Lyrics to lift you when you're down
If you’re a “feel good” person — and yes, I really am — sometimes the bad news seems just too much.
Sure, I know it comes with the gig.
I’ve been working in journalism a long time, and when it’s your job, you have to know what’s going on in town, in the state, the country and the world.
Good and bad.
Whatever it is, you have to know — because it may impact something you’re covering, a story you’re writing, or information that could impact your readers.
So I do it.
Check our own paper, others in the state and region, then the national outlets, because what’s happening anywhere might have an impact here.
I’ve done this for a long time, I understand it, and I can handle it.
Still, there are days …
MAYBE IT’S just me, but this week has gotten off to a grim start.
One morning when I scanned the national headlines, I just wanted to be on a beach in the middle of nowhere.
Journalists can’t run from the news, though, so you have to find another escape.
For me, for years and years, it’s been the simple remedy of spending a few minutes with Anne Murray.
If you’re too young to know about Anne Murray — the pride of Springhill, Nova Scotia — I seriously suggest a YouTube session whenever you feel a little down.
I actually met Anne at Disneyland.
Of all places, right?
She was booked to sing there for a weekend, which I didn’t know, and I accidentally walked into this free outdoor show in Tomorrowland.
And finally …
I had to introduce myself when she began chatting with folks, just to see if she was as pleasant and uplifting and enjoyable as her music.
Yep.
She even repeated a story that I’d heard but didn’t quite believe.
“It’s true,” she said. “(Hockey legend) Wayne Gretzky left me two tickets for a game in Vancouver. When I went to pick them up, a man asked me to prove I was Anne Murray.
“I said, ‘What do you want me to do, sing a few verses of Snowbird?’”
ANYHOW, on rough mornings, I take a few minutes to re-connect with Anne.
And specifically, a song from 1983 called: “A Little Good News.”
It starts with the singer herself hearing terrible things on a morning TV show, and wishing that, just once, the news would be different.
Like this …
“Nobody robbed a liquor store on the lower part of town
Nobody OD’ed, nobody burned a single buildin’ down
Nobody fired a shot in anger, nobody had to die in vain
We sure could use a little good news today
“I’ll come home this evenin’
I’ll bet that the news will be the same
Somebody takes a hostage, somebody steals a plane
How I want to hear the anchor man talk about a county fair
And how we cleaned up the air, how everybody learned to care
Whoa, tell me …
“Nobody was assassinated in the whole Third World today
And in the streets of Ireland, all the children had to do was play
And everybody loves everybody in the good old USA
We sure could use a little good news today …”
Sure, it sounds corny.
Who cares?
Listen for yourself, and I guarantee you’ll smile — at the very least.
Go ahead.
Get hooked on feeling better.
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Steve Cameron is a columnist for The Press.
A Brand New Day appears Wednesday through Saturday each week. Steve’s sports column runs on Tuesday.
Email: [email protected].
Twitter:@BrandNewDayCDA