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Had a decade birthday yesterday. Those are tough getting past.
This one was my 7th! Yes, this old _ _ _ _ is 70 years old. Hard
to believe!

The best part of yesterday was getting the seed of an idea that I really like and I’m
excited about. Someone mentioned saving time in a bottle - well that brought a
whole raft of memories up around Jim Croce’s song, “Time In A Bottle”..

When it came out I really enjoyed it. However, not surprisingly, I had forgotten the
lyrics. (Never happens to you, I’m sure!) Aaah! Good ole Google. I looked it up and
was surprised at how different the lyriics were from what I had remembered. The
thoughts and emotions elicited by the lyrics were also much different. The intervening
years sure made a diifference - not so surprisingly. Now, to get to the point - I’ve
made a “Top Ten” list around the “big idea” that resulted from this experience of
searching for lyrics. I present the “Top Ten” to you in the form suggestions. Here goes …

The Suggestions …

Suggestion 1: The next time you think of a song or someone mentions
it and you can’t remember the words get on your computer and go to one of the lyric
sites (I’ve provided 3 for you at the bottom of this post). Wait, wait! please read the
post first!

SUGGESTION 2: Bookmark one of those free lyric sites so you have
easy access to it whenever you are on your computer.
Take the “time” (daily?) to look up one of your old favorites
for which you have forgotten at least some of the lyrics.
Go to the site and download a copy of the lyrics. Trust me, if
you start saying the words the melody will come back as well.
The mind stores that better than the words. (MOre on that another
time.)

SUGGESTION 3: Once you have downloaded the lyrics, print them
out and put them in a 3 ring binder (so you don’t have to look them up again on the
computer.) Hey, those lyrics are a nice “legacy” to share with your family - gives
them a better feel for you and your life. Which stimulates another idea …

SUGGESTION 4: Consider having a “Favorites Party” where each
person must bring the lyrics of at least one of their favorite songs for all to enjoy.
You can add all the other “requirements” for the evening you want (karaoke solos?).
All the better if you have the music (but not totally necessary).

Suggestion 5: Make music a part of your legacy - start with the
3 ring binder - then - well you think about whatever ways you can re-enrich your
life with music. Share those ideas and the music generated with your friends and
family. Get their ideas and favorites.

Suggestion 6: When you have quiet time to yourself or with your
mate - savor the experiences, memories and feelings that have been generated by
these “music time in a bottle” experiences. “Golden-Oldies”?

Suggestion 7: Tweet about your own “music time in a bottle”.

Suggestion 8: Follow me on Twitter- @SeniorTweet and the URL:
http://twitter.SeniorTweet/.

If we are going to seriously tweet about this, a new hashtag is in order…

Suggestion 9: Let’s make a “music time in a bottle” hashtag -> #musictib - (Pronounced music-tib.)

Suggestion 10: Thank me ( @SeniorTweet ) on Twitter for coming
up with this idea.

Now I like “top ten” lists so my suggestions stop there. However, I am going to make
a “request”: please email me your thoughts and emotional responses to any or all of
these suggestions. Please email me and put #musictib in the Subject
Line of your email. My email address: valspangler@gmail.com .
Please, Please NO SPAM!

Bonus Suggestion : Yah, I know there goes the Top TEN! - -
Start putting into practice #musictib ideas. And, yes you smarties, one more tweet
strategy for your arsenal. Do you focus on the older set at all? When do people
start to reminisce about the good ole days? When do they start to forget song lyrics?
Which decade of music is your favorite?

Many thanks for your time - I hope you have experienced as much enjoyment and
positive response to these ideas as I have experienced coming up with them.

- Val Spangler, Mister Senior Blogger @SeniorTweet on Twitter.

Please follow me at http://twitter.com/SeniorTweet/

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Here are three sites off the top of a Google search results list (no quality control here):
www.elyrics.net/
www.lyricsfree.com/

www.aaalyrics.com/

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Thanks for your contribution - participation increases the value of the blog for everyone.

The more efficient bloggers repurpose their content ( and aren’t above using other’s
works with just a bit of careful editing). So wanting to demonstrate best practices
and improve my efficiency, I present to you this example of repurposing some
cartoon content. The Fence Critters are featured in another of my blogs, Comics
Cartoons and Creativity. So with this brief visual introduction,
I present to you my friendly little critics, The Fence Critters.

This song has been a favorite of mine since I first heard it many years ago.
Can you remember who wrote it - it’s been covered many times. The lyricist is said to
have written it after hearing a sermon.

This song seems very timely in our country’s (and our own?) present financial
circumstances. Even if you are not religious, it wouldn’t hurt to sing it once in
while! I provide a part of the lyrices - they repeat:

You gotta accent-thu-ate the positive,
E-lim-inate the negative,
An latch on
To the affirmative
Dont mess with mister in-between!

You gotta spread joy up to the maximum,
Bring gloom down to the minimum,
An have faith ( amen! )
Or pandemonium’s
Liable to walk upon the scene!

To illustrate
My last remark
Jonah in the whale!
Noah in the arc!
An what did they do ( what did they do? )
Just when everything looked so dark?

( what did they, what did they, what did they do? )

Man! they said
You better accent-thu-ate the positive,
E-lim-inate the negative,
An latch on
To the affirmative
Dont mess with mister in-between!
No, dont mess with mister in-between!

I’m not sure if it was Bing Crosby and Andrews Sisters version that I remember -
maybe you can remember? It first came out in 19_ _. Don’t worry about showing
your age - it’s OK, we are all in this together. Maybe you Boomers can remember
one of the “covers”.

By the way Boomers, it’s 2009 and the Boomer age range is now considered to be
45 -63 years of age. Interestingly, for most who concern themselves with us older
folks, the beginning age for seniors is still considered to be 62. So, … some of you
boomers just became seniors - Congratulations!!!

- VS

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