Robert Gale Ongley

Month: September 2020

  • SONG LYRICS CAN ENRICH YOUR LIFE

    I have observed that a lot of people are attracted to certain popular songs by either the music or the lyrics. Some clearly make their judgments based on how much the music pleases them while others look to the lyrics to decide if they like the song. I see no reason to reject a song because one or the other doesn’t measure up to my standards right out of the gate, but if pressed to state a preference, I might call myself a lyric guy. It probably has to do with being a writer.

    A Taste of Lyrical History

    The earliest written form of a complete song was Greek, found on a headstone from the first century, CE, in Turkey. Known as Seikilos Epitaph, it went like this: “While you live, shine / Have no grief at all / Life exists only for a short while / And time demands its toll.” Excellent sentiment that speaks to the living.

    Earlier songs go back as far as approximately 1400 BC. These were hymns. The lyrics paid homage to God, certainly meant to be inspirational. India produced its own devotional music in the first millennium CE that was certainly meant to focus our minds on our higher selves.

    It is believed the Iliad, an epic written by Homer, was written in the 8th century BC. A prominent character was Achilles, a human hero whose mother was a goddess. His father was mortal, however, relegating Achilles to the status of mortal as well. In the following lyric of a song sung by the goddess mother, we hear her reflect sadly the likely untimely death of her son.

    “…how sore my heart is! Now my life is pain for my great son’s dark destiny! I bore a child flawless and strong beyond all men. He flourished like a green shoot, and I brought him to manhood like a blossoming orchard tree, only to send him in the ships to Ilion to war with Trojans. Now I shall never see him entering Peleus’ hall, his home, again.”

    There were many songs of heroes in medieval times. I was most charmed by these while reading The Lord of the Rings. My takeaway from the Iliad is that the hero is an extension of worship, just below the status of a god. Again, they are a source of inspiration and lyrics are the vehicle bringing that inspiration to us.

    At the end of the 16th century, opera came into existence in Florence. At Britannica.com, I found this excellent quote about the origins of opera. “Indeed, Florence became the birthplace of opera at the end of the century, as the result of the confluence of three cultural forces: an established theatrical tradition, a strong sense of civic humanism, and a distinctly Florentine view of music and music’s relation to the cosmos.”

    Opera can be very dramatic. Here is an apropos excerpt from Claudio Monteverdi’s 1608 opera, “Lamento d’Arianna.

    “Let me die!
    and what do you think can comfort me
    in such harsh fate,
    in such great suffering?
    Let me die!

    Oh Theseus, my Theseus
    I still want
    to call you mine,
    cruel one, even though
    you flee from my eyes.

    Turn back, my Theseus,
    turn back Theseus, oh God!
    Turn back to gaze on her
    who abandoned
    her country and kingdom just for you,
    and who will leave her bare bones
    on these sands as food
    for fierce and merciless animals.”

    In the Baroque era, operas were sometimes comedies with a backdrop of those dramatic, even tragic circumstances. In the late 1800’s and early 1900’s, Gilbert and Sullivan’s English operettas became popular even in the United States. Gilbert’s lyrics are some of the most cleverly written I have ever heard. The brilliant wit keeps these fresh to this day. Witness this lyric from the song I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major-General.

    “I am the very model of a modern Major-General,
    I’ve information vegetable, animal, and mineral,
    I know the kings of England, and I quote the fights historical
    From Marathon to Waterloo, in order categorical; a
    I’m very well acquainted, too, with matters mathematical,
    I understand equations, both the simple and quadratical,
    About binomial theorem I’m teeming with a lot o’ news, (bothered for a rhyme)
    With many cheerful facts about the square of the hypotenuse.
    I’m very good at integral and differential calculus;
    I know the scientific names of beings animalculous:
    In short, in matters vegetable, animal, and mineral,
    I am the very model of a modern Major-General.”

    Where Lyrics Go I Will Follow

    Musicals have carried on the tradition of creative, ingenious use of language in song. Stephen Sondheim, Andrew Lloyd Webber and George Gershwin are a few notable examples among many stellar wordsmiths in the field.

    Popular music isn’t quite so prolific in phenomenal lyric writing, but there’s so much of it that has been memorable. That’s where most of my knowledge is based. I offer several short excerpts off the top of my head that may have enriched your life.

    “She’s leaving home after living alone for so many years.” – Lennon and McCartney

    “We drank a toast to innocence. We drank a toast to now. We tried to reach beyond the emptiness. But neither one knew how.” – Dan Fogelberg

    “And it seems to me you lived your life
    Like a candle in the wind
    Never knowing who to cling to
    When the rain set in
    And I would have liked to have known you
    But I was just a kid
    Your candle burned out long before
    Your legend ever did
    Your candle burned out long before
    Your legend ever did.” – Elton John

    “Cathy, I’m lost, I said though I knew she was sleeping
    And I’m empty and aching and I don’t know why
    Counting the cars on the New Jersey Turnpike
    They’ve all come to look for America
    All come to look for America
    All come to look for America.” – Simon and Garfunkel

    “Love is My Religion.” – Ziggy Marley

    The Last Word

    I hope you’re encouraged to listen more closely to the lyrics of the songs you love and now listen to new songs you may come to love.

  • THE POLITICIAN RETROSPECTIVE

    I recently finished the Netflix series The Politician. I was drawn to it because it held the promise of examining that breed of person who chooses a life of public service over private enterprise. Over the course of the last 55 years or so, I’ve been taught through experience to take a wary and even cynical view of the breed. I expected this TV show to feed into my opinion, but I also hoped to gain more insight into the makeup of politicians.

    Backstory

    Before I discuss The Politician as an entertainment vehicle, let’s take a look back to what brought me to my 21st century state of mind. The first President I remember is Dwight D. Eisenhower. I liked him for the following reasons, in the order of each’s revelation. He had a nice smile, making me feel like he was a good man. He was a war hero, a leader in the effort to rid the world of the evil Nazis. Life was peaceful under his administration. We share a birthday, making him a Libra and someone I can trust in matters of peace and a judicious approach to life. While President, he warned us of the danger of the military industrial complex. The worst I heard about him was my father’s complaint that he played too much golf.

    As a young student, I was educated to honor our Presidents, especially Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, and the Roosevelts. I saw all of them as men of integrity whose first interest was that of the American people while they upheld the nation’s values under the principles of the Constitution. This all started to unravel for me in the mid-60s when the war in Vietnam escalated. I watched on our black and white screen when Lyndon Johnson announced “with a heavy heart” he was ordering intense bombing of the little country we were saving from the Communists. A sadness came over me. I didn’t really blame Johnson, but there was a loss of respect on some level I didn’t yet fully grasp.

    Then came Nixon. You remember him. He requires no first name. He was the first President I caught in a lie. I don’t even recall what it was just now. I saw a quote in a newspaper and noticed it was in contradiction with something he said or did earlier. I was taken aback and a little bit distraught. A President lying to the American people! The end of innocence for me, I guess. Later, virtually on the eve of the 1972 election, he announced PEACE IS AT HAND, and that declaration was pasted in a huge headline of our local paper. The story was that peace talks were going to begin with the Viet Cong. He won the election and the war dragged on until 1975.

    I remember meeting with my friend Connie on the Edinboro University of Pennsylvania campus days after the Nixon victory. We were beside ourselves. In her despair, she asked me, “What are we going to do?”

    “I don’t know,” I replied with no answer. “Four years…how are we going to get through it?”

    It was one of the last times we saw each other, but we were close in spirit on the day he resigned in disgrace with his upstretched arms raised in the victory sign.

    Let’s not forget about the Clinton years. His famous bald-faced lie that he never had sexual relations with “that woman”. His quote, “It depends on what the meaning of the word is is,” IS a classic.

    Now I know all Presidents lie, regardless of political affiliation, and it’s something I have to live with. Trump is by far the most prolific, taking the art to dizzying heights. In May of this year, the Fact Checker database had tabulated 19,127 false or misleading claims uttered by this man.

    Back to Our Program

    The Politician is the story of a boy who, at the age of eight (I think), decides he wants to be President. This becomes his primary, all-consuming goal in life. The story actually starts when Payton Hobart is a high school student in Santa Barbara, the adopted son of a rich couple, and he is running for President of the school’s student council. He is well-organized with a dedicated staff that is as cold and calculating as our main character.

    There are many twists and turns as the series progresses, but a recurring theme with Payton is his identity. He is an excellent student intent on going to Harvard, but he doesn’t know who he really is. He wonders about his motivation. Does he really care about the issues he campaigns on or does he just use them to pursue his personal glory? If he is doing the greater good, do the ends justify the means? Should he do the ruthless and heartless actions that would get him where he wants to be because the world would be better off with him as their leader?

    There’s one scene when he is running for State Senator of New York that stands out to me. A teenager is a volunteer at his campaign headquarters. She overhears some conversation between Payton and his staff that causes her to doubt him. When she gets a moment alone with him, she asks about his views. He pauses in his busy activity as the lofty candidate and takes time to address her personally. He admits that a position he takes on an issue can be both sincere and for political gain. He acknowledges his flaws and that he should be accountable for them, but points out that he genuinely does want to do some good in the world.

    I found The Politician to be unique and innovative, enormously entertaining. It’s not perfect. Critics have found some flaws that I can’t deny. It has been nominated for quite a few awards, though. I didn’t really get the thorough character analysis I would have liked on the subject of politicians, but I found the series well worth the time I invested.