Conversation over brunch, the topic went towards how casual America has become, how rare it is to see men wearing suits…and I, wearer of blue jeans, black pocket T’s, and white tube socks…I, a guy who wears clothes unworthy of donating to Goodwill… I open my mouth and tell them that once-upon-a-time I wore a suit ‘n tie five, sometimes six, days a week.
I’d grown up Blue Jeans Jones, but like George Jefferson, I’d moved on up, to da East Side, to a dee-luxe apartment in the sky…
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1968 was the year of the Tet Offensive in Vietnam, the assassination of Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy, the Black Power salute at the Olympics and for the first time in the history of history, man circled the moon, and astronaut Jim Lovell reported back, after going around the dark side of the moon, “Houston, please be informed, there is a Santa Claus.”
In November of 1968 a bunch of long hair rock ‘n rollers recorded a song. Mick Jagger thought of it as a “bedroom song,” something you play on an acoustic guitar, but it turned into more. The drummer for the Rolling Stones, couldn’t get the beat right, so they put their producer on the drums, a guy who gets a mention, Mister Jimmy…
They wanted a black gospel choir, but those were in short supply in London in ’68, so they got the London Bach Choir.
Honky Tonk Women was the featured A side single…but all kids of the day had to do was flip that puppy over and let the needle find You Can’t Always Get What You Want.
Some people think you can only get church in church. I think otherwise. I think there is church in just the title of the song. You Can’t Always Get What You Want, there’s truth in that, and if that don’t do it, there’s the last words of the song…
“…but if you try sometimes, you just might find, you get what you need.”
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One of the most poignant things I’ve ever heard was someone talking about their marriage, “I got what I wanted, but not what I needed.” It’s such The Human Condition…not just marriage, but in so many things.
It’s a curious thing, how God has life lined up. Seems like the big decisions would come late, give us some life experience, but right early on, before we even know who we are, we get to these major crossroads.
We’re picking college degrees that lead to lifelong careers and we don’t know Jack about either ourselves or about the field. It’s darts with a blindfold.
And then there’s marriage. O my goodness. A couple puppy love crushes, then a serious high school flame, hostage to hormones, can spell Love but need to know the definition of Infatuation, barely adults, and making a lifetime decision…
That’s why people my age and up put up such a fuss when all the youngsters started getting all those tattoos a few years back. We’re like…dude, a year from now, you’re gonna be a whole different person…
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It Goes Well With Garth Brooks
I’d have gone barefoot more often in my childhood if it wasn’t for all the cow crap. (It makes for a brisk walk, let me report, hopping on one leg to the nearest water like you’d stepped on a land mine.) Yep…a childhood spent going round ‘n round on a tractor can get you daydreaming about getting the hell outta Dodge, getting you a suit ‘n tie job, air conditioning, corner office, big doings in the big city, giving momma something to brag on…
And a chunk of years later, there I was. Up on the 7th floor, dressed like Mr. Somebody. And as God is my witness, I was as miserable as a polar bear in a Mexican zoo.
You Can’t Always Get What You Want goes hand in hand with Garth’s Unanswered Prayers. When I think back on things I was Sure I wanted it used to make me smile, as in, Boy Was I Off, and then the smile got serious, and it felt like What A Wreck That Might Have Been…
…and now, when I know good ‘n well that I’m not middle aged anymore, I think back on things I wanted and it just makes me humble.
I worked for, yearned for, sacrificed for… things that weren’t right for me, things that didn’t fit me, weren’t true to the best of me, and wouldn’t lead me to who I am… and I feel like so many of the dead ends and defeats turned out to be God saving me from myself…on behalf of my eventual self…
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But If You Try, Sometimes, You Get What You Need
When I was young I thought money bought the good stuff, so I wanted money. I remember feeling jealous, years ago, at peers who were born all silver spoon. I wanted some of that, the path all laid out, just walk the steps, join the firm, or the family business, while the rest of us have to take a machete with us to adulthood…but no, I repent, I see it different now.
Money is a spider web. I’ll never have a yacht, but I’ll have an original life. The stuff I really need is so priceless it can’t be bought.
I wanted status. I wanted to be a Somebody. I figured it would signify that I mattered. What I found was that status was conferred by The Herd, and The Herd was a school of fish, in constant motion, but no direction. What I needed was to matter to myself, and to Him. I’m there some…let’s call it an All Life Job…
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And So I Wear Blue Jeans
I was born a little blue jean boy, couldn’t wait to grow up and be a blue suit man, and then to find out, I was born with a blue jean soul, so I’m back in the original saddle.
I like ‘em old. I like paint and sawdust on my jeans. I like when I wear them till the washing machine gives them nicknames.
I like that God gives us a bunch of chances. ‘Cause boy, do we need them. You got to burn a chunk of time to prove out what rates as Want and what rates as Need.
Preach on, Rolling Stones, preach on… You Can’t Always Get What You Want, But If You Try Sometimes, You Just Might Find, You Get What You Need.
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This edition of Uncle P’s Bedtime Stories is brought to you by Eighty-one, where we hope you get what you need, and don’t take as long as Uncle P in realizing Who to ask for help…
Uncle P’s Bedtime Stories can be found on Eighty-one’s Facebook page. He can be reached at 81creativity@gmail.com.
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