Can Tell. But once he added the old folks and his own translation of the phrase into the mix, he took it to a Ben Franklin level of wisdom for the ages. The old folks have seen it all, and yet the one sure thing age and its experiences have taught them is that you never can tell—once happy marriages may break up…once good children may get into trouble…once dear dogs will die…money and hopes get lost. In the end the only one true thing you can say about it all is, C’est la vie.The more old folks I get, the more I have occasion to say it.
Take a sad song and make it better…The truly awful Ted Cruz was in the news this week exhibiting more of his mental problems. At one point he claimed that he turned away from classic rock to country and western music because he didn’t like the way classic rock responded to 9/11. The utter stupidity of the remark has been addressed by many others, so I won’t get into it here except to say that if the Beatles had been a C & W group, that line would’ve been, Take a sad song and play it over and over and over again. Classic rock ‘n roll is actually optimistic, full as it is with romance, bravado, idealism. Even rock songs about heartbreak are addressed to a world that seemingly cares. Take a sad song and make it better does not deny that there are sad songs, and expresses a determination for improvement. It’s an earlier American notion from when we were a more pragmatic nation, not possessed by ideologies that demand our loyalty above all else. So my political worldview--Take a sad song and…don't deny it...make it better.
There are many here among us who believe that life is but a joke—I could do a post like this based on a hundred different Dylan lines that have helped shape my worldview, but I’ll limit myself to two. This one, for better and worse, probably comes closest to nailing my personal belief system if I'm allowed to stretch the word joke to include humor, comedy, and irony. It sometimes costs me comradeship with my more sincere, earnest, sentimental, and righteous brothers and sisters, but it’s a price worth paying to maintain an ironic distance from those things that drive so many others mad with frustration, resentment, and hate.  We live and we die, like the mayfly, the alligator and every other creature on earth. The joke is that our superior intelligence makes us the only species to find this tragic rather than natural.
Lyrics in the Key of Life, Part II to come.