The Most Important Things [are] All You Need

I want mo Mo'.

Every once in awhile, a song comes along and makes the world stand still.  And "Matrix"-like, you're isolated from your surroundings, moving effortlessly while they're frozen.  ...... aaaaand then it all snaps back.

I like it when that happens.  It just did.  Act I involves something new.  Act II is a new twist on, well, "Something," among others.

ACT I:  Take a bow, Keb' Mo'!  I'd heard of you before, man, but never listened.  Then someone pointed me toward the breeze of a melody called "Life is Beautiful."  Wow.

Let's go driftin' through the trees
Let's go sailing on the sea
Let's go dancing on the juke-joint floor
And leave our troubles all behind, have a party

This guy is good.

So easily forgotten, are the most important things
Like the melody and the moonlight in your eyes
And a song that lasts forever
Each song getting better all the time

Life is beautiful, life is wondrous
Every star above shining just for us
Life is beautiful, on a stormy night
Somewhere in the world the sun is shining bright

So easily forgotten, the most important thing
Is that I love you - I do
And I want to spend my days and nights
Walking through this crazy world with you.

Okay, it's a deal. I was hoping you'd ask.  I'm there.

ACT II:  By George! (Paul, John and Ringo)

December is the Beatles to me.  It's when I got my first casette tape player, and my first tape:  The Beatles "Red" Album.  Years later, it's when I brought home the "Blue" Album on two vinyl discs.  Later still, sadly, it tolled The End. 

Listening to "LOVE," the soundtrack to the latest Cirque du Soleil show in Vegas, is an experience that defies the "Next Track" and "Shuffle" buttons on your CD player.  Get it, you'll know.  George Martin and his son--who have the keys to Abbey Road's deepest vaults--have done something here.  They've taken melodies and four-part harmonies that everyone can identify--and Feng Shui-ed their energy into new channels.  That's the best I can do to describe the indescribable. 

Hearing these songs anew is a reckoning.  They carried me back to the room I shared with my brother a generation ago--lying on the bed, listening, dreaming, scheming--and posed the question: 

Can you measure up to who you hoped you'd be by now? 

[There's GOT to be a lyric to make this point.  If you can think of one suggest it.  I'll put it in.]