THE LATEST TRIUMPHS IN POPULAR SONGS, ON NEW BOOKS, AND WITH QUESTIONABLE LOVERS
Seven Recent Secret Revelations: How to Write a Hit Melody
Thank you, dear reader, for your e-mail asking about Podunk. Podunk does exist and is, I suspect, a nice place to live. I’ve always felt it was a fetchingly funny name. Podunk is an actual hamlet located along Taughannock Creek in the town of Ulysses, Tompkins County, New York--south of Trumansburg. Apologies to those who live and love there that I insulted.
SONG SECTION
ANATOMY OF A HIT MELODY – wisely including the world’s most-watched cultural event: “The Eurovision Song Contest,” and the funniest song, ever.
SONG ONE – A TAD RISQUE -- COUGARS BEFORE THERE WERE COUGARS
“Melodie D’Amour” – A 1957 hit single by the Ames Brothers commanding Number Five on Billboard chart, deserving it -- and an easy learning tool for young songwriters. Originally, "Maladie D'Amour," (French for “Love Sickness”), a popular French West Indies folk song, recorded in 1931 by Léona Gabriel, popularized by Henri Salvador’s arrangement. Published in 1949, Salvador himself sang the song in French Creole with lyrics "Maladi damour, Maladi dé zamoureu, cha-cha…” Cha-cha-cha: way back was then a tribute to a cha-cha--an older woman sweet on a younger man. Who knew?...
And then: the song became even better known in English-speaking countries as -- the English version, lyrics by Leo Johns to an adapted French title -- "Melodie D' Amour," (French for "Melody of Love,”) by chart busting recording artists, The Ames Brothers, released in 1957 by RCA Victor. The new English lyrics by Leo Johns begin this way: "Melodie d'amour, take this song to my lover. Shoo-shoo little bird, go and find my love…" The catchy recording featured an electric harpsichord, in a rhumba rhythm catapulting The Ames Brothers’s to Number Five on Billboard charts, October 7, 1957; on the Disk Jockey Chart, Number Five also; as well as, the Best Seller chart, at Number Twelve; not to mention Number Twelve on the composite chart of the Top 100. A bone fide hit. That ain’t the half of it.
In 1990, the song became a smash all over again – as” Mélodie D'Amour" -- by French-Brazilian band Kaoma with writers Loalwa Braz and Jean-Claude Bonaventure, and the third single from their album Worldbeat—that went on to earn them the coveted French Award, Silver Disc. Amazing how a song can become a solid copyright and be fun, too. An older woman sweet on a younger man? Who is going to argue with that--cougars, before there were called cougars.
SONG TWO – MOVIE CLASSIC
“To Love Again,” a magnificent theme song from the 1956 feature film, The Eddy Duchin Story, a piano orchestral instrumental based on coveted, exquisite Frédéric Chopin's Nocturne in E-flat major, Op. 9, No. 2. With lyrics by three pros, Morris Stoloff, George Sidney, and Ned Washington, The Four Aces' version of "To Love Again," released in 1956, reached Number Forty-three on the Billboard charts in May. The Decca Records single had a fun, novelty on the B-side, “Charlie Was a A GRADUATE COURSE ASSIGNMENT: Find a classical melody you respond to, experiment: write words to the original, noodle around with the melody, if you dare. Shakespeare: “Nothing comes from nothing.” Something truly good will come of it.
SONG THREE – A CONTROVERSIAL BACKSTORY
“Poinciana” - A FAVORITE OF MINE – an all-time beloved--controversial POINCIANA. Frankly, I don’t know what to believe here--Wiki tells me Poinciana" is a song by Nat Simon with English lyrics by Buddy Bernier. The original tune was identified as a development of a Cuban folk song entitled "La Canción del Árbol," with new lyrics added by Manuel Iliso in 1936: translated as "the song of the trees," the royal poinciana -- a favorite Caribbean flowering plant. However, a big BUT, composer Nat Simon claims the melody came to him in a flash while dining at Italian restaurant, Mamma Leone's, in Manhattan's Theater District. Simon says he jotted down a rough draft on the tablecloth which—with Leone's permission—took home to work out the completed melody at his piano. His story continues this way … lyrics were completed in about thirty minutes by Buddy Bernier, citing HIS inspiration--a postcard of a royal Poinciana tree he had recently received from Florida.
Orchestra leader Jerry Wald, an early aficionado of the tune, showcased "Poinciana" during his 1943 gig at the Hotel New Yorker—and is given credit for boosting its profile. That same year, "Poinciana" was recorded by Glenn Miller with his Army Air Force Band. In fact, three more 1944 recordings of the song boasted it into big, big-band hit status: Miller’s, and those by Benny Carter & Orchestra; Bing Crosby (recorded October 1, 1943); and David Rose and his guys.
Its popularity progressed with its appearance in the 1952 film Dreamboat. And, since then, "Poinciana" has become a standard of Latin jazz: the theme song of pianist Ahmad Jamal—my most loved version—whose mesmerizing rendition, introduced on his 1958 album At the Pershing: But Not for Me, would be showcased on the soundtrack of the 1995 film The Bridges of Madison County. Meanwhile, the song was being recorded repeatedly by all the topnotch artists out there. The Beat Goes On: in 1978, a disco duo “Paradise Express,” a version made Top Twenty disco chart.
So, how will we know if POINCIANA is an original song by Nat Simon with English lyrics by Buddy Bernier. Or, or…the traditional Cuban folk song "La Canción del Árbol," with 1936 lyrics by Manuel Iliso, "the song of the trees.” Answer: don’t know. The Songwriting Angel is not returning my calls. Could it be both? But what a copyright!
SONG FOUR: PLAGIARISM VISITED, AND RE-VISITED
“RECADO BOSSA NOVA” – “The Gift,” a terrific relatively new Latin melody that hit the airwaves like a tsunami in the early 1960s with solid recordings by Caterina Valenti, Hank Mobley, Eydie Gorme. It’s wonderfully whistle-able, easy to listen to, and hummable. Credit first went to Djalma Ferreira and Luiz Antônio which became a well-known Bossa Nova instrumental piece. Then later: with warm and wonderful lyrics, the song took on new life as “The Gift.” I hear it these days from time to time on free Accu-Radio on the computer. Hank Mobley recorded a hit version on his 1965 album "Dippin.'" So, where’s the rub, Jim?
I remember a 1953 song, “Conversation (The Shrike),” by Italian born (none better) genius jazz arranger, composer, producer, performer Pete Rugolo on his Columbia album “Adventures in Rhythm,” that sounds exactly like RECADO BOSSA NOVA. I haven’t read anywhere that anyone got sued. Or: did the tune merely drop out of the Universal Intelligence into the arms, hands, & minds of the 1960s performers? I can’t find a person around today who can answer the question. Does that make it academic? I’d like to know the truth. I contacted the director of publicity at Columbia Records who didn’t get back to me. YES? NO? MAYBE? I DON’T KNOW? In the old days, P R and Publicity returned contacts immediately.
SONG: FIVE: EXPANSIVE, SWEEPING, BROAD AND BOLD
“The World Outside,” by the Four Aces, reached Number Sixty-three on Billboard Charts and Number Eighteen in the UK. The melody from 1941, was written as a piano piece and featured in the 1941 British movie, Dangerous Moonlight. Dangerous Moonlight concerns itself with the Polish struggle against the 1939 invasion by Nazi Germany. The concerto is an example of so-called programme music, representing both the struggle for Warsaw and the romance of the leading characters in the film. It became a humongous hit in Britain during World War II. This Concerto was composed in imitation of the style of Sergei Rachmaninoff. (It initiated a trend for similar short piano concertos in the Romantic style, which have been dubbed "tabloid concertos," or "Denham concertos," the latter term coined by Steve Race).
Hi-Ho, Alas, and Lack-a-day, the Concerto was not part of the original plan for the movie. At that time the orchestrator liked all of Richard Addinsell scores. But, the film's director wanted to use world-famous, classical Sergei Rachmaninoff's “Second Piano Concerto.” This plan was either forbidden by the copyright owners or far too expensive. Thus, Composer Addinsell created the new piece to sound as much like Rachmaninoff as possible, and while orchestrating the Warsaw Concerto the arranger had the miniature scores of the Second and Third Piano Concertos, as well as the Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, nearby (as inspiration?) Although it is at the heart of Dangerous Moonlight, the Concerto is never completely performed but rather teasingly revealed piecemeal. The opening is heard when the two protagonists meet. It’s further developed when they are on their honeymoon. Finally, in the only extended concert sequence, we are privy to the closing section -- its use is not restricted to scenes with the "composer" at the piano. The themes are underscored throughout the film, and in this way the brief concert piece gains a dramatic resonance that belies its small scale.
I have always loved “The Warsaw Concerto,” even as a child, as my upstairs cousin Eleanor played the piece or her baby grand making the timbers in the old wooden house’s timbers shiver. To say the least, I was delighted to learn its history. And what a lesson for aspiring songwriters: a classical piece, composed for a feature film (because the producers couldn’t use what they really wanted, Rachmaninoff), then, a bold, rousing popular song by the fabulous already the swingingly harmonious, Four Aces, a magnificent, much-played hit in the U.S. & U.K. It warms my heart, I’m partial; I love them both.
SONG SIX: Delicious
“I’M THE PROBLEM.” Let me share with you: appealing MORGAN WALLEN, with the help of the New York Times and perceptive, experienced critic Jon Caramanica. Superstar Wallen, blended Southern rap and Nashville with much universal success. To address his fourth moody, melodramatic, 37 songs, two hours long, a “beast” chart clogging data dump album -- titled, “I’m the Problem.” On this outing, the Times reads “his sonic palette borrows heavily from the pop-rock of the 1990s, with its undercurrent of light menace cutting through its sensual schlock.” Okay, a budding songwriter might have to re-read that thrice. There’s more: The attractive stadium-filling artist, still makes underdog music… a superstar, yet a kind of exile. HINT-HINT: (The Times used words like “effective brokenness” and “loneliness” as added dimensions to describe Wallen.)
Consider the cut “Getting’ Gone,” a modern patchwork a continuation of decades-old tension…rooted in country music of the 1980s. Enough said, if you’re starting-out there’s a lot to be learned from this song and everything else from this performer; on every selection on the LP. Let me detail the title cut, “I’m the Problem”: Women are running him; whiskey is rescuing him, and damaging the guy even further. He writes, “I just wanna’ love somebody that don’t want me falling apart” … “Every square inch of this house is as mess as you left me…” [I’m] “Too young to feel this old.” Most of us can relate to that; if not, for beginning songwriters --there’s lots to be learned here from Morgan. Either way, You gotta’ love him.
SONG SEVEN: REMEMBER, WE’RE TALKING ROOTS HERE, SOURCES…and now
A LAW SUIT: "Guantanamera," (pronounced [ɡwantanaˈmeɾa] – Spanish for 'The woman from Guantánamo'), is a Cuban patriotic song, which uses a poem from the collection Simple Verses, by Cuban poet José Martí for the lyrics. It is an expression of love for Cuba and of solidarity with the poor people of the world. Writing credits goes to Joseíto Fernández, who first popularized the song on radio as early as 1929 (it’s unclear--the first release date of the record). FORWARD TO 1966: a version by American vocal group The Sandpipers, based on an arrangement by The Weavers from their May 1963 Carnegie Hall Reunion Concert, became an international hit. (The song has notably been covered or interpreted by Celia Cruz, Company Segundo and Wyclef Jean.) Dear student, are you with me? Hang in…
Others pundits claim the song's structure came from Herminio "El Diablo" García Wilson, who might be credited as a co-composer. But, decades later, García's heirs took the matter to court—and lost the case; The People's Supreme Court of Cuba credited Fernández as the sole composer of the music in 1993. Either way, Fernández may claim to be the first to widely promote the song through his radio program…
Shortly after the Weavers' Carnegie Hall Reunion (Live) Concert recorded in May ‘63, and Seeger included it on his album We Shall Overcome. NOTE: Seeger's recording is described by critic Stewart Mason at AllMusic as the "definitive version" of the tune.
HISTORY: It's notable: the version created by Martí and Orbón to be used by the peace movement Cuban Missile Crisis time—urging followers to sing the song loudly, as a symbol of unity between American and Cuban peoples—urging for it to be sung in Spanish to "hasten the day [that] the USA ... is some sort of bilingual country." …
So then: In 1966, The Sandpipers’s smash version: a worldwide, widely commercially successful version of "Guantanamera" in English-speaking countries: pleasing to the ears, by easy listening vocal group The Sandpipers. TO REPEAT: Their rendition was based on the Weavers' 1963 Carnegie Hall Reunion Concert, landing at Number Nine on Billboard’s Hot 100 and Number Seven on the UK Singles Chart. Students, so much to be ingested and learned here… so much. It’s all so appealing and listenable. Be teachable!
SONG EIGHT: "Love Me with All Your Heart," a hit song recorded by The Ray Charles Singers that went to Number Three on the Billboard Hot 100 in the States and spent four weeks at Number One on the Pop-Standard singles chart, June 1964. (ASIDE: Also, Number One in Italy for four consecutive weeks!) The record was based on the Spanish language song "Cuando calienta el sol," composed as "Cuando Calienta El Sol En Masachapa." The music, by Rafael Gastón Pérez, a Nicaraguan songwriter and bandleader plus SADAIC (Argentine Society of Music Authors and Composers) also credits the Argentine composer, Carlos Albert Martinoli.) The English lyrics are sometimes credited to Michael Vaughn (or Maurice Vaughn) and other times to Sunny Skylar. Although both the Spanish and the English versions are love songs, the lyrics are not translations of one another. The Spanish title, "When the sun heats (or warms) up,” published in 1961 originally made famous by the Cuban Mexican vocal group Los Hermanos Rigual with the lyrics by Carlos Rigual and Mario Rigual. A big hit in many European charts, Number One in Italy, remaining on top for four consecutive weeks. I get great joy tracing the history of an international hit song. I learn from the details and trust newbies do also. If not, it’s a pleasure to re-listen to the tune.
INSPIRATIONAL: OLDTIMER - NUMBER ONE AT 80!
CHRISTY MOORE, a few words of wisdom from a respected, revered old-timer, 80-year-old Irish singer, songwriter, solo artist, and leader of groundbreaking folk band “Planxty” and the Celtic Rock Collective, “Moving Hearts.” Christy accompanies himself by guitar or bodhran drum, sometimes singing a cappella while exploring a repertoire of songs that cut across 600 years of history. In 2024, he released his 25th studio LP, “A Terrible Beauty,” that debuted at Number One in Ireland—beating out Sabrina Carpenter and Tyler the Creator. His words of encouragement to you, me, and the universe: “Songs have changed my thinking. I’ve been educated by songs, soothed, angered, encouraged, driven, calmed in the dark of night. I’ve had songs banned, slated, loved, lauded. Songs can change me, change you, there is power in that, a power that can change the world…The real news, the real versions of what happened historically has always been in the old songs…Hopefully that’s encouraging to young songwriters to show that they can be telling the truth of what’s happening today.” Ahhhmen.
FINALLY, SOME FUN! From Ireland to Dateline: Basel, Switzerland
The world’s most-watched cultural event, a spectacular, high-camp pop competition: The Eurovision Song Contest, held in May 2025, where Austria narrowly edged out Israel—the clear winner, only at the last moment—performing better in points from expert juries, then leaping frogging ahead of Israel.
Austria was represented by JJ, a classically trained singer who performed “Wasted Love,” a dramatic song about mucho heartbreak. He got 436 points to Israel’s 357. [The pre-event favorite Sweden, came in 4th. [See there, aspirants, ya’ never know).] Austria won before, in 2014, with a bearded drag queen, Conchita Wurst triumphing with “Rise Like a Phoenix.” Winner JJ’s real name is Johannes Pietsch, a 24-year-old a countertenor with a vocal range most closely matches that of a female mezzo-soprano.
These days, JJ-Pietsch sings in the choir at the Opera School, Vienna State Opera, and recently appeared on stage in the company’s production of Mozart’s “The Magic Flute,” and Benjamin Britten’s “Billy Budd.” Many fans DID vote for Israel, because they enjoyed Raphael’s song, ‘New Day Will Rise,’ a ballad performed on a glittering staircase, accompanied by pyrotechnics. Another reason, news: the near-fatal, Raphel is a survivor of the Oct.7 attacks led by Hamas on the Nova Music Festival which she endured by playing dead…lying under a pile of bodies. Moving along here…
This year, The Eurovision competition was a four-hour final in Basel, Switzerland, featuring all the surreal, spectacular sights music fans expect from this competition—i.e., to the audience’s delight, scantily clad dancers. At one point a singer riding a giant gold microphone stand that was suspended from the ceiling, spurting flames.
But back to winner JJ, JJ spent most of his childhood in Dubai, started singing classically at age 14, and then the family moved to Australia. LESSON ALERT: JJ shared he studied multiple YouTube Videos of Maria Callas and Montserrat Caballe—imitating those renowned sopranos. (Unusual homework, I agree.) After winning the Eurovision contest, he stood up and reprised his winning song, “Wasted Love,” with a colossal finish: a piercing “High C,” and then—he burst into tears. More lessons here than a Julliard Music School Grad Course, I learned a few myself.
SOME CONTEST GUIDELINES: Celine Dion won in 1988 with a French language workout song...Rules changed in 1999 allowing entrants to sing in any language and since, most winners have sung in English…. Seven winners since 2000 have used folk instruments, traditional melodies... Know that, it takes more than a great song to win—you need an outrageous performance or an outfit that makes viewers sit up and ask, “What the hell was that?” Yes: There can be no live animals on stage.... Eight recent winners made ample use of pyrotechnics--real or digital... Though novelty acts rarely win, they do become part of Eurovision’s folklore… Viewers can vote by telephone or text, or Eurovision’s app and website. Ergo, one can vote up to 20 times... BUT THE BOTTOM LINE: that public vote makes up one-half of each act’s final score; the remaining support comes from music industry professionals. Good luck to anyone who enters next year, good luck seems hardly strong encouragement enough—give it a shot anyway. So much bravery and talent out there, it takes one’s breath away.
**URGENT … VITAL SONG WRAP: Before moving off tunes and onto new books, may I suggest aspiring songwriters to examine the classics, see what you like--even if it’s merely a phrase--then borrow it and noodle with it. Know that: you are allowed seven notes of a copywritten piece. And, Public Domain works are up for grabs. I’m not suggesting you use seven notes, I’m merely sharing that you are allowed seven notes of copywritten material before being sued for plagiarism. That other smart approach, a Magic Carpet of Angels for you: look up SONGS: aforementioned PUBLIC DOMAIN on the internet or search: MUSIC: PUBLIC DOMAIN. A wealth of information that will trigger original tunes for you. Inspiration is everywhere and you don’t have to be a genius to write a solid song. Benedica, paesono, benedica.
TIDBITS – NOT SO TINY
ONE: The Chorus of Franki Valli and The Four Seasons’s international, beloved hit “Can’t Take My Eyes Off of You,” goes like this:
I love you, baby
And if it's quite alright
I need you, baby
To warm the lonely night
I love you, baby
Trust in me when I say
Oh, pretty baby
Don't bring me down, I pray
Oh, pretty baby
Now that I've found you, stay
And let me love you, baby
Let me love you
To me, it sound suspiciously similar to “Candy” a revered, talent-heavy, classic recording: words and music by Johnny Mercer with vocals by Johnny Mercer and the inimitable, Jo Stafford, and her husband, Paul West and Orchestra, released by Capitol Records. The recording reached the Billboard magazine Best Seller chart on February 22, 1945, holding there for 15 weeks--peaking at Number Two. Take my word for it, 80 years later—Candy holds up. NOTE: The Pied Pipers set the standards for Swinging, Harmonious Groups in the early 1940s that was to span decades to come.
So, the Four Seasons chorus of “Can’t Take My Eyes Off of You,” sounds to me like the opening of, seven allowed notes bedamned, of Johnny Mercer’s:
"Candy"
I call my sugar "Candy"
Because I'm sweet on "Candy"
And "Candy" is sweet on me
He/She understands me,
My understanding "Candy"
And "Candy’s always handy
When I need sympathy
I wish that there were four of him/her
So I could love much more of him/he
TIDBIT TWO: A quote: Abraham Lincoln wrote these words to his friend Joshua Speed, “You know my desire to befriend you is everlasting, that I will never cease while I know how to do anything.” Love? Naw… And then again…
Herman Melville once wrote to Nathaniel Hawthorne that (his) Hawthorne’s “heart bests in my ribs and mine in yours,” describing their friendship as an “infinite fraternity of feeling.” Love? Maybe. The Greeks Had a Word for It.
PERHAPS, THE FUNNIEST SONG EVER. ADULTS ONLY,
"Personality," was a hit pop song with lyrics by Johnny Burke, music by Jimmy Van Heusen--written for the 1946 film Road to Utopia –in the movie, to be sung by Dorothy Lamour. Composer Van Heusen revealed he wrote the song with a limited vocal range to accommodate actress Lamour. Be that as it may or may not be, in 1946, a longer version of the song became a Number One Billboard hit for Johnny Mercer and the Pied Pipers with Paul Weston’s Orchestra on Capitol Records. (Dinah Shore also recorded it around that time.) The song employs tongue-in-cheek, clever, bawdy, double entendre employing ironic uses of the word "personality." The lyrics implies that men are often attracted to a woman (or other men) because of her /his shapely figure in the song, called euphemistically her/his “personality”—also, known as callipygian—rather than other admirable traits or any other qualities she/he might possess. Consult Mr. Webster for the definition of callipygous, fun at cocktail parties.
PERSONALITY – the lyric
(An intro is sung in the film; not in the Pied Pipers’ hit version)
When Madam Pompadour was on a ballroom floor
Said all the gentlemen "Obviously,"
"The madam has the cutest personality"
And think of all the books about Du Barry's looks
What was it made her the toast of Paree?
She had a well-developed personality
(What did Romeo see in Juliet?)
(Or Figaro in Figarette?)
(Or Jupiter in Juno?)
You know!
And when Salome danced and had the boys entranced
No doubt it must have been easy to see
That she knew how to use her personality
(A girl can learn to spell and take dictation well)
(And never sit on the boss's left knee)
(Unless she's got a perfect personality)
(A girl can get somewhere in spite of stringy hair)
(Or even just a bit bowed at the knee)
(If she can show a faultless personality)
Why are certain girls offered certain things
Like sable coats and wedding rings?
By men who wear their spats right?
(That's right!)
(So don'tcha say "I'm smart and have the kindest heart"
(Or "what a wonderful sister I'd be")
Just tell me how you like my
Mercer> "Rufff!!
(Personality)
Baby, you've got the cutest
Personality!! BOURNE MUSIC
BOOKS
BOOK ONE: Dear Writer, by Maggie Smith
New York Times bestselling author and poet Maggie Smith distills the craft of writing with a step-by-step guide, a tool kit ideal for fans who enjoyed Elizabeth Gilbert’s Big Magic and Anne Lamott’s Bird by Bird.
Drawing from her twenty years of teaching experience and her bestselling SUBSTACK newsletter, For Dear Life, Maggie Smith breaks down ten essential elements of fine writing: attention, wonder, vision, play, surprise, vulnerability, restlessness, tenacity, connection, and hope. Each element is explored through short, inspiring, craft-focused essays, followed by useful writing prompts. Dear Writer provides a blueprint for beginning artists (those of all experience can apply to their own creative practices.) She emphasizes, they carry over into all genres, all areas of life.
About the Author: Maggie Smith, the award-winning New York Times bestselling author of nine books of poetry and prose, including A Suit or a Suitcase, You Could Make This Place Beautiful, Good Bones, Goldenrod, Keep Moving, and My Thoughts Have Wings, as well as the 2011 recipient of a Creative Writing Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, Smith also received a Pushcart Prize, numerous grants, and awards from the Academy of American Poets, the Sustainable Arts Foundation, the Ohio Arts Council, the Greater Columbus Arts Council, and the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. She has appeared in The New Yorker, The Paris Review, The Nation, The New York Times, The Atlantic, The Best American Poetry, and more. NOT CHOPPED LIVER, readers! So, attention MUST be paid! You can even find her on social media @MaggieSmithPoet.
A direct quote from Maggie Smith: “I really love creative problem solving. And I think it comes really from confidence as self-trust, right? When I’m in the weeds in a piece of writing—I mean, it could be a poem or it could be a novel; it doesn’t matter the size—when I’m in the weeds, I’m still really energized by the feeling of being in the weeds because I trust myself to get out of the weeds. And I’m excited about how I’ll do it, even if I don’t know how I’m going to do it yet…
MORE MAGGIE SMITH’S WORDS: “…from my experience, there’s no point at which we become exempt from the messiness. And frankly, it’s uncomfortable to not know how you’re going to find your way through a process…if the process is a piece of writing or not. It’s uncomfortable; there is no amount of experience that exempts us from that discomfort. So, if you don’t enjoy that discomfort, you’re not going to keep up with a creative practice. You actually have to love making things more than you love having made them…
“You have to love making the thing, the act of making the thing more than you love the feeling at the end where you look back and say, ‘Oh, I made that thing.’ You have to enjoy the process more than you enjoy patting yourself on the back about having a product that you created… the most fun is the making of the thing. Once the book (or whatever you, or working on) is done for me, I’m so ready to send it off and just start something else. Because I want that feeling again.”-- Washington Square Press.
BOOK TWO: OPEN SOCRATES The Case for a Philosophical Life, by Agnes Callard
An iconoclastic philosopher revives Socrates for our time. She shows how we can answer―and, in the first place, ask―life’s most important questions. WOW!
I read the book, did some research, and paraphrased some comments that were out there. On and off, it’s a little vague to me. BUT, well worth considering.
Socratic inquiry doesn’t just happen, so Callard wrote in her book Open Socrates, Life… and explained the process in detail. She even created a new ethical framework arguing that striving for knowledge is a moral imperative per Socrates’ aphorism “the unexamined life is not worth living.” She cites William James’ 1896 The Will to Believe as the source of the insight that believing truths and avoiding falsehoods are apparently two different mutually-exclusive algorithms.
Socrates has been hiding in plain sight. We call him the father of Western philosophy, but what exactly are his philosophical views? He is famous for his humility, yet readers often find him arrogant and condescending. Sure, we parrot his claim that “the unexamined life is not worth living,” then take no steps to live examined by it. We know that he was tried, convicted, and executed for “corrupting the youth,” but freely assign Socratic dialogues to today’s young thinkers, to introduce them to philosophy. So, what is it that made him so dangerous?
“… the seemingly opposite and mutually-exclusive rules of “believing truths” and “avoiding falsehoods” may actually be mutually implicative when considered within the context of a collaborative and dialectical process of the Socratic Method…a subtle point, but an important one considering how easy it is to find oneself firmly entrenched onto one of the polarized sides of a dualism of -- either a “I Want to Believe” credulous take or an “extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence” skeptical position. Because the perspectives of the true believers and staunch skeptics are mutually implicative, then the rue implication is that they must collaborate with an open mind in order to achieve knowledge since neither one can do so in isolation…
In Open Socrates, philosopher Agnes Callard recovers the radical move at the center of Socrates’ thought, and shows why it is still the way to a good life…. Drawing attention to Socrates’ startling discovery that we don’t know how to ask ourselves the most important questions―about how we should live, and how we might change. Before a person even has a chance to reflect, their bodily desires or the forces of social conformity have already answered on their behalf. To ask the most important questions, we need help. Callard’s argument: the true ambition of the famous “Socratic method” is to reveal what one human being can be to another. You can use another person in multiple ways―for survival, for pleasure, for comfort―but you are engaging them to the fullest when you call on them to assist answering your questions… for challenged answers.
MORE IMPORTANT TO MOST OF US: Callard shows that Socrates’ method allows us to make progress in thinking about how to manage romantic love, how to confront one’s own death, and how to approach politics. In the process, she gives us nothing less than a new ethics to live by. Another WOW, am I too easily wow-ed?
“If it were up to Agnes Callard, she would be having a lot more philosophical encounters in her life. But conversational norms lean towards agreeability, surface-level interactions, and, in some contexts, a polarizing battlefield of ideologies that is near impossible to penetrate. Her preference is for the Socratic Method of inquiry that requires participants to embody specific roles (believing truths vs avoiding falsehoods), with specific rules to follow, and committing to the possibility of having one’s beliefs or skepticism radically transformed—allowing for the prospect of overcoming blind spots and co-creating knowledge in a collaborative fashion where one thinks with someone rather than thinking for someone…
“It’s not immediately obvious to that the path towards knowledge requires believing truths and avoiding falsehoods, or that it would be impossible for one person to commit to both.” Callard claims, “the path towards knowledge requires a collaborative… deliberative process similar to the path towards justice where the prosecution prosecutes the guilty and the defense acquits the innocent. Once again, a lawyer cannot represent both sides… in this instance, the debate is mediated by a judge with an independent jury deciding the verdict. Callard contends: pure Socratic Inquiry needs no moderator as long as both parties are open-minded enough to have their blind spots challenged & to potentially be radically transformed… it does require is a good faith commitment to work collaboratively with a certain amount of epistemic humility.”
Callard never explicitly identifies Socratic inquiry as a “Socratic Immersive Experience”… her mission is to understand the contextual norms blocking us from having philosophical encounters; she’s in an exploratory, experimental state where she’d like to bring the magic of the Socratic Method into more people’s lives.
Ultimately, Callard does a masterful job of fully elaborating these points within Open Socrates, pointing out the many paradoxes… the pitfalls that prevent us from fully surrendering to the process of the Socratic Method, Socratic Inquiry—giving us an ethical framework, moral imperative, and road map to live a more philosophical life—in pursuit of knowledge.
To be sure…heady stuff, I’m the first to admit. I read the book, did some research, engaged of some paraphrasing, and appropriated some. Know this: I did not dream up the above musings. I attempted to distill Socrates to understand it, for me & for you.
BOOK THREE: THE GREAT MONEY RESET. CHANGE YOUR WORK, CHAGE YOUR WEALTH, CHANGE YOUR LIFE, CBS News Business Analyst, Jill Schlesinger.
With any luck (and some effort), in ten simple steps, the book empowers us to break free of our unsatisfying pre-pandemic reality and then to thrive, regardless of whatever challenges might come.
Schlesinger created those ten timely financial steps to build the life she opines you really want. The COVID-19 pandemic forced us to rethink everything. Now, when it comes to envisioning a post-pandemic future, noted financial expert Jill Schlesinger shares the one question over and over: How far should I really go to change my life?
Questions, is quitting your job a wise decision or the biggest mistake of your life? Should you pursue that graduate degree or are you throwing away your money for a few meaningless letters after your name? What kinds of lifestyle sacrifices will you need to make―and could you tolerate―in order to realize your dreams? What tax and investment moves should you make to secure your future as you head into uncharted territory? And how can you put yourself in a strong position to undertake future life transitions that you can’t fully imagine now?
The Great Money Reset, a guide to getting serious and building your best life… a road map for navigating our present era, the book lays out how to take advantage of the seismic changes unfurling all around us to make life-changing, life improving…to better deal with the boss, to start or sell a business, to move to a new locale, to retrain for a new career – or to take time off to find yourself: “the heck with it” and retire. The Great Money Reset details a frame-work for strategizing and planning that next move.
In The Great Money Reset the questions are answered with clarity, wit, and her no-nonsense honesty: to change your work, change your wealth, and change your life. A puzzlement? In those ten simple steps, the author empowers us to break free of those unsatisfying pre-pandemic realities—and thrive! -- St. Martin's Press
BOOK FOUR: The Great Gatsby. If you don’t cotton any one of my new release suggestions, re-read “The Great Gatsby,” a 1925 novel by great American writer F. Scott Fitzgerald set in the Jazz Age on Long Island, not far from New York City. First-person narrator Nick Carraway acts and interacts with (an enchanting original character) Jay Gatsby, a mysterious millionaire with an obsession: to reunite with his former amour, Daisy Buchanan, another original. You can’t do any better than “Gatsby.”
“ARE YOU HAPPY?” WHY NOT WRITE ABOUT IT.
I’m not moving to Podunk. Approaching a certain age prompted me to go back to therapy for a tune up—a second wind. My therapist knew I had written about happiness, relationships, and connection then asked me, ‘Are You Happy?’ Adding, ‘Why don’t you write about it?’ Pause. I thought: I work at home. I live in a nice apartment with a view, and pay reasonable rent, maintainable for New York City. Every morning at 2 a.m. or so, the guy upstairs sits on a squeaky, creaky, creepy mattress above my bed, waking me…I sometimes have a helleva’ time going back to sleep. There have been many a-mornin’ I’ve been jolted awaken early by the rat-tat-tat of a sledgehammer right under my bedroom window… A week doesn’t go by that one of the units in the building is being refurbished; from Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. until 4 p.m., sometimes, I hear tap, tap, tap of a hammer, tap, tap, tap, buzz, buzz, buzz, or the whirling of a floor sander accompanied by workmen shouts. Directly, across the street is a house-of-worship where the congregation often double and triple park(s) their cars from the corner on down a block--both sides of the street, mind you--never receiving parking tickets. Let’s not leave out the multiple colorful cab-buggies that cram the corner near the church’s front door. And more: sometimes those parishioners line up and pray, face down, on the sidewalk. Also, the church goers frequently get in loud arguments with other parishioners near their cars when they’re not blowing their horns to alert other drivers to move the vehicles blocking their exit. (My anxious concern here is that someone is going to get hurt—killed, even.) And, last, and least, there are three elevators in the building. Infrequently, do all three work all at the same time. So, then, dear readers, in the session with the therapist, I answered a question with a question, (a no-no). “Doctor, is it possible to be cranky and happy at the same time?” Her response: “Time’s up. Let’s begin there, next time.”
I AM NOT MOVING TO PODUNK.
p.s. to all that: I lost my head for a minute.