Merle's Big Family

Time for the third week of January, 2010.

01-18-10... I hope you're coming off a weekend where you found some intimate time alone with your significant other. If you're a man, and you got some of that time, I'll bet you're still thinking about her. Uh-huh, I know, Monday morning and you're still remembering... still wanting more... can't wait for the work shift to end so you can get home to touch, to kiss, and like JOHN CONLEY, to tell her what she means to you. He says it in song. In My Eyes



01-20-10... Spirit cannot be destroyed. It is the opposite of matter. Matter wears out, but spirit does not because spirit is substance. Ask John Lennon. He said it this way, and this is just a couple of the phrases from his extremely introspecitve song: There's nothing you can do that can't be done. Nothing you can know that can't be known. Nothing you can see that can't be shown.

Fitting for the times, I think, that Mr. Lennon's song is currently featured in a television advertisement. We should listen carefully when it runs. Same could be said for Bob Nolan's song from 1934. In some parts of the U.S., it seemed the earth was destroying itself, and this cowboy tune performed by Mr. Nolan and the Sons of the Pioneers metaphorically tells of lives displaced by the Dust Bowl and Great Depression. Tumbling Tumbleweeds



01-22-10... Now that it's all a done deal, I'll tell you what I find saddest of all regarding NBC's big screw-up with Conan O'Brien. He tried to take the Tonight Show back to the Johnny Carson style, a true talk show. Conan conversed with his guests. Knew when to shut up and listen. Knew when to interject and keep it lively. Did you notice how his guests were staying after their segment? Sitting on the couch until the show ended, rather than just coming on to plug their whatevers and then leaving? Celebrities interacting and enjoying themselves makes for great television. That's how Johnny did it. He created an atmosphere where his guests wanted to stay for the entire party. And it was a party. That's why we watched. It's too bad the network heads couldn't give Conan and company time to re-establish that tradition as he was trying to do.

All right, there's a dozen other reasons why NBC's decision is such a head-scratcher, but I'll get on with the music pone.

Nine kids and a wife? Man, this guy sure knows how to boink it, and Merle Haggard sure knows how to sing it. Working Man Blues

These two-minute song samples are posted as mp3's at this web site HERE.