"Software is where it's at."....Amen.
Pat, thinking of you yesterday while playing with a new toy of mine, I ripped from the vinyl album onto the Alesis Masterlink's hard drive my favorite Neil album I haven't heard too much of recently, 1975's "Zuma" (all numbers save for "Through My Sails", which IMO is overshadowed in this company, the smooth CSNY treatment not sitting well with me alongside the ragged but right Crazy Horse emotional exorcism of the rest). With the the pre-echo-announced intros and extended fadeouts digitally tidied-up and the track-to-track volume levels equalized, I set the remaining 8 songs on continuous loop play and proceeded to saturate at high volume with the house empty for the afternoon.
I found that some stanzas from a couple of my favorite tunes therein brought you even more to my mind, despite the complete lyrics subsequently diverging from any analogous situation. But one valuable thing about good songwriting, you can personalize it as you find necessary...
From "Barstool Blues" (with slight editing liberties taken):
If I could hold on to just one thought
for long enough to know
Why my mind is moving so fast
and the conversation is slow
Burn off all the fog and let
the sun through to the snow
Let me see your face again
before I have to go
Once there was a friend of mine
who died a thousand deaths
He trusted in a woman
and on her he placed his bet
From "Don't Cry No Tears":
Don't cry no tears around me
Don't cry no tears around me
'Cause when all the water's gone
the feeling lingers on
Oh true love ain't too hard to see
Meanwhile, my admiration for your hard-earned wisdom and honesty just keeps on growing - truly inspirational, considering what you've graced us with already and the effort required simply to write. (Please let us know if you ever want some ammo in particular to help reload the CDP, I'm sure somebody here can always assist.)
