(Judy Collins is one of two singers who defined her generation. We will not address the other guy who still fronts the Rolling Stones since his story is harder and quite different. Judy’s tale is unique, and has inspired audiences with sublime vocals in boldly vulnerable songwriting, personal life triumphs, and a firm commitment to social activism.” At the start of a remarkable career some six decades ago, she evoked the idealism and steely determination our Boomer Generation assumed against social and environmental injustices. Her creativity remains a constant, with her latest album “Spellbound,” released in 2022, marking the first time in which she composed all the songs she sang. Image from the Dakota Show last week. Still lovely).
We are not going to make an attempt at laughter, or even essay some mild irony about the conditions that come with life on our planet. We often joke around about some of the plentiful pitfalls of life in our species. Some of them are deep and unexpected, like the periodic headlines we get about otherwise healthy people suddenly keeling over as a result of (fill-in-the-blank) administered by the victim or their government.
So, we are NOT going to do that, although we may actually take a moment and burst into song. That is the effect that the woman pictured above had with her voice on our lives. It goes back aways, and we are pleased to note an anniversary that has nothing to do with the departure from this life, but the celebration of one well-lived.
(This would be the part where one of us would clear their now musty throat and begin a rising hum of vocal vibrations about ships or loves won or lost. Pay it no mind).
Judy Collins is the current owner of those vocal chords, and she changed some of our lives and unquestionably for the better.
We were fortunate to have our time on the planet coincide with hers. She would have just been turning a dozen years in age when we arrived in 1951, a bit late to her party. But we joined with mirth.
With characteristic optimism, it was been announced a few months ago that Judy would be performing to commemorate her 85th birthday. We have been attempting to wrestle with similar (if starker) observations, though naturally ours are a little darker than hers. We are a dozen years behind her, and some of our allegedly legendary Boomer cohort is falling off the train and onto the tracks. OJ Simpson reminded us of that sobering fact just a couple weeks ago.
Jusy is here this morning to remind us of the joy of life, and the delight of sweet vibrations of the morning air. She had established herself in the first wave of the folk music craze of the early 1960s. Companions in that segment of the parade? There were men and women marching along together. Some of them include Phil Ochs, Tom Paxton, Bob Dylan and Joan Baez. Judy lived well and was lucky. Her life at 85 still includes life, love and lyrics.
It even includes plain words, unadorned with anything but the passion of her times and the joy of engaged love. Title of her autobiography? “Sweet Judy Blue Eyes,” of course.
The review of her birthday shows is what reminded us of the pervasive genius of her voice and her perceptive observation of our times. Like the number of this year’s shows, we have two of her songs that are queued up and always at the ready. We stumbled on to become first ‘young’ and then ‘old’ Salts. So, the first tune to spring loose of the two is “So Early in the Spring.” It speaks of loss and dedication, the strains of which you may recall from long ago:
So Early In the Spring
So early, early in the spring
I shipped on board to serve my king
I left my dearest dear behind
She ofttimes swore her heart was mine
My love, she takes me by the hand
“If ever I marry, you’ll be the man”
A thousand vows, so long and sweet
Sayin’ “We’ll be married when next we meet”
And all the time I sailed the seas
I could not find one moment’s ease
In thinkin’ of my dearest one
But never a word from her could I hear
At last we sailed into Glasgow town
I strode the streets both up and down
Inquiring for my dearest dear
And never a word from her could I hear
I went straightway to her father’s hall
And loudly for my love did call
“My daughter’s married, she’s a rich man’s wife
She’s wed to another, much better for life”
If the girl is married that I adore
I’m sure I’ll stay on land no more
I’ll sail the seas ‘till the day I die
I’ll break the waves rollin’ mountain high
We won’t attempt to do both of Judy’s old songs that live in our minds this morning. This one sums it up for us pretty nicely, and is normally the first one we attempt to croak around the Writer’s Circle.
In the meantime, we wanted to remind you of a life worth celebrating for honest beauty and good and loving times. And those eyes- so beautiful and blue!
Copyright 2024 Vic Socotra
www.vicsocotra.com