Carlos...
This is just about the perfect song for a semi-gray May Day. "Samba Pa Ti" and I go waaay back, from the time Abraxas was first released back in 1970 up until the present. I've experienced many, many exquisite moments with this tune, beginning when The First Mrs. Pennington and I did numerous turns to this song on dance floors many and varied (including our living room), up until recently when relatively new women and I did the same. And oh-so-many points in between. I can't begin to enumerate the emotions this song invokes... but they always involve passion, heartbreak and longing.
Today it's longing... specifically in the sense that SN1 wrapped up his family's temporary life here on The High Plains of New Mexico yesterday and hit the road for South Carolina. He's somewhere on I-40 as we speak... behind the wheel of a 26-foot U-Haul truck with a trailered Jeep behind... motoring on towards the next installment of his Air Force life. There are times when I envy those few of us who have roots... maintaining a hold on the nuclear family while enjoying the proximity of same... which would also include friends, of course. "Samba Pa Ti" brings out those feelings in me and I suppose this is something on the order of a "ya hadda be there" kind of moment.
Still and even I think most of us can relate, whether it's thinking of lost loves, moments lost and found, or the simple joy of living in the present. This is a great tune for doing all of the above.
Thanks, Pandora.
I hear ya, Buck. That's one of my favorite Santana tunes, too -- Abraxas was a coming-of-age album for me and carries more memories with it than my memory banks register (which may not be a totally bad thing!).
ReplyDeleteAfter all the concentrated wedding excitement and family-proximity the last few weeks, I find myself a little on the lonely side today, too, here some 400+ miles from all those people who were giving me fits last week.
*sigh* I think I'll go watch a horse race and have a julep (or 2!)
Safe travels to your family.
Ah, Moogie... I'm glad you can relate to the tune. I'd have a mint julep or two as well, if I had the mint. But I don't... so it's beer and memories, as ever. Which ain't entirely a BAD thing!
ReplyDeleteGreat Santana there, coming through my headphones. It's very gray here, much rain, a perfect song for reflection. Hope your SN1 has a safe trip.
ReplyDeleteI just spoke with Buck (SN1), and he's well. He may drive right on through tonight.
ReplyDeleteI too have many memories with this song. I started playing it and my two youngest immediately came over and asked if I was playing Santana on the computer... I love that my girls (7 & 9) know Santana.
Santana, man of my dreams for a long time.
ReplyDeleteIt's nice that SN1 will be on the East Coast in beautiful South Carolina, but I understand that kind of empty feeling with them gone.
Dan: I hope you're not part of all the flooding that's hitting Tennessee; I know you're near the Cumberland river. Yesterday was cold and gray here, too. It's been a strange Spring here.
ReplyDeleteSam: Noted, as we discussed.
Kath: Yeah, it is rather empty in these parts now. Thanks for the good words!
I've grown quite used to having family close by. It would be hard on me to see them drive away - and yet there would be some jealousy that it was not me heading off.
ReplyDeleteI hear ya, Lou. I had some of the exact same thoughts Friday.
ReplyDeleteI haven't lived in close proximity to family in nearly 30 years. Though there isn't an entire country between us - it's an easy driving distance to most of them - I do recall those early days of my marriage when family seemed like they were on a different continent as I developed a new life with The Oracle.
ReplyDeleteAnd even though, these days, I'd be very happy if my blood-family was indeed on a different continent, there are times when I long to live closer to The Oracle's family. They aren't all that far away...yet I still have days when they feel 3x further than they are.