This popped up on my iPod yesterday while I was listening at work. I’d bought it a while ago. It was featured in an episode of The Greatest American Hero, one of my favorite shows, and it puts me in a very sentimental, if somewhat melancholy, mood.

It also sort of inspires me, too. I don’t want my dreams to exceed my grasp and I don’t want to chase a  piece of the corporate pie. I have many goals and dreams I want to reach my own way. I have many like-minded friends, my closest friends. However, I have known people that have pretty much stayed right where they’re at or have fallen behind. And I’m not sure where they are today. I think all of us do.

You just have to keep motivated and working towards those dreams. No one will give them to you.

Some of My Old Friends (sung by Joey Scarbury)

Some of my old friends
Have fallen behind
Seems like their dreams
Just exceeded their grasp
With too much to do
And too little time
How quickly the years go past

Some move up, some move out
And some stay right where they are
Some give in, some give out
And some never even get that far

Climbing the ladder of social acceptance
Chasing a piece of the corporate pie
Keeping an eye on the minutes and seconds
How quickly the time goes by

Some move up, some move out
And some stay right where they are
Some give in, some give out
And some never even get that far

We were gonna make our mark
We were only shooting in the dark
Some of us were on our way
Where are they today?

Some move up, some move out
And some stay right where they are
Some give in, some give out
And some never even get that far

When I was younger, I would often go to the library and check out records, cassette tapes, and when cds came along, I checked those out too. I would listen to any music that looked and sounded remotely interesting. My musical tastes were widely varied and somewhat eclectic. It was during that time that I developed a love for Sergio Mendes and Brasil ’66.

Here’s one of my favorites. It’s One Note Samba from the album “Herb Alpert Presents Sergio Mendes and Brasil ’66″. My dad had a plethora of Herb Alpert records that I often borrowed, so s’natural I’d gravitate to Sergio Mendes and Brasil ’66.

Ella Fitzgerald did a great scat version of this, but this is the version I love most. It throws a little of Herb Alpert’s Spanish Flea in during an instrumental/scat in the middle of the song.

If you pay attention to the lyrics, you can see this is more than just about a song. It’s a story. What I take from it is the profound last line… better play the note you know. In other words, be yourself, stick to what you know. Don’t waste time and words trying to be someone other than yourself because in the end, it comes to nothing. There is much more that can be taken from the meaning of this song, but I’ll leave that to you, the reader.

This is just a little samba,
Built upon a single note
Other notes are bound to follow,
But the root is still that note
Now this new one is the consequence,
Of the one we’ve just been through
As I’m bound to be the unavoidable consequence of you

There’s so many people who can talk
And talk and talk and just say nothing,
Or nearly nothing
I have used up all the scale I know, and at the end I’ve come to nothing,
Or nearly nothing

So I come back to my first note,
As I must come back to you
I will pour into that one note,
All the love I feel for you
Anyone who wants the whole show,
Re mi fa so la ti do
He will find himself with no show,
Better play the note you know

We had Chinese for dinner the other night and we finished it off with fortune cookies. My husband passed me the fortune he received. It said, “You know what you what – get to work and make it materialize.” No, I didn’t type that wrong, that’s what it actually said. I assume they meant “You know what you WANT”. Problem is, I don’t know what I what OR what I want.