How Do We Do Our Essential Thinking?

     How we think might seem like a trivial question in these times of riots in our cities, 40 million unemployment applications, Covid-19, and bills are bills due to come. Or it might be the best question we can ask. I'm in the latter group if you are keeping score at home.

    

    

    

      Back when vinyl albums use to cost us dearly and we made purchases with all the seriousness we could muster, I came across Carole King's best seller at a garage sale. Upon inspection it was warped and

scratched from intensive use. The cover was bent and scratched, too. Album covers always made us stop and pause for a bit of reflection, even if there was no chance we were going to pay $1 for this legendary album. In this case it was just a bit far gone to include in an amateur album collection. All I could do was gaze at the image of a painfully shy artist and read the liner notes. That was enough to produce a warm feeling and to make note that if I came across some money that this was an album to own!

All songs written by Carole King except where noted.

Side 1

1. "I Feel the Earth Move" – 3:00
2. "So Far Away" – 3:55
3. "It's Too Late" (lyrics by Toni Stern) – 3:54
4. "Home Again" – 2:29
5. "Beautiful" – 3:08
6. "Way Over Yonder" – 4:49

Side 2

7. "You've Got a Friend" – 5:09
8. "Where You Lead" (lyrics by Carole King and Toni Stern) – 3:20
9. "Will You Love Me Tomorrow?" (Gerry Goffin, King) – 4:13
10. "Smackwater Jack" (Goffin, King) – 3:42
11. "Tapestry" – 3:15
12. "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman" (Goffin, King, Jerry Wexler) – 3:59

     To answer the question I posed at the beginning of this post: I like to think while listening to music. I still am fond of Class Rock but have developed a love of Classical music, especially Romantic Era composers like Beethoven. I am fortunate to have had a friend these last 12 years who is a music critic. He always receives two tickets and often takes me along. I now have seen and heard all nine of Beethoven's symphonies as well as a wide variety of old and modern classical music. My favorite venue is Carnegie Hall with Lincoln Center a distant second. I'd like to believe I could live with just classical music but then I come across the old album covers, which the artists used to spend a great deal of time considering, as did we who bought them. One glance at a cover and I can recall whether or not I owned it. This also produces warm memories which then helps me with my thinking for the rest of the day. Often one look will prompt me to open Spotify where I now have all the music in the world (almost) at my fingertips. Yes, I threw away all the albums of my youth and sold all the CDs of my late twenties and thirties. I don't miss them too much when I consider how many times I had to move them and the dust they used to collect. I will say that the images on the albums are timeless and not without their own rewards. Though sometimes we have to let go of things if we want to have time to do some essential thinking.