Jeremy Sloan asked his son Michael what he'd like for his upcoming sixth birthday. Michael said he wanted a hamster, so the man visited the local pet shop. He found the perfect hamster, in the peak of health, so he bought it on the spot. He also bought a cage with a wheel, some food and a water bottle. As he was paying for the birthday present, the store owner said, "Any problems whatsoever, just come back here. I live right above the shop and I'll help you out any time you want."

Jeremy put the hamster and cage in his car and drove home. He left them in there until his son had gone to bed so that he wouldn't see them when he brought them in. Michael's birthday was the next day, so Jeremy got up early to wrap the presents and to check on the hamster. He was horrified to see the hamster was dead at the bottom of the cage; it's legs stiff in the air. He knew his son would be distraught as the boy had talked about nothing else for weeks. Quickly, Jeremy put on his coat and drove round to the pet shop and knocked on the owner's door. He explained the problem and the owner was quite understanding and gave Jeremy a new hamster, refusing payment for it.

Jeremy asked, "What can I do with the old one? I don't want to bury it as the cat may dig it up and I don't want to throw it away in case my son sees it in the bin".

The shop owner replied, "What I do is mix up a strong sugar solution - about 1.5 kg of sugar to litres of water. Bring that to a boil and then add the hamster. Simmer it about two hours, stirring periodically. It makes quite a nice jam."

Jeremy looked a little bewildered, but says thank you and raced back home. He gave the new hamster to Michael who was absolutely thrilled with it. He dashed off to play with it the rest of the day. Jeremy decided it was a good time to get rid of the dead hamster, so he tries the pet shop owner's recipe. He finds the sugar in the pantry and brings the water to a boil. After a couple hours, the mixture has become jam-like so Jeremy takes a spoonful, blows on it till it's cooler, and tastes it. It's absolutely disgusting. He's so revolted that he throws the rest of it out the kitchen window, into the flower bed below.

A couple days later, Jeremy noticed that daffodils were springing up under his kitchen window, right where he tossed that awful concoction. "That's odd", he thinks to himself, "I've never had daffodils before".

Next day, his son asks him to take him to the pet shop to get some more food for his hamster. So Jeremy and Michael go to the store, and while Michael is looking at new hamster toys, the owner asks Jeremy, "Did you try that recipe I gave you?"

"Yes, but it tasted so awful that I threw it out the window. Odd thing is, I've got daffodils springing up there now."

"Daffodils?" asked the store owner, "Are you sure? You usually get tulips from hamster jam."
_______________________________________________________________

[img]http://cs617618.vk.me/v617618423/101a9/cu9UNH4bkwk.jpg[/img]

Jean Francois and Keliani Castillo were born in the Dominican Republic. They met as children and were married when they were just 18. Times were tough and they struggled to keep a roof over their heads and food on the table. They eventually found passage to the U.S. on a small skiff, landing near Miami. Things didn't get much better for them there, and it got worse when Keliani gave Jean Francois the news that she was heavy with child. They struggled with this for months, eventually deciding to give the child up for adoption.




In Keliani's third trimester she learned she was having twins. The thought of giving them both up at birth was especially hard on her, but she knew Jean Francois couldn't earn enough as a day laborer on the streets to feed them. So she delivered two boys that winter and the Florida Department of Child Services took the boys. One of them was adopted by an Egyptian immigrant family in Phoenix, who named their son Ahmal; the other was adopted by a Puerto Rican family in San Juan, who named their son Juan.




Life went on for Jean Francois and Keliani, but they never had another child. It's hard to say if it was the terrible experience Keliani endured, but she was given to long periods of depression every December.

Many years later, when her boys were turning 21, Jean Francois and Keliani got a letter in the mail. It was from their boy Juan, who now lived in Chicago. In the letter he told of his love for his mother, and his understanding of why he was given up for adoption. He also included a recent photo of himself. When Keliani read the letter and looked on the photo she broke into tears.

"Why do you cry?" asked Jean Francois.

"Oh, my precious baby", replied Keliani. "He is so beautiful. I wish now I could see my little baby, Ahmal."




"But my love", Jean Franois explained, "Don't you see? If you've seen Juan, you've seen Ahmal."
______________________________________________________________

"Hotel California" by Don Henley, Glenn Fry and Don Felder appears on the Eagles album of the same name - 1977.

There are number of interpretations of this song, but the Eagles described it as their "interpretation of the high life in Los Angeles". In a 2013 documentary on the Eagles, Henley said the song was about "a journey from innocence to experience, that's all".

It's a story song about a traveler visiting California, but it's really a surrealistic tale about a traveler who checks into a hotel that turns out to be a nightmarish place where "you can check out anytime you like, but you can never leave".

The song is a metaphor about hedonism, self-destructive behavior, and greed in the music industry of the late 70s. Henley called it "our interpretation of the high life in Los Angeles", and later added: "It's basically a song about the dark underbelly of the American dream and about excess in America, which is something we knew a lot about."


Lyrics and Meaning:

"On a dark desert highway, cool wind in my hair
Warm smell of colitas, rising up through the air"

(The term "colitas" in the first verse means "little tails" in Spanish. In modern usage, it refers to the buds of the cannabis plant, and alternately to a woman's behind.)
[img]https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSu5uVXMEw6biAMhDboCpVttSTQtqUC3un3379fAqHnVl8nkMRE{/img]
____________


"Up ahead in the distance, I saw shimmering light
My head grew heavy and my sight grew dim
I had to stop for the night"

(In the story, our traveler sees a light in the distance and decides he must stop for the night. The light is a metaphor for our dreams of success.)

(In 2008, Don Felder described the origins of the lyrics:

"Don and Glenn wrote most of the words. All of us drove into L.A. at night. Nobody was from California, and if you drive into L.A. at night ... you can see this glow of lights on the horizon, and the images that start running through your head of Hollywood and all the dreams that you have. So it was kind of about that ... what we started writing the song about. Coming into LA ... and from that came 'Life in the Fast Lane' and 'Wasted Time' and a bunch of other songs."
[img]http://d2yo33alqfw61o.cloudfront.net/los-angeles-desktop-wallpaper-wallpapers_5331lse.jpg]/img]
____________


"There she stood in the doorway
I heard the mission bell
And I was thinking to myself
'This could be Heaven or this could be Hell'
Then she lit up a candle and she showed me the way
There were voices down the corridor
I thought I heard them say"

(He's arrived, but immediately he's of two minds on what he's found. Is this what he was really after?)

____________

"Welcome to the Hotel California
Such a lovely place
Such a lovely face
Plenty of room at the Hotel California
Any time of year
You can find it here"

(The chorus is a reassuring refrain that indeed you have found the promised land; just don't look behind the curtains.)

____________


"Her mind is Tiffany-twisted
She got the Mercedes bends"

(The 2nd verse opens with the depiction of a shallow girl in LA who only has material things on her mind.)

(Tiffany-twisted refers to her obsession with products from American luxury jewelry retailer Tiffany & Co.)


(The phrase "Mercedes bends" describes what's happened to her point of view.)

____________


"She got a lot of pretty, pretty boys she calls friends
How they dance in the courtyard, sweet summer sweat
Some dance to remember, some dance to forget
So I called up the Captain
'Please bring me my wine'
He said: 'We haven't had that spirit here since 1969.'

(Another metaphor about the music business, and more specifically about the high life in the music business of the mid and late 70s. To beat the point to death: The wine is the happiness that comes with the fame of great accomplishment - the fruit of your efforts. The captain has to inform the traveler that what he thought he'd earned just doesn't exist anymore.)

____________


"And still those voices are calling from far away
Wake you up in the middle of the night
Just to hear them say"

(This phrase is open for your own interpretation; mine is that the voices are those who came before - artists who'd succumbed to the false promises of big money and success, such as Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix.)
____________


"Welcome to the Hotel California
Such a lovely place (Such a lovely place)
Such a lovely face
They living it up at the Hotel California
What a nice surprise (what a nice surprise)
Bring your alibis"

(The chorus is slightly modified; still a reassuring refrain, but with more emphasis on narcissism.)

____________


"Mirrors on the ceiling
The pink champagne on ice
And she said: We are all just prisoners here of our own device"

(Like adding new layers and colors to a painting, the traveler explains some of the trappings and luxuries of the paradise he's found. His hostess adds a note of warning though; these trappings of success you sought will be your undoing.)

____________


"And in the master's chambers
They gathered for the feast
They stab it with their steely knives
But they just can't kill the xxxxx"

(The traveler and other guests gather for the feast, only to find that they can't really have what they wanted. According to Glenn Frey's liner notes for 'The Very Best Of', the use of the word "steely" in the lyric was a playful nod to the band Steely Dan, who had included the lyric "Turn up the Eagles, the neighbors are listening" in their song Everything You Did.)
____________


"Last thing I remember
I was running for the door
I had to find the passage back
To the place I was before"

(Too late the traveler realizes what's happened to him; he's desperate to get out of this beautiful hell and get back to reality.)

____________


"Relax, said the night man
We are programmed to receive
You can checkout any time you like
But you can never leave!"

(Too late... he's already sold his soul.)

(This song, and the album in the collective, tell an elaborate story about the big sell-out. The Hotel California is the California high-life; the promise of fame and fortune that brought so many to the state. It's doubtful Henley even meant California in the literal sense, and probably more about a state of mind and the trappings of success.)


__________________________________________________________

You've heard of course of Quasimodo, The hunchback of Notre Dame, but did you know he had a younger brother? Yes, he did, and his name was Dodomodo. When they were teens, Dodomodo decided living in Paris just wasn't for him, so his aunt Charlotte took him in at her farm near Villepreux. He lived and worked there for over eight years, but finally decided to come back to Paris.

He and Quasi were having dinner his first night back, and Quasi suggested to Dodo that the Cathedral would probably hire him on as an assistant bell ringer. The next day, Quasi and Dodo walked to the Cathedral and asked the pastor if Dodo might be hired on as Quasi's assistant. Monsignor de Gondelaur agreed, so Quasi and Dodo headed happily to the top of the tower for the first mass.



Upon arriving though, Quasi's instructions were a little concerning to Dodo; apparently he had to ring that enormous bell with his head. "Watch me first, Dodo", Quasi said as he walked to the far side of the tower, turned and ran head long into the giant bell. Gong! "See? It's not so hard once you get used to it."

Dodo was still dubious, but since the bell had to be rung six more times, he gave it his best. He walked to the far end of the tower, turned and ran right into the bell with all his might, striking it with the top of his skull. Gong! He staggered over to the far end again, turned and ran at the bell once more. Gong! This time, poor Dodo was woozy. He staggered away from the bell, but as he reached the far end of the tower, he bumped into the railing and fell over. Down he went ... over 200 feet he fell, landing with an awful splat on the brick walkway below.



Two priests ran out of the church and knelt at Dodo's head. The first priest immediately began giving Dodo the last rites of Extreme unction.

"Do you know him?" the second priest asked?

"I don't know his name," the first answered, "but his face sure rings a bell."

"Sacra bleu! You are right!" the second priest exclaimed, "He is a dead ringer for his brother!"

"Yes, it's Dodomodo alright. He moved away years ago, but I always had a hunch he'd be back."
_________________________________________________

Bohemian Rhapsody - by Freddy Mercury appears on the Queen album "A Night at the Opera" - 1975.

The album takes its name from the Marx Brothers film A Night at the Opera, which the band watched one night at the studio while recording the album. The song consists of six sections: introduction, ballad, guitar solo, opera, hard rock and finale.

We may never really know all the meaning in the song; Mercury was
tight-lipped about it and his band mates have continually declined to comment. Mercury did say "It's one of those songs which has such a fantasy feel about it. I think people should just listen to it, think about it, and then make up their own minds as to what it says to them."

He also claimed that the lyrics were nothing more than "random rhyming nonsense". We do know that at the time he wrote the song, Mercury was just coming to terms with his own sexuality. Reading these lyrics, and other of his songs on the album, it's hard to believe Mercury didn't have some thing on his mind.


Albert Camus' "The Stranger"

One of the best arguments for the song's inspiration is Albert Camus' novel, "The Stranger" (1942), a book Mercury read and re-read. It's an existential novel, whose title character is Meursault, an Algerian who kills an Arab man in French Algiers. The story is divided into two parts: Meursault's first-person narrative view, before and then after the murder.




Lyrics and Meaning:

"Is this the real life?
Is this just fantasy?
Caught in a landslide
No escape from reality"

(The first verse is an introduction to the subject of the song, meant to help the listener understand the protagonist's point of view and mindset for the story he's about to tell.)

("Caught in a landslide, no escape from reality" is a telling phrase; Mercury was in unfamiliar emotional territory at the time he wrote this, being in a long term relationship with his best friend, Mary Austin, but he was also having his first gay love affair. He had to have been confused by his own feelings.)
____________


"Open your eyes
Look up to the skies and see
I'm just a poor boy
I need no sympathy"

"Because I'm easy come, easy go
Little high, little low
Any way the wind blows
Doesn't really matter to me, to me"

"Mama, just killed a man
Put a gun against his head
Pulled my trigger, now he's dead
Mama, life had just begun
But now I've gone and thrown it all away"

(This is the main idea taken from The Stranger. He's killed a man. It's phrased so you can see he's not remorseful about the murder, just depressed about his own fate.)
____________


"Mama, ooh
Didn't mean to make you cry
If I'm not back again this time tomorrow
Carry on, carry on as if nothing really matters"

"Too late, my time has come
Sends shivers down my spine
Body's aching all the time"

"Goodbye everybody
I've got to go
Gotta leave you all behind
And face the truth"

(As the protagonist waits for execution, he's preparing himself. Again, the phrasing omits remorse, and there's no acknowledgement of his sin or of God.)


____________


"Mama, ooh
(Any way the wind blows)
I don't want to die
I sometimes wish I'd never been born at all"

"I see a little silhouetto of a man
Scaramouche, Scaramouche, will you do the Fandango?"

("I see a little silhouetto of a man" starts the operatic portion of the song. It's a second narrative from those observing the protagonist and his situation. The reference to "a little silhouetto of a man" and "scaramouch" (a boastful coward) and "will you do the fandango" (a triple-time dance) tell us how he's viewed: he's not a man, he's a boastful coward, frantically dancing to save his own skin.)


____________


"Thunderbolt and lightning, very very frightening me
(Galileo, Galileo, Galileo, Galileo, Galileo, Figaro)
Magnifico"

"I'm just a poor boy, nobody loves me
He's just a poor boy from a poor family
Spare him his life from this monstrosity"

"Easy come, easy go, will you let me go?
Bismillah! No, we will not let you go!
(Let him go!)
Bismillah! We will not let you go!
(Let him go!)
Bismillah! We will not let you go!
(Let me go!)
Will not let you go!
(Let me go!)
(Never never never never let me go!)
Will not let you go!"

"No, no, no, no, no, no, no
Oh mama mia, mama mia
Mama mia, let me go"

(The protagonist mentally reviews all that happened at the trial. "He's just a poor boy" and "Spare him his life" echo from statements made at trial. "Bismillah! We will not let you go - let him go - never!" shows the heated debate between prosecutor and defense counsel. All of it runs through the protagonist's mind.)

(The reference to "Bismillah" - the opening word in the Koran, meaning "In the name of Allah" - calls back to The Stranger and the trial in Algiers.)

("I'm just a poor boy and nobody love me" is another of those telling phrases about Mercury and his feelings as he wrote this song. When looking back on the end of their relationship, Mary Austin said that Freddie seemed extremely upset with himself. He felt an overwhelming sense of guilt about their breakup.)


____________


Beelzebub has a devil put aside
For me, for me, for me

("Beelzebub" is a god worshiped by the Philistines. 2 Kings 1:1-2.

It's also used in many cultures as the name of the Devil.)


____________


"So you think you can stone me and spit in my eye?
So you think you can love me and leave me to die?
Oh, baby, can't do this to me, baby
Just gotta get out, just gotta get right outta here"

"Nothing really matters
Anyone can see
Nothing really matters
Nothing really matters to me
Any way the wind blows"

(The protagonist has settled his feelings with his fate. He knows he's doomed, but "nothing really matters".)

(In existentialism, the individual's viewpoint is characterized by "the existential attitude", a sense of disorientation in the face of a meaningless, absurd world. Many existentialists regard traditional philosophies as too abstract from real human experience.)


_______________________________________________________________

Sunshine - by Jonathan Edwards appears on his self-titled album - 1971.

It's a country folk song that's best known as a Vietnam War protest. The song almost didn't make it onto the album; one of the songs intended for the album was accidentally erased, and "Sunshine" was used to fill the hole.

Many listeners have found different meanings in the song. Some believe it was a repudiation of Christianity while others believe it was a protest about the military. What did Edwards have in mind when he wrote it? In 2013 he said:

"I used to get letters back in the day, telling me about the deeper interpretations they had come up with. That was always entertaining. But what it left me with is the wisdom to not answer the question directly, because everyone's interpretation is way more creative and interesting than my original impetus for the song. So you go with it."


Lyrics and Meaning


Sunshine go away today
I don't feel much like dancin
Some man's gone, he's tried to run my life
He don't know what he's askin

(At the height of the Vietnam War, thousands of American men were
immigrating to Canada to avoid the draft. Thousands more were arrested and imprisoned for refusing the draft. By 1971, the war had become a dividing line between the generations in the U.S.)

(It's difficult to say whether these lyrics are a protest of the war, the military industrial complex or of Richard Nixon himself. In the timeframe of this song, Richard Nixon was referred to by some as "Sunshine". During Nixon's 1968 presidential campaign, he gave speeches about how he had a secret plan to end the war. In those speeches, he often described how ending of the war would bring "sunshine to America". He didn't end the war in his first term and some began referring to him sarcastically as "Sunshine".)


____________


When he tells me I better get in line
I can't hear what he's sayin
When I grow up, I'm gonna make it mine
These ain't dues I been payin

(The phrasing here is vague enough to allow several interpretations, but we know the war was the inspiration for the song. It's reasonable to deduce that the phrases "when he tells me I better get in line" and "these ain't dues I been payin" refer to the military, the conscription draft and the Boomer Generation's attitude toward the duplicity of the U.S. government, documented in the Pentagon Papers.)


___________


Well how much does it cost?
I'll buy it
The time is all we've lost
I'll try it
And he can't even run his own life
I'll be damned if he'll run mine, sunshine

(Edwards said the chorus to "Sunshine" was made up on the spot as he performed an early version of the song for friends and other musicians. It's simple and direct.)


____________


Sunshine, go away today
I don't feel much like dancin
Some man's gone, he's tried to run my life
He don't know what he's askin

(In 1971, excerpts from the Pentagon Papers, leaked by Daniel Ellsberg, were published by The New York Times and The Washington Post. The Pentagon Papers laid out the mis-steps in Vietnam policy taken by four consecutive U.S. administrations, from Eisenhower to Nixon. The papers revealed

1. The American government's complicity in the death of Ngô Đình Diệm in November 1963.
2. The clandestine bombing of Laos in 1964.
3. Lies by the Johnson administration to Congress concerning the Gulf of Tonkin incidents that had led to direct U.S. intervention.
4. The failure of operation "Rolling Thunder" (the large-scale bombing of North Vietnam from 1965 - 196.
5. The failure of Nixon's policy of Vietnamization of the war.

(The study presented a pessimistic view of any chance for a U.S. - South Vietnam victory and it generated fierce criticism of U.S. policies.)


____________


Workin starts to make me wonder where
Fruits of what I do are goin
When he says in love and war all is fair
He's got cards he ain't showin

(Nixon did play his cards very close to the vest, on the war, negotiations with the Russians and the Chinese, and his domestic policies. He's now famous for a serious paranoia of his opposition. Ultimately, that paranoia brought him down.)


____________


How much does it cost?
I'll buy it
The time is all we've lost
I'll try it
And he can't even run his own life
I'll be damned if he'll run mine, sunshine

Sunshine, come on back another day
I promise you I'll be singin
This old world, she's gonna turn around
Brand new bells will be ringin

(Edwards closes with an upbeat note. He says we can win this anti-war movement and turn things around. It will require that "Sunshine" [Nixon] leave and new leaders take control, but we can win this struggle.)



(Ironically, Nixon's "Madman" strategy probably was working to end the war in Vietnam. He just got swept away before it could all come to fruition. Nixon explained his strategy this way

("I call it the Madman Theory. I want the North Vietnamese to believe I've reached the point where I might do anything to stop the war. We'll slip the word to them that, 'For God's sake, you know Nixon is obsessed about Communism. We can't restrain him when he's angry. You know he has his hand on the nuclear button!' Ho Chi Minh himself will be in Paris in two days begging for peace."


____________


You'll find many other great songs and their interpretations at Decoda.com.

I've played golf off and on for twenty years now. I never get any better on my own and I've been rejected by every golf instructor I've ever met. It all seemed hopeless until I met a bunch of guys recently on a course here in Colorado. They called themselves "The Duffers". They were holding a golf tournament at the course and I learned that they go to a different one every week. (Apparently, the course operators will only allow them on a given course once a year.)

So after talking with them in the clubhouse, they invited me to join them the next Sunday as a guest. I did and it was an epiphany. I've never enjoyed the game so much in my life. I attribute it to their comradery and to the special rules of golf they use. I present them here to show you all it takes to enjoy the game is a new perspective:


Duffer's Rules of Golf

Rule 1:
On the first tee, the Duffer may take as many tee shots as necessary to achieve an acceptable result. Everyone knows a Duffer has to "loosen up a bit", and the No. 1 Tee Box is designated for that purpose.



Rule 2:
A ball sliced or hooked into the rough shall be lifted and placed on the fairway at a point equal to the distance it should have carried and rolled had it not gone into the rough. preferably atop a nice firm tuft of grass. Duffers should not be penalized for tall grass which grounds keepers refuse to mow properly in a perverted attempt to "help everyone improve their game".
[img]http://www.herold.at/FS/picture/8/2/8/1873828.jpg[/img]


Rule 3:
A ball hitting a tree or other obstruction shall be deemed not to have hit that object. Hitting a tree is simply bad luck and luck has no place in a scientific game like golf. The Duffer will estimate the distance the ball would have traveled had it not hit the obstruction and play the ball from that point.


Rule 4:
There is no penalty for a ball that lands in a water hazard. Golf balls do not float, and golf course operators know it; that's how they accumulate all those range balls. Duffer's shall not add insult to injury by taking a penalty. In a civilized society, the pond would have been drained to water the fairways.



Rule 5:
There is no penalty for so-called going "out of bounds". If penny-pinching golf course owners had purchased a sufficient tract of land, this situation would not occur. Duffers deserve an apology, not a penalty.


Rule 6:
There is no such thing as a lost ball. The missing ball is on (or near) the course somewhere and will eventually be found and pocketed by someone else. It thus is deemed to be a stolen ball. The Duffer shall not compound the felony by charging himself or herself with a penalty.



Rule 7:
If a putt passes over a hole without dropping, it is deemed to have dropped in. The law of gravity supersedes the Rules of Golf.


Rule 8:
Same goes for a ball that rims the cup and goes sideways. While it's true that the ball is following the laws of physics, the law of gravity is deemed to supersede.


Rule 9:
A putt that comes so close to the cup so as to inspire comments like "you could blow it in" may in fact be blown in without recording an additional stroke. Everyone knows it's important to keep the game moving along, so we don't want to spend undue time on the greens. This rule does not apply if the ball is more than three feet from the hole. After all, no one wants to make a travesty of the game.


____________


There's no need to thank me for these, I just want everyone to enjoy the game.

Stairway to Heaven - by Robert Plant and Jimmy Page appears on the Led Zeppelin album, Led Zeppelin IV - 1972.


Stairway to Heaven is Spiritual?

Robert Plant told Total Guitar magazine in a 1998 interview: "My hand was writing out the words, 'There's a lady who is sure all that glitters is gold, and she's buying a stairway to heaven'. I just sat there and looked at them and almost leapt out of my seat."

Plant went on to explain the original lines were "Some cynical aside about a woman getting everything she wanted all the time without giving back any thought or consideration."




Here are the lyrics and their meaning.


There's a lady who's sure all that glitters is gold
And she's buying a stairway to heaven
When she gets there she knows, if the stores are all closed
With a word she can get what she came for
Ooh, ooh, and she's buying a stairway to heaven

(These first lines begin with that cynical summary of a woman thinking she can buy her way to heaven, but soon you begin to see this is really an elaborate series of metaphors about society as a whole.)
_______________


There's a sign on the wall but she wants to be sure
Cause you know sometimes words have two meanings
In a tree by the brook, there's a songbird who sings
Sometimes all of our thoughts are misgiven

(The meaning of the song begins to expand with this verse; rather than a song about a woman with wrong values, it becomes a lesson for us all: we can read the writing on the wall, but we think we're so smart, we come up with alternate meanings to justify our actions. The songbird is trying to deliver a message about our values.)
_______________


Ooh, it makes me wonder
Ooh, it makes me wonder

There's a feeling I get when I look to the west
And my spirit is crying for leaving
In my thoughts I have seen rings of smoke through the trees
And the voices of those who stand looking

(As the narrator looks at Western civilization, something is telling him that his (and our) paradigms are based on the wrong values. Something is telling him to find another path. The reference to smoke through the trees and other voices is mystical, suggesting others have found the true path.)
_______________


Ooh, it makes me wonder
Ooh, it really makes me wonder

And it's whispered that soon, if we all call the tune
Then the piper will lead us to reason
And a new day will dawn for those who stand long
And the forests will echo with laughter

(If we force ourselves to change the way we think and act, our leaders will follow us. A change can come if we are willing to endure the long struggle of social change. Note the reference to the Pied Piper of Hamelin: he led the children that followed him to their deaths: the inference is that we as a society shouldn't blindly follow what celebrities and the mass media dictate [materialism and conspicuous consumption].)
_______________


If there's a bustle in your hedgerow, don't be alarmed now
It's just a spring clean for the May queen
Yes, there are two paths you can go by, but in the long run
There's still time to change the road you're on
And it makes me wonder

(A hedgerow on a landscape connotes wealth and status. A bustle in your hedgerow suggests there's something going on behind the scenes. The reference to May Queen (a mythical symbol of purity and rebirth) suggests it's a just social and ecological revolution hidden back there. The good news is there's still time for us to get on board.)



_______________


Your head is humming and it won't go, in case you don't know
The piper's calling you to join him
Dear lady, can you hear the wind blow, and did you know
Your stairway lies on the whispering wind

(Calling back to the first verse, the narrator speaks directly to the woman (though she's now a metaphor of all of us), warning her that her life lacks a solid spiritual base. That's why her stairway is unstable; it's based on the wrong values: It "lies on the whispering wind".)



_______________



And as we wind on down the road
Our shadows taller than our soul

(Our spirits can be overshadowed by life and all the stuff in it. The inference here is that what we've valued, what we've chased in life can become more important than who we are and what we wanted to become. Sometimes, we just get a little lost.)
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There walks a lady we all know
Who shines white light and wants to show
How everything still turns to gold

And if you listen very hard
The tune will come to you at last
When all are one and one is all
To be a rock and not to roll

(Plant delivers the punchline: Help each other find truth. Get as many people as you can to see the beauty in the better angels of our nature.)

[img]http://media-cache-ec0.pinimg.com/736x/52/55/30/525530080657b8a3f64ce68210e76cd0.jpg]/img]

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Some people like this lyric interpretation stuff and some don't. If you're into it, go visit Decoda.com. Enter a song title and the artist and there's a good chance you'll find an interpretation on it. (You'll need a current generation browser to be able to see those interpretations - sorry, Internet Explorer version 7 doesn't work there.)

Not everyone will admit it, but we all have a secret fantasy. For many of us, that secret is a sexual fantasy. I admit, I have one about girls fighting. More specifically, it's about superhero women, wrestling on the WWE - World Wrestling Entertainment Network. I've told a few people about this fantasy and every one of them tells me I'm a closet Peeping Tom. I prefer to think I'm imaginative.

I have this recurring fantasy about coming home, turning on the TV, and finding that tonight on the WWE it's Wonder Woman vs. Wicked Wanda. Oh ... my ... god. Is it true? The most powerful, most righteous woman and force for good is matched up against that salacious vixen, Wicked Wanda? They're both ultimate examples of feminine sexuality (at least in MY mind), but on opposite sides of the moral coin. I order a Jimmy John's and get a beer from the fridge, then settle in for the match that is just about to start. My conscious mind tells me I should turn to PBS right now to watch a show on Blue Whale flatulence, but I can't help myself; I've been looking forward to this all month.


Wonder Woman takes stock of her foe:



In my mind I've worked out all the moves they'll try on each other, all the contorted and suggestive positions they'll get into as they slowly tear each others costumes to shreds. My eyes grow wide as I see them struggle and sweat, their hair beginning to look like a long night of sex. It finally happens - Wonder Woman's golden cuffs catch Wanda's top and rip it nearly in half. Thank God she has on a skimpy black Victoria Secret push-up bra to sooth the censors. They're flying around the cage now; doing gymnastics an Olympian would envy.

Wicked Wanda tries to escape the cage:



Eventually, good seems to be winning-out over evil as Wonder Woman gets Wicked Wanda onto her back on the mat. Wonder Woman is on top of her; Wanda's hips and thighs pressed to the mat by Wonder's shins and all her weight. Wonder has Wanda's arms pinned to the mat with her own stiff arms and they stare hatefully at each other. Then suddenly, Wanda gets all doe-eyed on Wonder, those big green eyes get so big it's almost cartoon-like. You can see Wonder is confused; she doesn't quite know what's happening. Then Wanda parts her lips slightly and Wonder is sucked in. She succumbs to Wanda's beauty and that lustful, "take me now" look for which she's so famous. Wonder leans in so close to Wanda, their lips are almost touching ... I can't wait!

What happens next? Does Wanda flip Wonder over in a somersault? Do Wonder and Wanda begin the first lesbian love match on the WWE? Maybe it's better if you finish this yourself. I'm guessing there are some of you with imaginations much keener than my own.

If you DO finish this, send me a PM with the juicy details. You see, I've finally admitted it ... I AM a voyeur.