Living the Dream: A Jonathan Richman Time-jump
Here’s Jonathan Richman singing with the Modern Lovers in 1973. The song is called “Dignified and Old.” He was maybe 22. Listen to the pain in his voice as he cries out in support of life in spite of the anguish of loneliness and misunderstanding.
Well my friends say that I deceive myself
And that I contradict myself
And I can’t say if they’re right
But I’m not ashamed
Someday we could be dignified and old together
And here he is last year, at maybe 62. Dignified and old(er). Radiating a joy that is tinged with sorrow. Singing a song that, like all of his songs, comes from his heart. A place of truth. He’s a great and wise storyteller, a person who understands the kind of beauty where “you have to look a little more to see it.” He is a living reminder that if we know how to suffer and how to feel, we might one day be lucky enough to really love and really live.
Well she don’t act cool and she don’t blow hot and cold
Her mystery not of high heels and eye shadow
Well she laughs if she wants the way you do when you’re five years old
and she loves the faded colors of 3AM just like I do
She rocks, she swings, she delights in the faded things
Her mystery not of high heels and eye shadow
she laughs, she delights, she delights in the faded colors of the night
just like i do, just like I do
Notes
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