Movin me down the highway

Continuing my very belated entry into the 21st century, I also got my iPod set up over the last few days.

The gadget was my birthday present from Chris in 2009, but due to a series of unfortunate events, not even one song was placed on it for oh, 366 days.  Among the obstacles, my computer only recognized accounts belonging to the boys.  So it sat in a drawer full of tea towels that I’ve listed on etsy, biding its time, until the snafu was worked out.

Over the weekend my lovely purple iPod and my shiny black computer finally got their acts together, and now, I can pump music into my ears like everybody else.   It’s brilliant.  How did I not know how much fun this doohickey really is?

I’ve been listening in the kitchen, at my desk, and while sitting on the porch reading the paper.  Last night I took the iPod for a test drive at the gym.  No wonder everybody working out has white cords leading to their ears.  Music makes exercise much, much more fun.

Certain songs are rhythmically suited to striding on the treadmill, others to lifting weights. 

I  thought that Jim Croce’s “I Got a Name” was a ballad, but it actually has a driving beat that made me forget how fast it was making me go on the endless belt.  Movin me down the highway indeed. 

There were other revelations stemming from the iPod.  Irene Ryan, best known to most as Granny from the Beverly Hillbillies but a goddess to us Glee types for her role in Broadway’s Pippin, entertained me through half the weightlifting circuit with her fabulous rendition of no time at all,  a paen to growing old with panache.   Here are the insanely clever lyrics, some of which I wrote in my teenage diary for inspiration:

When you are as old as I, my dear
And I hope that you never are
You will woefully wonder why, my dear
Through your cataracts and catarrh
You could squander away or sequester
A drop of a precious year
For when your best days are yester
The rest’er twice as dear….

What good is a field on a fine summer night
When you sit all alone with the weeds?
Or a succulent pear if with each juicy bite
You spit out your teeth with the seeds?
Before it’s too late stop trying to wait
For fortune and fame you’re secure of
For there’s one thing to be sure of, mate:
There’s nothing to be sure of!

Oh, it’s time to start livin’
Time to take a little from this world we’re given
Time to take time, cause spring will turn to fall
In just no time at all….

I’ve never wondered if I was afraid
When there was a challenge to take
I never thought about how much I weighed
When there was still one piece of cake
Maybe it’s meant the hours I’ve spent
Feeling broken and bent and unwell
But there’s still no cure more heaven-sent
As the chance to raise some hell

Everybody….

[ALL]
Oh, it’s time to start livin’
Time to take a little from this world we’re given
Time to take time, cause spring will turn to fall
In just no time at all….

Now when the drearies do attack
And a siege of the sads begins
I just throw these noble shoulders back
And lift these noble chins
Give me a man who is handsome and strong
Someone who’s stalwart and steady
Give me a night that’s romantic and long
And give me a month to get ready
Now I could waylay some aging roue
And persuade him to play in some cranny
But it’s hard to believe I’m being led astray
By a man who calls me granny

[ALL]
Oh, it’s time to start livin’
Time to take a little from this world we’re given
Time to take time, cause spring will turn to fall
In just no time at all….

Oh, it’s time to start livin’
Time to take a little from this world we’re given
Time to take time, cause spring will turn to fall
In just no time at all….

Sages tweet that age is sweet
Good deeds and good work earns you laurels
But what could make you feel more obsolete
Than being noted for your morals?

Here is a secret I never have told
Maybe you’ll understand why
I believe if I refuse to grow old
I can stay young till I die
Now, I’ve known the fears of sixty-six years
I’ve had troubles and tears by the score
But the only thing I’d trade them for
Is sixty-seven more….

Oh, it’s time to keep livin’
Time to keep takin’ from this world we’re given
You are my time, so I’ll throw off my shawl
And watching your flings be flung all over
Makes me feel young all over

[BETHE AND BOYS]
In just no time at all….

A couple of amazing things.  One:  “Sages tweet?”  These lyrics predated twitter by decades.   Two:  Irene Ryan collapsed just minutes after singing this song at a matinee performance of Pippin in March 1973, apparently of a stroke.  She died six weeks later in California where she had gone for rehab.  I didn’t know the latter fact until I googled around yesterday.  The story of her death makes the lyrics even more poignant.

Back to the gym:  who needs personal trainers?  Between Jim Croce and Irene Ryan, and everybody else I’ve added and will add to my iPod, I’m expecting to continue to be motivated and entertained like never before.   And fear not, I wasn’t just loading up on nostalgia.  My iTunes purchases included some from the vegetable aisle:  Black Eyed Peas and Red Hot Chili Peppers are also represented.