TFT: Merle Haggard

Link: [Merle Haggard]

Not every song that will be featured here will be what is generally considered as being “Christian” in the eyes of this world.  For some will be anguished cries from the pit of despair, and others will be quite obviously ferverent rants of rebellion.  Nonetheless, be assured that they will all be of our Heavenly Father (in one way or another) and I hope that you have been given ears to hear the message.

Link: [On YouTube]

Mama Tried

Merle Haggard

The first thing I remember knowin’

Was a lonesome whistle blowin’

And a young-un’s dream

Of growin’ up to ride

On a freight train leavin’ town

Not knowin’ where I’m bound

No one could change my mind

But mama tried

One and only rebel child

From a family meek and mild

My mama seemed to know

What lay in store

Despite all my Sunday learnin’

Towards the bad I kept on turnin’

‘Til Mama

Couldn’t hold me anymore

And I turned twenty-one in prison

Doin’ life without parole

No one could steer me right

But mama tried

Mama tried

Mama tried to raise me better

But her pleadin’ I denied

That leaves only me to blame

‘Cause mama tried

Dear old daddy rest his soul

Left my mom a heavy load

She tried so very hard

To fill his shoes

Workin’ hours without rest

Wanted me to have the best

She tried to raise me right

But I refused

And I turned twenty-one in prison

Doin’ life without parole

No one could steer me right

But mama tried

Mama tried

Mama tried to raise me better

But her pleadin’ I denied

That leaves only me to blame

‘Cause mama tried

Link: [On YouTube]

Leonard

Merle Haggard

When Leonard finally came to California

He was twenty-one years old as I recall

He loved to write a song and pick the guitar

And he came to hang a gold one on the wall

The town in which he lived is not important

But you’ll know which town I mean

By the time I’m through

He soon became a famous entertainer

But Leonard was a name he never used

He was on his way to havin’ what he wanted

Just about as close as one could be

Hey

Once he even followed Elvis Presley

And he wrote a lot of country songs for me

But he laid it all aside to follow Jesus

For years he chose to let his music go

But preachin’ wasn’t really meant for Leonard

But how in the Hell was Leonard supposed to know

Well life began to twist its way around him

And I wondered how he carried such a load

He came back again to try his luck in music

And lost his wife and family on the road

After that he seemed to bog down even deeper.

And I saw what booze and pills could really do.

And I wondered if I’d ever see him sober.

But I forgot about a Friend that Leonard knew

Well Leonard gave me lots of inspiration

He helped teach me how to write a country song

And he even brought around a bag of groceries

Hey

Back before Muskogee came along

Really

I’m not tryin’ to hide his show-name

Or the town in which this episode began

Somehow I had to write a song for old Tommy

If just to see the smilin’ faces in the band

When Leonard finally came to California

He was twenty-one years old as I recall

And he loved to write a song and pick the guitar

And he came to hang a gold one on the wall

Lyrics From: [Cowboy Lyrics]

Please Also Visit:

[FishHawk Droppings]

and

[The Tribulation Times Herald-Exhorter]

Come Monday...Prime Suspect

Come Monday…” is a weekly series that will involve a review of, or commentary about,  websites, movies, documentaries, television shows, sports, music, and whatever else may tickle my fancy at the time.  Be assured that these reviews will be generally positive, as in accordance to the Jimmy Buffett song “Come Monday.”  This is subject to change, however.  In fact, I would be most derelict in my duties to neglect going on a rant every once in a while.  For rants promote change, and change can be good—right?  Therefore, since good is generally considered as being a positive force in 99.3% of the parallel universes that I am aware of, even a rant could be considered as being something positive, and a genuine hissy-fit would be even better (so I’m told).

[PrimeSuspect] is a new show on [NBC] this fall season.  It usually airs on Thursday nights, but it looks like a repeat of the previous Thursday night episode will be also airing on Monday nights.

To be honest about it, I don’t know why.  In fact, I don’t know how such a suspect show made it into NBC’s primetime lineup at all.  That is, unless someone made some crack about NBC being the pro-police network at some after-hours party filled with hard-core Aquarian New-Agers.  For it is about as anti-police as the [Law & Order] series were/are pro-police.

It stars [Maria Bello] as [Det. Jane Timoney], who is perfect for the part.  For she seems to naturally exude hostility from every pore of her rather beautiful body, and in this role, she has a personality that should make even the most serious New Yorker shake their head in dismay.

Perhaps you may remember her from her roles as the saloon owner in [Coyote Ugly], or as Tom Stall’s wife in [A History of Violence].  Well, she was as sweet and understanding as one can be in those roles in comparison to who she is portraying in Prime Suspect.

Yes, she is made to look more sympathetic by being surrounded by an all-boys club detective squad, but all this did for me is make the New York City Police Department depicted in this show look like a bunch of idiots, who spent most of the three episodes that I have seen so far sabotaging each other’s efforts before finally managing to solve the crime before the end-credits roll.

No, I don’t think I will be tuning in again, but the show does have some potential to get better.  After all, I don’t see how it could get much worse.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot.  There is one bright spot to the show.  For Jane’s father is being played by [Peter Gerety], who I loved as a rather ornery judge on [The Wire].

Link: [On YouTube]

Please Also Visit:

[FishHawk Droppings]

and

[The Tribulation Times Herald-Exhorter]

A Sunday Drive

Back during my childhood, our parents would often load up my brother and me after Sunday morning church services for a leisurely drive around where we lived.  Even though we were seeing mostly familiar sights, it was still good to see them, and this is why “A Sunday Drive” sounded about right for the name of a weekly series revisiting familiar sites that are well worth seeing again and again.  The link below the image is to the site itself, and the image is linked to the post it was first included in here.

 Link: [A Purple Shade of Black]

 Link: [Cat Gossip]

 Link: [Cupboard Creatures]

 Link: [Diary of a British Expatriate in Helsinki Finland]

 Link: [Friends FurEver]

 Link: [Here In My World]

 Link: [Mountains of Tuscany, Pistoia]

 Link: [Really?]

 Link: [Reverie Sanctuary]

 Link: [Shoot Me Know!]

Please Also Visit:

[FishHawk Droppings]

and

[The Tribulation Times Herald-Exhorter]

Trib Updates

This is a weekly series that will include a brief summary of the latest articles that have been published on The Tribulation Times Herald-Exhorter.  Hopefully, this will encourage you to go check out some truly outstanding articles that have been published by a number of truly outstanding authors.  Moreover, I hope this will also encourage you to want to become a contributing member/author, as well.  The “Hear Ye!  Hear Ye!” site explanation near the top of the side-bar should answer many of your questions.  Yes, this series also included an “SOS! (Spam On Saturdays)”  segment before, but it just wasn’t working for me.  Therefore, that will be replaced by a republishing of one of the Trib articles.

[Most Disturbing] contains what I consider to be a most disturbing ad for the new TNT smart phone app.

[“Where No One Has Gone Before” and Musings on the Next Generation of Star Trek] contains some observations from Lavender Darwin, and you can probably guess where that’s going.

[Mr. Darwin Meets Mr. Common Sense] has Lavender attempting to make George Lucas jealous of his movie producing skills.

[Hitler and…the University of Phoenix?] has Lavender providing us with a fairly entertaining movie clip.

[Shaun(a) White Gum!] has Lavender displaying a sense-of-humor that no one should ever see while sober.

[A Tale of Two Tonys] has me anguishing over the future of my beloved Dallas Cowboys.

[There is nothing in the world worse than…] has Lavender providing more devastating ramifications to having a vasectomy.

[‘Anonymous’ Movie] contains a clip and some poignant commentary from Lavender about the movie.

[Steve Taylor – Meat The Press] contains the video to one of Lavender’s favorite tunes.

[Steve Jobs, Billboards, Beatles, Yoko, Beer, Smoking and C.S. Lewis] is from Lavender about Steve Jobs, billboards, The Beatles, Yoko Ono, smoking and C.S. Lewis.

[More on Steve Jobs and Yoko] is from Lavender, and contains a video clip from In Living Color.

[Raising a Family Becoming Too Expensive?] contains a video clip of an interview conducted on Fox Business, along with some commentary from Lavender.

[Viagra Safety Videos or Propaganda?] has Lavender complaining about there not being given enough information in the ads that are now showing up when he goes to watch a Shaun White Video on YouTube.

[Fred Phelps, Westboro Baptist and Vasectomies!] has Lavender musing about a few of his favorite things.

[The Dangers of Overexposure]

First of all, I would like to make it absolutely clear that my wife and I are both HUGE fans of [Mike & Molly].  Mike is played to the hilt by [Billy Gardell], and [Melissa McCarthy] more than holds her own playing Molly.

I’m not quite sure if it is the chicken or the egg, but since we were already familiar with Melissa from Mike & Molly, I am going to go with it being on account of her success on that show that secured her place on [Bridesmaids].  Yes, I well aware of the fact that movies are often completed years before their actual release, but this is my story, which I am sticking to.

Anyway, my wife still wants to see Bridesmaids in the worst possible way, but after hearing it described as [The Hangover] for chicks, I am having some reservations.  After seeing Melissa on [SNL] last Saturday, my wife is starting to have some of the same reservations.

 

Link: [On NBC]

Yeah, I know that gross-out humor rules the roost these days, but that doesn’t make it funny.  Be assured that Melissa was playing anti-Molly there, and I suspect that she was also playing her in Bridesmaids.  Oh, how I hope Melissa wasn’t just being herself.

Link: [On CBS News]

My wife and I have also been HUGE fans of [Andy Rooney] on [60 Minutes] over the years.  For we thought that he was just employing a very dry sense-of-humor to moan and groan about things that make a lot of us moan and groan about, but after watching that parting interview, it would seem that he is really not a very nice man at all.

Hence, the dangers of overexposure.  For my wife and I now have very different opinions about both Melissa McCarthy and Andy Rooney, which we wouldn’t have had if they had of just stayed with the “less is more” rule.

Please Also Visit:

[FishHawk Droppings]

and

[The Tribulation Times Herald-Exhorter]

Sites To See

The SOLE purpose of this weekly series is to call attention to sites that I think many would find most interesting—in one way or another.  Just to be clear, inclusion in this series is not necessarily meant as a recommendation, and I have included sites that are rather disturbing to me.  The link below each image is to the site itself, and each image is linked to the particular post from which it was taken when applicable.  Please, go see for yourself.

 Link: [Blonde Sagacity]

 Link: [Bocci's Beefs]

 Link: [Consent Of The Governed]

 Link: [Domestic Divapalooza]

 Link: [Faith Hope and Cherrytea]

 Link: [Fallen From Grace]

 Link: [Family Fountain]

 Link: [Free Homeschooling 101]

 Link: [Gardening with Wyatt]

 Link: [George The Lad]

 Link: [He Wore A Yellow Ribbon]

 Link: [His Hands His Feet Today]

 Link: [Homestead Revival]

 Link: [Hound Girl]

 Link: [Howerton Family]

Please Also Visit:

[FishHawk Droppings]

and

[The Tribulation Times Herald-Exhorter]