For those not familiar with the works of Shel Silverstein who amongst other things was a children’s author, artist and song writer, the fact that Dr Hook and the Medicine Show had a hit with with his song I was stoned and I missed it will, until now, have been a mystery. It may also have escaped your knowledge that the title of this piece is also the first line from said song. Shel wrote quite a lot of Dr Hook’s songs and was also responsible for writing Johnny Cash’s hit A boy named Sue. You should explore Shel’s work more closely, you’ll be surprised what he got up to.
You may now be scratching your head and wondering, “OK, what’s your point?” so without boring you completely I’ll try and steer my thoughts into a general direction. To clear things up, I should explain I have not been getting stoned, some might have thought that the lack of blog posts were as a result of me sitting around unable to reach the keyboard, in actual fact when I was getting stoned I was a much more prolific blogger as the thoughts just kept churning out. Alas, this is not the excuse I have for the tumble weed that has been blowing around lately.
The reality is much more mundane; I’ve either been working, out being social after work or just kicking back once I get home. Having bought a Kindle from Amazon
So anyway, that’s my excuse for not being here, that and micro-blogging on Twitter. I remember blogging about what might happen if I embraced Twitter, would I still blog as much I wondered and it’s fair to say that I don’t however that could of course be down the the lack of getting high. If I were a committed soul I would buy myself a half ounce and put the theory to the test but the lack of a source for said naturally growing herbal medicine prevents me, that and an enjoyment of not being in a haze all the time, not that there is anything wrong with living in a haze, I’m just not feeling it, you get me?
I did get the saxophone out a few weeks ago but boy do I sound shit and the neighbours were less than impressed, it has been about 2 maybe 3 years since I last played it and whatever I learnt I have forgotten but given the noise of the beautiful hunk of brass makes and the flimsy partitions between me and the people who live around me, I’m not sure how to move it along. I’ve looked at constructing a sound-proofed partitioned room but it’s more than my budget will allow so I may opt for the next best option which is to stuff a tea towel in the bell!
Regular readers will know that usually there is a meaning with the title of my blog entries, surely you didn’t think I was just going to leave you with the random knowledge that Dr Hook sang a Shel Silverstein song with the opening line of, “I was sitting in my basement” did you? The reason I thought it apt was because earlier this week Andrew Marr had a bit of a rant about bloggers describing them as, “socially inadequate, pimpled, single, slightly seedy, bald, cauliflower-nosed young men sitting in their mother’s basements.” I was a bit offended by Andrew’s description. I may be single, have the occasional spot and be thinning up top but I don’t consider myself seedy or cauliflower-nosed and nor do I have a basement from which to blog from. You’d think a journalist would get his facts right wouldn’t you? Maybe if he followed Shel’s advice and got stoned he wouldn’t let bloggers enter his sphere of thinking? Here’s Shel’s version of the song from YouTube.
As I was writing this entry I was listening to last.fm and a song came on by a Country singer called Brad Paisley. Andrew Marr would love it, it’s called Online and the video is as hilarious as the song, you must watch it just for the joy of seeing William Shatner!
