Gently and . . . Glen Campbell? A Stream of Consciousness Saturday Post

Gently.

Do not go gently into that good night. Huh, “gentle” does sound better there.

Today’s prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday was any adverb ending in “ly”. Since I couldn’t think of any one in particular, I found a random adverb generator on the the Google machine and, voila, ‘gently.”

Other than the saying “Do not go gentle into that good night” (which is a good reminder to live each day to the fullest I ironically type after the 3rd hour in a row of sitting on the couch — though, to be fair, I did get in a good weightlifting workout in earlier today), the first thing that popped into my head was Glen Campbell’s “Gentle on My Mind.”

So I had to listen to that. I encourage you to do so as well.

Then I thought of Glen Campbell’s struggle with Alzheimers and the song from his last album, “I’m Not Going to Miss You.”

That song does not gently hit you in the gut. More like a fucking sledgehammer.

So I had to listen to that.

So that’s now got me thinking about Glen Campbell and what a fantastic guitar player he was. In that first video, when you’ve got Roy Clark nodding in appreciation at your guitar playing, you were doing something VERY right.

Now Jim Croce is on with Bad Bad Leroy Brown. Jim Croce always makes me think of my Dad’s stack of records he had at Mawmaw’s house (which I sat next to as I watched Animal House at the tender age of 7 with my cousin John and brother Adam, not sure why I liked them boobies, but I know that I did).

Because it’s not coming on, I’ve had to find Rhinestone Cowboy on Youtube. Good lord, but I love this song. Probably one of my favorite songs ever. Odd how memory words, I know that I had heard it before, but when I hear this I always think of Mawmaw’s dining room and the smell of shrimp gumbo in the background that she had been cooking after she had kicked our asses at a game of Spades (or it might have been gin rummy). That woman was a card shark — except for the one single hand of Uno when she got stuck with, and I do not exaggerate, about 450 points. It. Was. Awesome.

I think that’s about it for today. Other than another random Glen Campbell observation: I thought he was pretty good in the original True Grit movie. John Wayne was, as always, John Wayne, but I’ve always thought he held up well opposite him as the glib Texas Ranger. If you haven’t, read True Grit. It’s a classic and deserves a wider readership.

OK, final, final thought — Willie Nelson is also in that first video. I didn’t do a full accounting, but I think many of the stars on that stage are dead now.

Hmmmm, what IS that thing that Willie does differently . . . .

We should be like Willie — toke it up, gently.