Jesus Christ, but 2016 was a tough year! The musicians (and people) we lost! The impending doom of a Trump-inspired government! The division of what was in some ways a country, a world even. Ideals crushed beneath the boot heels of hate, news warped beyond any rational thought, a world based upon a semblance of logic now an anarchy of thought and emotion.
Why am I the last to know about Margaret Wise Brown? Chances are, if you don’t remember the name, you have heard her works, especially Goodnight Moon, a book written specifically for children and sandmen. While I had not heard of it, everyone to whom I have mentioned it has, some making snide references to that rock I must live under. Evidently my childhood was deprived— at least deprived of Ms. Brown and her wonderful works. I am not taking it personally, though, thanks to Virginia musicians Emily Gary and Tom Proutt. They contacted me awhile ago about a book they had recently been involved with, written by Ms. Brown, titled Goodnight Songs.
A simple recipe it was. Sprinkle a few hundred radio stations throughout the United States and Canada, mix with rock ‘n’ roll and stir. Stir up would be a more apt term because when the music hit the airwaves, the shit hit the fan— the music fan, that is. Not a big deal, you say? You’re probably right. In the grand scheme of things, a handful of traditionalists screaming McCarthyisms in a world already changed beyond their understanding would turn out to be flies on a horse’s ass, so to speak, and to scream them at teens plugged into a jukebox or record player at full volume was, well, laughable, but scream them they did and, as they say, the rest is history.
Bullseye Records of Canada
Segarini: Don't Believe a Word I Say 