Doggie Days
Summer is officially here.
Foto by Freddie. These are the dogs of days, happy as only Aussies can be. Ya got treats? Pats? Good words?
Our female aussie lays on her back, feet in the air, eyes open staring into the middle of whatever she’s thinking, and she sighs now and then.
Her brother seeks the coolest tiles and flops, lays as flopped, and sleeps. Usually he uses one of their beds as a pillow for his head, but now he just drops like a sack of potatoes.
This happens after the “official” day summer starts. Dog Days. The half year mark. Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.
Summer in Kansas has always been hot; mercilessly so. And it lasts well into September. Always has; global warming just ratchets it up. I will rejoice when that first flyover of geese talking honk, moves south. Sigh. That’s later each year.
The winter they stay is the winter no one wants. Not that we dislike geese; to the contrary. But if they stay it means perpetual summer and that carries a finality and a prognosis that has billionaires talking about moving to another planet.
Maya de Vitry singing Working Man. I add her to my Gillian Welch and Nanci Griffith all-time faves pantheon…
Chickenskin Music
That’s what Ry Cooder called it. Goosebump music. This Maya de Vitry singer/songwriter performs with pro chamber music ensembles, rock groups, by herself, all with little or no drama except what that echoing ghost called ancient backwoods talent brings to it.
I discovered her through WOODSONGS and, true to the nature of that outfit, the music therein is usually regional, bluegrass, appalachin, or front porch family (or all of that) issuing out of a holler in very rural Kentucky or Ozarks. Somewhere music is a basic food need.
Anyway she does “Working Man” here, (LINK) with video but she needs no video. Just that effortless goosebump voice. Banjo accompanied. Soft, unshowy banjo.
Here are the lyrics—a bit hard to catch on first listen but a great singalong after you have all the words…
[Verse 1]
There's a river made of gold and silver in the hills
There's a ladder if we find it, but we likely never will
There's water at the bottom, it trickles down the rungs
Drippin' to the tune of just enough to pay the bills
[Chorus]
Money fills canyons in the pockets of a few
That's the way it flows in the red, white, and blue
While every mile of railroad, all across the land
Is a long life of labor for a working man
[Verse 2]
It would surely be a wonder for a man to build alone
All the rails and steel and dig the oil that he owns
But the riches of the world are carried all along
On the back of every man who works to the bone
[Bridge]
As we try to make the mortgage, the bank gets the news
Of a check from the capitol, it's all theirs to use
Yes, it's always you and me and Uncle Sam pitchin' in
They just don't call 'em handouts when they're all wearin' suits
(That last line in the bridge is the reason for the suit-guys in the video—didn’t get that at first) After that, stick around for “Taking up Rock and Roll” (another de Vitry surprise) and more. With a great little band, I might add. Will be looking for more of these guys.)
