Elvis at his Burlesque Best

Elvis's drummer once said that when he and Elvis improvised, it was a bit like a burlesque act. Here's Elvis in Vegas having a lot of fun:

Elvis/Vegas

Elvis Presley Have I Told You Lately That I Love You

"Jazzonia," by Langston Hughes

"BoJangles Biscuit," by Marty Silverthorne

"Barefoot for a Scorpion," by Alan Dugan

"Irish Wake," by Langston Hughes

"The Crystal Gazer," by Sara Teasdale

Clinging

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Clinging

Clinging can be a symptom of fear,
obviously so when you cling to fear.

But ... "the only thing we have to fear
is fear itself": bullshit then, bullshit now.
A necessary lie, however: people
seemed to need it to get by, by and by.

Me, I cling to books in general and
particular, going so far as to keep
particular books in bed. They are
objects and talismans to me, not
simply stored data, you see.

I cling to other things--like my
father's pickup truck, my mother's
piano, a woodpecker-toothpick dis-
penser I used to play with on my
aunt's kitchen table; also notebooks,
baseball cards, on and on: the less
valuable, the better. I don't collect:
I cling.

To old opinions. To old friends--until
they finally shut the friendship down
by not sending that annual card.

To scenes from childhood, good and bad.
To memories of people who did bad but
through corruption came out well. To
the idea of justice. To things people promised--
including me.  And of course it's all about

me, see, the clinging. If I hold on, it won't
change, or it still exists somehow, or it
won't go away, or . . . .

Bullshit--then and now. My clinging's folly.
The Buddhists say don't get attached. I've
clung to that idea. I get it. Still I say,
"Fuck you--that's the same as saying
don't breathe oxygen."  Bullshit then,
bullshit now, grasshopper.

Do you cling? I hope so. Just enough,
though. Aim high . Stay low.


Copyright 2011 Hans Ostrom

"For Librarians," by Hans Ostrom

Charlie Parker and Coleman Hawkins, Lester Young, et al 1950) - 1 of 2

Stevie Wonder and Ray Charles living for the city

"Morning Song," by Alan Dugan

Lyrics to "Brown-Eyed Handsome Man"

For your reading pleasure, the lyrics to "Brown-Eyed Handsome Man," by Chuck Berry:

Brown Eyed Handsome Man
Chuck Berry

E
Arrested on charges of unemployment,
E
he was sitting in the witness stand
                               A
The judge's wife called up the district attorney
         B                    E
Said you free that brown eyed man
E                            D                    E
You want your job you better free that brown eyed man

Flying across the desert in a TWA,
I saw a woman walking across the sand
She been a-walkin' thirty miles en route to Bombay.
To get a brown eyed handsome man
Her destination was a brown eyed handsome man

Way back in history three thousand years
Back every since the world began
There's been a whole lot of good women shed a tear
For a brown eyed handsome man
That's what the trouble was brown eyed handsome man

GUITAR BREAK

Beautiful daughter couldn't make up her mind
Between a doctor and a lawyer man
Her mother told her daughter go out and find yourself
A brown eyed handsome man
That's what your daddy is a brown eyed handsome man

Milo Venus was a beautiful lass
She had the world in the palm of her hand
But she lost both her arms in a wrestling match
To get brown eyed handsome man
She fought and won herself a brown eyed handsome man

GUITAR BREAK

Two, three count with nobody on
He hit a high fly into the stand
Rounding third he was headed for home
It was a brown eyed handsome man
That won the game; it was a brown eyed handsome man