Ringo Starr's Photograph

Ringo Starr is commonly thought of as the least talented Beatle, the dumbest Beatle, or the goofiest Beatle. Frankly though, my thoughts on Ringo is that he ended up being the most contented Beatle. In my mind, that makes him the smartest. Much of his music is very playful and often humorous, from "The No No Song" to "Octopus's Garden". But he could also write a good sad song. The song "Photograph" (which he co-wrote with George Harrison, who also got out of the way of the often feuding Lennon and McCartney) captures the heart of someone pining for a lost love, someone who only has a "photograph" to remind himself of the love that once was. When you think about the words, it's heartrending: I want you here to have and hold, as the years go by, and we grow old and gray...I thought I'd make it, the day you went away, but I can't make it 'til you come home again to stay. Keep staring at the photo you have as you listen to this song. Unless you want to read the lyrics. But look at the photo anyway--and I'm not talking about the pics in the video, unless of course, one of them your lost love. Photograph--it's an oldie, but a goodie.

Cultural appropriation: a different view

I think this is so sad and stupid. A group of freakishly politically correct people on the left are accusing others in every walk of life of cultural appropriation. That is, if you do not come from a particular ethnic group, you have no business depicting in any way the attributes of another ethnic group. For example, if you are a white American of European descent, you have no business owning a Mexican restaurant. This insipid reasoning has condemned artists for depicting lynchings in the south and other subject matter that depicts the oppression suffered by black people in America—even though those artists were sympathetic to the plight of black America. The cultural appropriation groupies have also forced Kooks Burritos in Portland to shut down because it was owned by two white women.
Let's look a bit at history to see a few more examples of cultural appropriation and what should be done about it.
Exhibit A: The Beatles. In the sixties, the Beatles made a trip to India to visit with the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. They began around that time to experiment with Indian instruments and recorded several songs, written largely by George Harrison. Those songs include Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds, I Am the Walrus, and Norwegian Wood. They made a lot of money off those songs. Later Elton John did a cover version of Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds. Both the Beatles and Elton (by default) are guilty of cultural misappropriation. They need to stop profiting off the backs of the peasants of India. They also borrowed from black performers, like Chuck Berry. All of those songs, need to be stricken from the record.
Exhibit B: Harper Lee. Lee, a white woman, of course wrote To Kill a Mockingbird, one of the most important books of the civil rights era. Of course, she had no business writing this book, not being black. It should be torn out of every library and erased from every Kindle.
Exhibit C: Soccer. Soccer or football was invented in England some say, others say in China. It's pretty clear that soccer as we know it had it's beginnings in Scotland. Sorry, Brazil. You have culturally appropriated soccer. Time to stop playing it and go back to whatever traditional sports are played there.
Exhibit D: Omar Sharif. Sharif was an Egyptian, but in his most famous role he played a Russian. Why couldn't they have gotten a real Russian to play that role? Doctor Zhivago needs to be relegated to the trash heap of history.
As you can see, the politically correct cultural appropriation crowd are blatantly ridiculous. Cafe Rio, though not started by Mexicans, employs thousands of people, many of them Latinos. Should such a place be closed down because they culturally appropriated recipes? There are thousands more examples of businesses that borrowed thoughts and ideas from some another culture. Should these all be closed down in an effort to ensure cultural purity? If so, it sounds vaguely familiar. I think there was another culture, prominent in the 20th century that advocated cultural purity. Do we really want to go down that road?

The Beatles had some great love songs

Here's one of my favorite love songs. The Beatles had some great ones. Enjoy!

Great songs are part of my life

Music is very much a part of my life. I use it to express my feelings, to lift my mood, to pump me up. While there are some great songs out there, I put In My Life  by the Beatles very high on my own personal list. Enjoy!