Rhyme and Reason

Rhyme and Reason


Uncloudy day, uncloudy sky, and a little bit of the reason why

June 15, 2020

Ah, there’s nothing like an uncloudy day
And there’s nothing like rainy days and nights to make you appreciate an uncloudy day. Right? Of course, maybe it’s only the dreamers, poets, and songwriters who truly appreciate the ever-changing kaleidoscope floating above us all. But I’ll bet when I say that, plenty of other kinds of people beg to differ. Or maybe they don’t beg, they demand to differ. Anyway…

Uncloudy Day was written for me to sing, about 110-130 years before I did.
What can I say? Sometimes it takes me a while to get around to things. And, yes, I’m using a little tongue-in-cheek humor to show a musical connection. Between me and a guy named Josiah Kelley Alwood. Because he’s the guy who wrote the song I’m talking about. Back then, he called it “The Unclouded Day.”
And if Wikipedia can be believed on this, Josiah said this is how the song came to him. “It was a balmy night in August 1879, when returning from a debate in Spring Hill, Ohio, to my home in Morenci, Michigan, about 1:00 a.m. I saw a beautiful rainbow north by northwest against a dense black nimbus cloud. The sky was all perfectly clear except this dark cloud which covered about forty degrees of the horizon and extended about halfway to the zenith. The phenomenon was entirely new to me and my nerves refreshed by the balmy air and the lovely sight. Old Morpheus was playing his sweetest lullaby.”
The next morning he got up. And that whole image was still burning in his brain. So, he spent a little while, the next day, composing the tune. And about a day and a half writing the lyrics.
Then…tick tock tick tock. And about 110 years slipped away. Along comes this singer songwriter (who lives in my body). For some reason, he puts together an arrangement of it, and adds it to his nightly playlist.
But then another 20 years tick tock away, and I added the song to the praise and worship playlist I led each Sunday morning in a small, Denver church.
As it turns out, this song has been recorded by several well-known singers besides me.
Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Don Henley, Brad Paisley, and others have their versions, too. And my version is most like Don Henley’s. Because it was a slight hit way back in the 80’s.
Anyway…
The reason I bring it up is to encourage you to remember you can alway have an uncloudy day. At least metaphorically speaking. In fact, your cloudless days can go on forever. But it comes down to a choice.
And that choice has got to be made soon. And, by the way, not choosing is choosing. So choose wisely. Soon.
Stay tuned,

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