What goes up must come down........

Mind outta gutter you PREVERTS!

(THERE, that got ridda anyone who might be offended by a baby cussword or two here.)

JUST KIDDING, heck, if my Social Security check were larger I'D PAY people to read my blog!

I woke up this morning (It's dayum cold here in KC), 3 comforters atop me.. "Do I really haveta get (up), out in this cold? Furnace working overtime, it's 17 degrees out and I think it (furnace) ain't been able to maintain and it's like fitty-something degrees in my apartment.  You know, kinda like setting the cruise control then going up a big damn hill.

What goes up must come down
Spinnin' wheel got to go 'round
Talkin' 'bout your troubles, it's a cryin' sin
Ride a painted pony, let the spinnin' wheel spin...

I was all set to write a blog and complain about how dadgum cold it is.  It would be a tribute to mailmen (and women) everywhere, kids who are walking to schools, and the crossing guards who shiver as they hold up 'STOP' signs.

Except, it's Sunday, they ain't out there.

So (a needle pulling thread, jk)..  So, I decided to inspect this song. I likes this song. Many did, do.

If you no likey looking into a singer, their song, a tad more, all good - Snagglepuss here.  Promise to not be offended.  Kinda like when you're driving in the car, a song comes on you no likey, so, you touch (I think that's how they do it) something on that newfangled screen on the dash that's damn near as big as a Drive In screen - and change the music.  (Me, I usedta just hit fast-forward on my car's cassette player, but, there's a broken tape stuck in there, so now I just push the AM radio button to find another station.)

Ya got no money and yeah, ya got no home
Spinnin' wheel, all alone
Talkin' 'bout your troubles and ya, ya never learn
Ride a painted pony, let the spinnin' wheel turn

David Henry Thomsett (WHO?) Oh, sorry, that's his birth name. I guess his performing name is David Clayton-Thomas and yes, he of Blood, Sweat and Tears fame.  Anyways, he grew up in Canada. Toronto to be specific.  As a young punk, he usedta frequent Yorkville, a wonderful vibrtant artisitic community for folk music and counterculture.

Victor, this is dragging, spiff it up.  Sorry, I'll try.  The area attracted a lot of R&B and Blues bands from points like Detroit and Chicago - because, Toronto had  'no colour' bars versus 'back home' for the R&B dudes who could only play in black bars.  Very, very popular in Toronto.  They also had matinees, where he (and others under 21) could go, listen to the bands.  Soon, he began sitting in on gigs, and that's where this blog ends, the rest of the story, Good Day, Paul Harvey, jk.

Did ya find the directing sign
On the straight and narrow highway?
Would you mind a reflecting sign?
Just let it shine within your mind
And show you the colors that are real

Real Estate in Yorktown skyrocketed, club owners couldn't afford the rent, thus, clubs closed, in came fancy schmancy shops.

So (a needle threading this whole damn blog together) he moved to New York, Greenwich Village to be specific.  GV was a bigass version of Yorktown.

Victor, you forgot to add the part where he wrote this song before he left Canada, presented it to his record label guys, they said "Nah, no, no no... sounds like jazz..  jazz doesn't sell." So, they tore up his contract, he stuck the sheet music in his guitar case for the move to NY. (The company was called Arc Records, and I'm reminded of Fred Sanford's quote, "DUMMY.")

Someone is waitin' just for you
Spinnin' wheel, spinnin' true
Drop all your troubles by the riverside
Catch a painted pony on the spinnin' wheel ride

David lived upstairs from a club he'd play in, 'Cafe Wha?', and downstairs, in a club called 'The Underground' some guy named Jimi James played.  WHO?  Jimi James, oh, he would change his name later to Jimi Hendrix. Nearby, Carole King and James Taylor played in a joint called 'The Bitter End.'  So, Victor, what you're saying is "Lotta talent."  (I shake my head up and down, yes.)

So BS&T was soon formed in NY.  Bingo. Popularity. So popular in fact, Victor, how popular were they?  So popular, they were THE #2 highest paid at Woodstock. They got $15,000, and Jimi James, er, Hendrix, got $17,500, except, people crashed the gates, money was never collected, nobody got paid. Damn the luck. Even when they years later released the movie, BS&T was nowhere to be found in it because then they woulda had to have been paid a portion of the box office. What goes up, often comes down to nothing. 

Someone's waitin' just for you
Spinnin' wheel, spinnin' true
Drop all your troubles by the riverside
Ride a painted pony, let the spinnin' wheel fly

That wasn't too good <-- this is what one of the band members exclaimed after they finished recording the song.  It actually made it in some versions but was later edited out.

There has been much studying of this song.. some say "religious".. some say 'drugs' (painted ponies)...  David says "Nope, it was just my way of saying 'Don't get to caught up in movements because everything eventually comes full circle."

So (a needle pulling thread), Victor, you wrote all that crap to remind yourself not to get too bent outta shape about freezing your ass off?

Uh huh, did,

You just wasted 15 minutes of my life.

So solly.

Drop all your troubles by the riverside,

Ride a painted pony let the spinnin' wheel fly.

HEY!  If you're going to the Chief's game in a few hours, dress really really warm!

Dummies

SNOW?  TUESDAY?  DAMNIT JIM!

Ride a painted (sled) and let the spinnin' wheel fly

Love, Victurd