Buck Owens – An Occasional Story or Magazine

THE BUMBASTORIES WEEKEND MAGAZINE

Bumbastories News Updates…… Sanders Announces!

Bernie Sanders, independent senator from the proud state of Vermont, a relentless progressive who seems to have some balls as well as brains, is going to seek the Democratic Party Nomination for the office of President of the United States. Bernie is running for president, taking on Hillary, who currently looks a bit shaky. Immediately we say that poor ol’ Bernie has no chance. Why?? Ross Perot was a viable third-party candidate and influenced the debate on the deficit. Jimmy Carter was not a household name at first. What if people (that’s us, campers) suddenly showed strong support for Bernie? What if progressive Democrats and other progressives, as well as people who simply seek a truthful representative, what if they made their presence felt? What if they organized and supported Sen. Sanders if only to have a voice and to establish a counterweight to the present oligarchy? OK, that’s enough politics for a while. how about Up a Lazy River, played by Maybank and Bumba the other day?

**************************************** Worried: Watch Out: More Political Commentary Kurt Vonnegut, in his Preface to Breakfast of Champions offers a comical (dark, but comical), nutshell version of American history. He talks of the white pirate-marauders who got off their ships and subjugated the red people (the red people were defeated because they repeatedly underestimated the marauders’ capacity for cruelty). The white marauders then then brought over black people as slaves to work the fields for them. Kurt then goes on to analyze the absurdity of the national anthem. He concludes his summary of American history: “It was always about race”. Politics all comes down to economics, economics comes down to education and privilege, and it all comes back to race. The latest offenses in Baltimore join a long, long string of brutalities against Blacks. Perhaps video cameras will help. Transparency (or honesty as they used to call it) in government is always good, and it’s interesting to see who opposes disclosure of information. The fight for truth and justice goes on. Personally, we at Bumbastories are worried. We sung the Worried Man Blues yesterday. Click to hear.

************************************ Last month’s mid-week magazine featured a little tribute to the wizard of Bakersfield, Buck Owens. Continuing in this tip-of-the-hat to Buck Owens, and also because I love to play these songs, here’s Bumba’s version of Cryin Time, another of Buck’s classics. Although Bumba recorded this version of Cryin Time two days ago, Buck Owens had a hit with it in 1965 or so I’s guess. The song was recorded famously by the great Ray Charles, whose best-selling album of the same name was widely hailed as a daring cross-over of musical styles or genres. Black musicians didn’t do much country-western before Ray (and they still don’t, do they?). Ray explained that he liked to find good songs with good lyrics and it didn’t matter where it came from. Indeed, Ray was able to put his own signature on everything he did. Naturally Ray added something special to the country western scene. Ray helped to mix things up a bit, which is generally a good thing for music and for people in general.

Oh, it’s cryin’ time again, you’re gonna leave me, I can see that far away look in your eyes, I can tell by the way you hold me, darling, That it won’t be long before it’s cryin’ time, Now they say that absence Makes the heart grow fonder, And that tears are only rain to make love grow, Well my love for you could never grow no stronger, If I live to be a hundred years old, So, it’s cryin’ time again, you’re gonna leave me, I can see that far away look in your eyes, I can tell by the way you hold me, darling, That it won’t be long before it’s cryin’ time, Now you say that you’ve found someone you love better, That’s the way it’s happened every time before, And as sure as the sun comes up tomorrow, Cryin’ time will start when you walk out the door, Oh, it’s cryin’ time again, your gonna leave me, I can see that far away look in your eyes, I can tell by the way you hold me, darling, That it won’t be long before it’s cryin’ time. ************************************ Sports Update: OK, Clippers fans. It all comes down to one game tomorrow night at Staples Center. Game 7 against the reigning NBA champion San Antonio Spurs. All the games have been great. The playoffs (the first round) have been entertaining so far. And the Clippers-Spurs series has been the marque match-up, and the best one. Both teams are great. As a Clippers fan for 25 years already, the taste success is sweet. Can the Clips move on to the next level? May the best team win. **********************************

The Bumbastories Mid-Week Magazine

THE HORSE RACE OF BLOGGING Followers of Bumbastories may have noticed the blog’s evolution, nay its devolution, not only quality but also in frequency. Bumba, if you remember, and even if you don’t remember, broke out of the blogging starting gate at an ambitious and quite laudable “Every Day Another Story” clip. After the first turn, however, his gallop eased into a “well, almost every day another story” sort of canter. And then, somewhere in the backstretch, Bumba slowed to a weekly Bumbastories Magazine shuffle. Then the weekly magazine lapsed into monthly. It looked like Bumba was out grazing somewhere. However…er…. before we get off track altogether….with no further apologies, here’s this month’s Mid-Week (Huh?) Bumbastories Magazine, which we hope will be a horse of a different color (And no horsin’ around!). THE BUMBASTORIES MID-WEEK MAGAZINE First a little tribute to Buck Owens of Bakersfield, California. Click below to hear Act Naturally, which Ringo Starr and his little group recorded famously a while back (Ringo’s group recorded a goodly number of things famously). But the original of course was written and sung by Buck Owens and the Buckaroos. Buck wrote and performed a prodigious list of great country songs. Bumba and Maybank played this one last nite. Please sing along if you know it.

***************************** EVERY DROP COUNTS Los Angeles got some very welcome rain (yesterday). The drought situation is not appreciably changed, though. The reluctance of government officials, our representatives, to enact conservation measures, including price hikes for water is pitiful. The politicians are paid well by the agriculture conglomerates, but they are also afraid that the people, the voters, might be displeased by price hikes and inconveniences. I believe they under-estimate the public. People can understand that it hasn’t rained, that we have to conserve, that prices for vegetables will go up. To paraphrase Drew Barrymore, “We ain’t stupid, you know”. Many good citizens are already conserving water. Way to go. However, even the most conservative libertarians must concede that the drought and issues like climate change and protection of the environment requires a response that only government can orchestrate and implement. **************************** ABOUT WRITING I write but I don’t know why. I carry pen and paper most times. I write when I can. It keeps me busy. (An older man on a park bench Writing about writing) It’s a bit of a habit, the writing. I suppose it makes me feel I’m not idling away my time. But I am, of course. So who am I talking to? Who will read this? Not many. I suppose I’d be happy if just a handful of readers – say a dozen or two dozen, OK, make it three dozen people out there – someplace in space and time actually read my books. I write to charm. To amuse. To tell a good story, which, in turn, tells something deeper and more eternal. Which I figure is worth sharing. To achieve that kind of artfulness is not impossible. I figure it’s a good thing to keep trying to hit that level of art and amusement – and to hit it every now and then. Oh yeah, and keep playin that country music!

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Roll in My Sweet Baby’s Arms

Roll In My Sweet Baby’s Arms is one of my favorite songs to sing and play – and I hope you can get into it too. The Monroe Brothers first recorded it in the 1930’s. In all likelihood it’s a traditional one. Supposedly, it was written by Charlie Monroe, Bill’s brother. Flatt and Scruggs, Ricky Skaggs, Buck Owens and many others have recorded it. Click to hear Bumba and Maybank’s give it a shot, recorded earlier this week. Below are the lyrics with some commentary for the uninitiated.

Lyrics: Ain’t gonna work for the railroad. Ain’t gonna work on the farm. Gonna lay around the shack ’til the mail train comes back. Gonna roll in my sweet baby’s arms.

Commentary: Sounds like a respectable life style to me. Admittedly, this is not an overly ambitious set of goals. Not very high on morals or altruism. Sounds just right to me.

Lyrics: Where were you last Friday night when I was up in jail? You were walking the streets with another man and you wouldn’t even go my bail.

Commentary: Harsh reality sets in. Just kinda hits you. Sets ya on edge a bit. A dramatic twist of lemon, you might say. And now that we’re on the topic, I’ll take a nice twist of lemon with my next drink. Oh? You say lemon doesn’t go well with Thunderbird wine? Well, never mind.

Lyrics: Her Mommy is a ginny bread maker. Sister can weave and spin. Her Daddy’s got an interest in that old cotton mill. We just watch the old cotton roll in.

Commentary: Again, not overly ambitious. However, this is a situation most guys would be quite comfortabe with. I suppose this is a “guys” song, although I’m sure that many women could also appreciate layin’ around the shack til’ the mail train gets back.

Lyrics: Ain’t gonna work for the railroad. Ain’t gonna work on the farm. Gonna lay around the shack ’til the mail train comes back. Gonna roll in my sweet baby’s arms.

Crying Time

Here’s a nice n’ easy country western song to sing along with. Written by the great Buck Owens, Cryin Time was famously recorded by Ray Charles. Ray of course took the song to another level altogether. But Buck Owens, the king of Bakersfield, and his partner Don Rich did it pretty good too. It’s just a great song with a such a fine lyric. Simple and sweet. Sad of course. Buck Owens was my first introduction to Country Western. Here are the lyrics and Bumbas’ very modest rendition – which I did just now and which I am posting because it’s a great song, and also because I have nothing much else to say today.

Oh it’s cryin’ time again, you’re gonna leave me

I can see that far away look in your eyes

I can tell by the way you hold me darlin’

That it won’t be long before it’s cryin time

Oh they say that absence makes the heart grow fonder

And that tears are only rain to make love grow

Well my love for you could never grow no stronger

If I live to be a hundred years old

Oh it’s cryin time again……

Now you say you’ve found someone that you love better

That’s the way it’s been a thousand times before

But as sure as the sun comes up tomorrow

Cryin’ time will start when you walk out the door

Oh it’s cryin’ time again….