A bit of a picture post this one, as really into my new series where I intend to share pictures of sunrises and sunsets (accompanied by a relevant featured song of course). This morning I could tell there was going to be a beautiful array of orange and yellow in the sky as when I came through for breakfast, the colours were dancing across the obscure glass in the back door. I quickly grabbed my new iPhone (which has a much improved camera) and this is what I got. Sadly, most of my sunrise pictures will involve next door’s garage wall which kind of blocks our views down the hill into town. It was built before we bought the house, so we knew what we were getting, but at times likes this it would be nice not to have that big block of grey getting in the way. No matter, a fine sunrise shot whatever.
I think I’ve mentioned this around here before, but back in 2009/2010 I set myself the task of taking a picture of something from the natural world, every day, for a whole year. Called my 365 Project, I ended up with a great set of pictures that recorded the seasons during the period from November 2009 until the following November. I had thought it would be a good idea to revisit the same locations a decade on, to compare the scenes, but of course that requires a fair level of commitment and so far I’ve been found wanting. What I have been able to record however makes for sobering viewing.
Exhibit A: On the 1st December 2009 I somehow managed to record the amazing sunrise on the left. Deep purple this one, with oranges so bright they looked like flames. Last Sunday was the 1st December 2019 and from the same vantage point I took the picture on the right. Not as impressive and I hadn’t even noticed before but it seems the cottage down the hill has lost its chimneys in the intervening years. Even worse is that the large tree in its garden has been chopped down, and there are now stumps instead – It used to look spectacular in summer when in full leaf, but now only one left. This got me to thinking about what else has changed so radically, and it didn’t take long.
Exhibit B: Some of the roads leading up the hill to our house were originally farm roads. Many were lined with very old Scots pines which could potentially have been there for hundreds of years. I took this fine shot on the left on a nice sunny day in November 2009. Sadly, a few years later the local council decided to cut down all but one of them, for health and safety reasons, and the shot on the right was the one I took on Sunday. Only one pine remains of the original four, and I don’t know about you, but to me it now looks really sad and lonely. Only two pictures in and already so much of the natural world had gone. Just think how I felt when I pulled into our street last week to be met with our next exhibit.
Exhibit C: The first house in our street has always been blessed with a tree that come springtime is covered in blossom. Our Japanese cherry flowers a bit later, and the blossom lasts longer, but the tree on the corner always flowers first and ends up producing a beautiful carpet of pink on the pavement. For some bizarre reason they have decided to get rid of it, to provide more light for their conservatory we suspect, but again just so sad to see yet another tree go.
But this is a music blog, and I have become side-tracked by trees, or rather the lack of them. This series is supposed to be all about songs relating to sunrises and sunsets so might as well get this one in early doors, as they say – Tequila Sunrise by the Eagles. The song wasn’t actually about the drink of the same name (that unmixed concoction made up of tequila, orange juice, and grenadine syrup which does look remarkably like a sunrise), no, it was written for their 1973 album Desperado where all the songs were based on themes of the Old West. The band even appear on the album’s cover dressed like an outlaw gang.
Tequila Sunrise was one of the first songs where Don Henley and Glenn Fry collaborated and when Glenn came up with a guitar riff that sounded “kinda Mexican”, Don suggested the title, as they had been drinking straight tequila all night and now the sun was coming up. As for the line “take another shot of courage”, they called tequila “instant courage”, as without it they didn’t have the nerve to go and talk to women (but trust me, not always the best way to woo the opposite sex).
Tequila Sunrise by The Eagles:
So, “What’s It All About?” – A fine picture at the top there, but having revisited my pictures from ten years ago I am sad that in the town anyway, we have lost so many long-established trees.
As for the Eagles, they are one of the many bands that seemed to do just a little too well for themselves and lost their kudos along the way, becoming a tad corporate. Personally I still love listening to their songs but more because of that sense of nostalgia, remembering where I was, and who I was with, when I first discovered them. Growing up in the 1970s, if you were lucky enough to hang out at the house of a friend who had an older brother, there was usually an abundance of Eagles albums.
Just in case you don’t remember what a tequila sunrise drink looks like, here is it – The one we are most familiar with originated in Sausalito, California and those gradations in colour certainly do resemble a sunrise. One of the first alcoholic drinks I remember consuming at our local nightspot was indeed a tequila sunrise and probably because it looked and tasted like a soft drink – An expensive 1970s alcopop.
Until next time….
Tequila Sunrise Lyrics
(Song by Glenn Fry/Don Henley)
It’s another tequila sunrise
Starin’ slowly ‘cross the sky
Said goodbye
He was just a hired hand
Workin’ on the dreams he planned to try
The days go by
Ev’ry night when the sun goes down
Just another lonely boy in town
And she’s out runnin’ ’round
She wasn’t just another woman
And I couldn’t keep from comin’ on
It’s been so long
Oh and it’s a hollow feelin’
When it comes down to dealin’ friends
It never ends
Take another shot of courage
Wonder why the right words never come
You just get numb
It’s another tequila sunrise
This old world still looks the same
Another frame
What's It All About? 