Patti Lynn Clark Barnett

Without A Song
DIGITAL MUSIC FILE
 
Just because it's raining I will not stop walking
Because I may have many miles to go
And if I allow a little rain to get me down
Just how much I would miss I'd never know
 
The sun is never always shining brightly
But behind the clouds I know it's always there
Every day, no matter what may come and go my way
I won't let a little rain make me despair
 
Chorus:
I can't imagine my world without music
I can't imagine anything more wrong
Except someone who never prays
An empty soul who cannot praise
I imagine that's a soul without a song
 
Just because it's raining I will not stop singing
It's with a song my heart always takes flight
Gentle breezes, icy winds, light friends may
Come and go, but as long as there's a song I'm alright

Watching the CMAs last week, I was reminded once again of how much country music has veered off the authentic traditional course. It is far more like pop and rap these days. So, I guess you might say country music has gone up town…I liked it better when it was country.  I've been categorizing some of my songs as country, but I won't be doing that any more. My songs don't sound anything like today's country and so from now on their just, "folk".
 
I guess there were a few good songs recognized at the CMAs. For the most part, they all sounded and were performed very much alike. Cookie Cutter is what I saw and heard. Shania Twain presented the Entertainer of the Year award to Kenny Chesney. It saddens me to think of what these last several months have put her through. But she is still the epitome of grace and beauty….a real class act. But somehow, you could still see the pain.   
 
These two songs, "Without A Song" and "Out of the Wind" are nothing like I heard on the CMAs and that's why I am in North Wales, Pennsylvania and they are there in the big time.
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"Out of the Wind" is a song all of the rurally raised people, especially women, will relate to in some way. And I was very happy when a recovering cancer patient friend of mine said she, "Basked in that song". Growing up in the country meant going bare foot in the good old summer time. No shoes needed except for church and when the weather and school in the fall made them an unwelcome necessity. Ahh, those were the days. But shoes would not have been a bad idea to wear in the barns where there were rusty nails. You will hear, in this song, how parents dealt with such accidents…redneck style. Now, I guess that would be considered politically incorrect if I wasn't one myself.

Out Of The Wind
DIGITAL MUSIC FILE

Wrap up your neck and stay out of the wind
It’s cold and can make your throat sore
And I don’t want my baby girl to get sick
Honey, that’s what your buttons are for

When I stepped on that old rusty nail in the barn
Shoes were for school in the fall
It’s a thousand and ten wonders we didn’t die
With only iodine and alcohol

Wrap up your foot and stay out of the dirt
Watch out for red streaks running north
A sign an infection’s heading straight for your heart
Honey, that’s what your bandage is for

Chorus:
Buttons and bandages, small disadvantages
Keeping me safe, well and warm
Anything it would take, do or say for my sake
She loved from the day I was born

When first puppy love broke my young heart in two
I thought my world had ended for sure
But it didn’t take too long to mend like she said
Honey, that’s just what young hearts are for

They break and the mend and you’ll find there’s no end
To this Ferris wheel ride you are on
Up and down love makes the world go around
Honey, now and long after we’re gone.

Now when the clouds of life pour out the rain
Chances don’t knock at your door
When it looks like the wind has deserted your sail
Honey, that’s just what your faith is for

We bend and we break and we all get our share
Of heart ache and sometimes even more
If you’ve been short changed, life’s scale’s not the same
Honey that’s what forgiveness is for

Wrap up your neck and stay out of the wind

I noticed during the campaign that someone tried, in vain, to get Sarah Palin to criticize President Bush. She, having too much class to do so, just said, "No" and glided past it. She politely intimated there were "differences" and that's all. She is someone who realizes there is no perfect person on God's green Earth. Sensible and fair people take into account the positive and negative traits that comprise an individual's totality and see wherein the preponderance lies. They take into consideration the historical context in which a President serves. In President Bush's case, the good easily out weighs the bad.
 
In President Bush's congratulatory speech on Obama's victory, I looked at this war worn, furrowed brow  president and wanted to cry. He did not deserve the beating he has received from the ingrates. Did he let spending and big government get out of hand? Yes, but somehow that, as serious as it is, doesn't seem to rise to the same level of importance as keeping this country safe since 9-11. I believe that he bent over backwards trying to appease those, whose agreement he needed, to achieve success in Iraq. So he yielded, gave them their way and left the veto pen un-wielded. Whatever the case, he is responsible for keeping us safe for seven years. This is no small task, considering the concerted efforts of the Islamic terrorists, the world's dictators and the Liberal Democrats to free the planet of traditional American values. The Bush Hate Club has not once acknowledged the successes in Iraq that will soon result in victory, assuming the progress is not reversed by his successor. Never have I heard any Democrat say they are happy that the atrocities committed by the evil dictator, Saddam, no longer occur and that life for the Iraqi people is getting better every day. No, they have been far too busy trashing him at every turn and ignoring any accomplishments and any effort he ever made.

Now, they won't have Bush to blame for EVERYTHING. Silly me. Of course they will. Do youthink the next administration is going to take ownership of the financial institutions debacle, the fight for a stable Middle East, weapons of mass destruction blackmail by North Korea and Iran, growing global economic competition, embarrassingly deficient urban schools that condemn the next generation to a life of poverty, dramatically rising national deficits or the inability of America to fulfill its Social Security obligations. Of course not. These are Bush problems, not American problems. And every future failure in these policy areas will be blamed on Bush. Hide and watch.
 
Never has a president been so maliciously treated, so inhumanly slandered, maligned and disrespected in our nation's history. He is an honest, courageous Christian. He is a true hearted man who loves his country, a President who has stood strongly on principle and conviction. And these were the exact qualities for which he was persecuted and despised by the Barabbas generation. Those traits obviously don't matter much to Americans.  In fact, they are unacceptable to the majority of Americans. A fact that's just been proven and made painfully clear in our recent election. President Bush's enemies, except for the very stupid, never really believed him to be guilty of all those things he was accused. It was the sham they hid behind to falsely justify their hatred for the actual truth in the man.
 
President George W. Bush stood up and prevented our enemies from striking us again and annihilated most of them. And what did he receive in return for these daunting and seemingly impossible feats? Nothing but wholesale hatred! It has been the most phenomenal example of ingratitude in American history. Even his so called friends in his own party proved to be Benedicts in the end. But Bush, being far bigger than his enemies and deserters, refused to respond in kind. He has been much more gracious than most. He may well be the last president, for years to come, who many Americans will remember with love, respect, gratitude and honor. He gave it his best shot for a country that turned on him in a time of war. And if history is recorded objectively, President Bush will have his place of honor on its pages. My best wishes go out to him and his family.

May God Bless you always, President Bush.

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In my prior post, I mentioned my personal exit polling. So when the obvious outcome was all but done, I thought I would just have a little more fun fun with the whole mess. I asked my targets why they were voting for Obama to see if even one, mind you, ONE, could provide a coherent reason. Not one, could come up with a qualification better than, "He's the best man".

Thanks, a lot!