Martha Reeves & The Vandellas “Bless You” (Gordy 7110, R&B#29, Pop#53, 1971)

It’s been a remarkably dark past 72 hours if you’ve opened your eyes to anything going on in the world. Not only Paris, but Beirut, Baghdad, bitterness and yet another unjustified Black Death that makes one question whether Black Lives Matter or not. It begs so many questions in these ever increasingly dark days, metaphorically and literally this late fall in what has been a tumultuous year, this 2015. I’m sure by the calendar moving on to another year, the worries and the wars and the wishing for solace and salvation won’t really diminish.

I tend to go and look for songs to place myself in reference, in frame of mind to find a little bit more joy in the world. I guess it’s not in happenstance that I went out and found Martha Reeves & The Vandellas 2nd to last chart entry from the Fall of ’71 for a few DJ gigs that’ll be coming up as this year wraps up. It might be aversion to the concerns of the day, but sometimes you need to dwell on the possibility of the joys of the moment. Despite it all, especially yesterday as the clouds parted and blessed me with a beautiful Sunday Afternoon stroll away from Lois The Pie Queen I couldn’t help but sing to myself:

Children of the earth, They walk so far apart. From this protection Of what’s supposed to be.

I see news articles about heads of various states denying Syrian Refugees the ability to settle after fleeing trauma and hear the next verse ring in my head:

Oh, and who loves your neighbor, They seem to miss the boat.
Letting others drown so they can stay afloat.

At this point, how can so many people see the world as “us” versus “them” since, really, we’re all in this together until we’re not here. And that makes me so weary of the whole thing. All I can truly say is that I just open my eyes, look upwards and say a blessing for all of us that we just pull through without stomping on each other and this planet too much while we’re here. It’s not like (or likely) we’ll find any alternates, so let’s make the best of it.

Truly, be a hippie these days and do your best Martha Rose Reeves and make love to as much of this existence as possible.