I thought you might need a song

The playlist of my 20s

As I enter my 80s, some of the aspirations of my 20s seem closer to the surface. The psychedelic visions of transcendence, of a lightness of being and an expansive self that filled my early 20s feel possible again now that I’ve put in the hard work of life-making in the world as it is.

Squint one way at my decades, and you see the threads of challenging ego-driven worldviews in all my projects - about money, growing food, community, public conversations, the sharing economy, financial freedom.

I’m glad I haven’t lost the thread of my ideals through it all, though I’ve tangled with many demons, within and in the world.

This morning, two songs came to mind, songs I sang joyfully in the 70s while on the road, living in the woods - and in a few abandoned houses along the way - before my world-work emerged in my 30s. Sometimes it’s Easy by Hoyt Axton and Leela Leela, sung here by Reilly and Maloney.

I hope the lightness of being in these songs brings you a bit of joy. Joy is still our birthright, through hard times and harder ones.

Sometimes it’s Easy

Hoyt Axton

I used to laugh a lot that's why my face is crinkled
That's why my teeth are chipped by sandy wind
Sometimes it's easy sometimes it's not so easy
Sometimes I feel like I can't go on

Then I remember what really makes it easy
Being with you when I'm singing my song
Everybody got to have 'em some happy
Everybody got to have 'em some happy
Everybody got to have 'em some happy

The same Hoyt Axton who wrote Joy to the World

Leela Leela

Reilly and Maloney

Leela, Leela, this world is just a game
Winners lose and losers win the game is still the same
Leela, Leela, this life is just a play
Those who say don’t know and those who know don’t say

The eyes of the baby behold everything from under
The eyes of the young man behold his lady’s face with wonder
The eyes of the old man look upon the flowing river
What are those whose eyes are one they leave this world forever

Leela, Leela, this world is just a game
Winners lose and losers win the game is still the same
Leela, Leela, this life is just a play
Those who say don’t know and those who know don’t say

And where is the man who in his heart can really feel it
Can he feel it in himself and then can he reveal it
Then let him sit and sing and sail the flowing river
Snakes and arrows cannot go where sound remains forever

Leela, Leela, this world is just a game
God will not forget the one who sings his name
Leela, Leela, this life is just a play
Those who say don’t know and those who know don’t say

How can a man accept life who has not accepted dying
How can one achieve his purpose without ever trying
How can a man have courage who can not as well be tender
He who wins the game is he who is learning to surrender

Leela, Leela, this world is just a game
Winners lose and losers win the game is still the same
Leela, Leela, this life is just a play
Those who say don’t know and those who know don’t say

And where is the man who in his heart can really feel it
Can he feel it in himself and then can he reveal it
Then let him sit and sing and let his heart grow gladder
Chant to god until the masquerade no longer matters

Leela, Leela, this world is just a game
God will not forget the one who sings his name
Leela, Leela, this life is just a play
Those who say don’t know and those who know don’t say

Leela, Leela, this world is just a game
Winners lose and losers win the game is still the same
Leela, Leela, this life is just a play
Those who say don’t know and those who know don’t say

Ahh, those were the days my friend

We thought they’d never end

We’d sing and dance forever and a day…

Second Childhood

I’ve heard deep old age called a second childhood, a time of simple and maybe simple-minded pleasures. That never appealed to me. Yet I’m beginning to see the liberation that can come with a loosening of our attachments, even to the mind.

The soul may come out from under the heavy rock of the ego, and have a long time (in the sunshine) still to enjoy “morning breaking”. So, finally, the song we sang every night to one another in those heady days in my early 20s.