musitorial noun, a mashup of music, musings and editorials, music and song that evokes thought and commentary.
I can’t honestly say what prompted me to recall today's song by Leon Russell (1942-2016) who, readers will know, remains one of my all-time favourite musicians. Each album I owned was a treasure. I do hope my son gives them a spin once in awhile.
Russell’s song, “Of Thee I Sing” (Denny Cordell & Leon Russell, Producers, Leon Russell and the Shelter People, 1971, Shelter Records), always resonated for me as a kind of ode to lost love and/or the resulting pain of that loss. The refrain includes: “She uses beauty like a knife / She cuts at me even more, she changes….”
Something about the line, “beauty like a knife,” drew me to review the lyrics in their entirety recently. It wasn’t about lost love. Nor was it about the emotional dissonance that teenage relationships embodied. The song now speaks to me of 2025 imperialism.
Check out the entire lyrics via the link (and ‘play’ link) provided below, and you’ll see why. Here’s but an excerpt.
She uses beauty like a knife
She cuts at me even more, she changes
Right before my eyes into something ugly and sore
Uses beauty like a knife
She cuts at me even more, she changes
Right before my eyes into something strange, and more
But that's not the only song wherein we find the line, “Of Thee I Sing,” and it must be the other song that prompted me to recall Russell’s. In 1838, Rev. Samuel Francis Smith penned the song, “My country, 'tis of thee, Sweet Land of Liberty,” which includes the line, “Of Thee I Sing.” His song, if not the modern-day spirit of the lyrics, sure had staying power.[1]
I now realize – well, I want to believe – that Russell’s song was truly about love and loss, just not a lost love in the sense of teenage angst. No, what I now realize is that he must have been referring to what he saw as the loss of that “sweet land of liberty” that inspired Smith.
According to Wikipedia, “Russell's mother said that [Leon] started talking later than most children. She said [that] while he was ‘watching the birds, and something was going on with the birds,’ his first words were ‘What's the matter, little birdie — you cry?’” Isn't that a wonderful story? His first words!
Today, as then, Leon Russell would have good reason to cry.
=30=
Link to Wikipedia article on Leon Russell: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leon_Russell
Link to Genius.com for lyrics of “Of Thee I Sing, by Leon Russell (includes ‘play’ link): https://genius.com/Leon-russell-of-thee-i-sing-lyrics
Link to lyrics of “My Country ‘Tis of Thee, Sweet Land of Liberty” by Samuel Francis Smith (includes a ‘play link for the hymn): https://hymnary.org/text/my_country_tis_of_thee_sweet_land
Link to Wikipedia article on the song, “My country, 'tis of thee, Sweet Land of Liberty”: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Country,_%27Tis_of_Thee
[1] According to Wikipedia, “My Country…” is a de facto national anthem of the United States (along with songs like "Hail, Columbia") before the adoption of "The Star-Spangled Banner" as the official U.S. national anthem in 1931. The melody is adapted from the de facto national anthem of the United Kingdom, "God Save the King".
