Please Yourself

I once started an idea for a screenplay with the narrator speaking a line I was very proud of at the time; "There are two kinds of regret. Regret for things that you did. And regret for things you didn't do."

Probably another kind of regret is starting a screenplay but never finishing it.

***

When I first started publishing daily essays on Facebook at the beginning of the Covid pandemic, the most common feedback I received was that my “memories” resonated with people.

I'm always grateful for feedback of any kind, but memories were only one part of what I was trying to explore. In my view, if I just looked backward all the time I probably would never figure out where I was going.

My own past, like everyone else’s, was littered with successes, failures, losses, gains, pleasures and pains, darkness and light. Good and bad seemed roughly in balance, you could say. 

But as a writer, my main concern is not with the past but the future. And feedback is nice but it can be a mixed bag.

In this context, I’ve always loved Ricky Nelson's plaintive yet defiant ballad "Garden Party," where the '60s pop star recounted playing before a huge crowd while trying to make a comeback at Madison Square Garden in 1972.

That night, he thought the concert was a disaster because the crowd had booed him off the stage when he sang some new songs.

But it turned out later that at least some of them were booing the police who were trying to control the most restive members of the crowd. But Nelson didn't learn about that until he’d written and released his song.

It was his initial sense of the concert that the crowd couldn't handle the fact that he had changed his look and his sound; in other words, that he had evolved. He figured they were disoriented that he'd moved on from his status as a teen idol.

But he didn’t care.

The key line in the song is "If memories were all I sang, I'd rather drive a truck." 

That turned out to be his last hit, but it was a big one. He kept performing it at bars and clubs and a few concert halls until he died at age 45 in a plane crash on the way to a New Year's Eve concert. 

***

Maybe I should return to that old screenplay idea?

HEADLINES:

• Biden’s defiant delusion (David Axelrod, CNN)

• Biden interview fails to quell Democrat concerns over fitness (BBC)

• Biden Aides Wrote Questions for Radio Hosts Who Interviewed Him (WSJ)

• Biden Faces More Calls From Democrats to Quit the Race (NYT)

• American allies fear Biden is finished and can’t beat Trump (Politico)

• 8 policies that could be vulnerable to new legal challenges (WP)

• Chevron doctrine ruling a ‘gut-punch’ for US health and environment – experts (Guardian)

• Trump tries to distance himself from Project 2025 plan (WP)

• A reformer wanting a nuclear deal with America wins Iran’s election (Economist)

• 'Breakthrough' heightens hopes of Gaza ceasefire deal (BBC)

• Beryl set to strengthen on approach to Texas due to hot ocean temperatures (AP)

• Google's AI Push Puts Climate Goals in Jeopardy. It Could Do So Much Better (CNET)

• Woman Shocked After Ancestry Report Finds Brother Owned Slaves (The Onion)

  LYRICS

“Garden Party” by Rick Nelson

I went to a garden party
To reminisce with my old friends
A chance to share old memories
And play our songs again

When I got to the garden party
They all knew my name
But no one recognized me
I didn't look the same

But it's all right now
I learned my lesson well
You see, you can't please everyone
So you got to please yourself

People came from miles around
Everyone was there
Yoko brought her walrus
There was magic in the air

And over in the corner
Much to my surprise
Mr. Hughes hid in Dylan's shoes
Wearing his disguise

But it's all right now
I learned my lesson well
You see, you can't please everyone
So you got to please yourself

I played them all the old songs
I thought that's why they came
No one heard the music
We didn't look the same

I said hello to "Mary Lou"
She belongs to me
When I sang a song about a honky-tonk
It was time to leave

But it's all right now
I learned my lesson well
You see, you can't please everyone
So you got to please yourself

Someone opened up a closet door
And out stepped Johnny B. Goode
Playing guitar like a ringing a bell
And lookin' like he should

If you gotta play at garden parties
I wish you a lotta luck
But if memories were all I sang
I'd rather drive a truck

But it's all right now
I learned my lesson well
You see, you can't please everyone
So you got to please yourself

And it's all right now, yeah
Learned my lesson well
You see, you can't please everyone

So you got to please yourself