My Words?

Sometimes when I talk, my mother comes out. 

I don't know when I first heard that quote, but as I get older it becomes more and more true. It could be a turn of phrase or a certain cadence of speaking. My kids are the usual recipients of most of my "mom-speak".

Through many circumstances, I grew up mostly on my own. My mom worked hard to provide for us and that meant she didn't spend as much time with me as either one of us would have wanted. She wasn't mothered either, her mom passed when she was 12. So, it is always funny to me when I hear her reflected in whatever it is I am saying.

As I get older, and I reflect more on myself and my family's history it strikes me that these echoes from my mom may not be just from her. She may have picked them up from the mother she lost too soon, or from the other women that helped to raise her before and after the loss. Maybe they come from my mom's grandmother who would yell at her in French, English, and Mi'kmawi'sim. Usually alternating through the languages leaving the listener with no idea of what was being said. On second thought, they probably don't come from that one. 

Every family has sayings or phrases that don't make sense to outsiders. They may be a product of an inside joke, a strange way of doing something, or a hand-me-down that no one actually knows the backstory to, it just becomes a part of the family's common vernacular, and then spread out to the world. 

As more things are being lost as the world change, at least these sayings and stories will continue. All we have to do is share them, and who doesn't love a good story?

Now to the music part of the blog. 

For today I offer up a somehow hopefully melancholic song from one of the legends themselves. I think the first time I heard Perfect Day by Lou Reed was while watching the movie Trainspotting. Mostly known for "Walk on the Wild Side", Reed was a large part of the glam rock movement of the '70s. Through him acts like David Bowie were able to gain traction. Funnily enough, Bowie actually played the keyboards for the original recording of this song and was one of the producers for the whole album. 

This song has been covered several times and used in several soundtracks. My favourite alternate version is actually a duet between Pavarotti and Reed. 

The song itself was written after spending a day in Central Park with his then Fiancee, some think it's based on the conflict Reed was having with his ongoing heroin use and in trying to come to terms with his sexuality. when asked about these theories Reed found them laughable. He said he wrote it just in appreciation of a good day spent with someone he loved. 

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