Today is the fifteenth anniversary of the founding of Gates of Vienna. It should be an auspicious occasion, but the fact that Dymphna can’t help me commemorate it has kind of taken the starch out of me. I just don’t have that much to say.
So we’ll have some music instead. Thinking about this anniversary made the song “Stella Blue” by the Grateful Dead came into my mind. It was a staple of their live shows for more than twenty years, from 1973 until whatever the last one was before Jerry Garcia died. The studio version was first released in the summer of 1973 on the album Wake of the Flood, but I first heard it at a live show in Philly in March of 1973.
This version is from 1977 at Winterland. It doesn’t include any video footage, but I chose it for Garcia’s fine guitar solos, even if he does blow the words in a couple of places:
The lyrics are below the jump (the official version from Robert Hunter’s collection A Box of Rain):
Stella Blue
Music by Jerry Garcia, words by Robert Hunter
All the years combine
they melt into a dream
A broken angel sings
from a guitar
In the end there’s just a song
comes crying like the wind
through all the broken dreams
and vanished yearsStella Blue
When all the cards are down
there’s nothing left to see
There’s just the pavement left
and broken dreams
In the end there’s still that song
comes crying like the wind
down every lonely street
that’s ever beenStella Blue
I’ve stayed in every blue-light cheap hotel
Can’t win for trying
Dust off those rusty strings just
one more time
Gonna make ’em shineIt all rolls into one
and nothing comes for free
There’s nothing you can hold
for very long
And when you hear that song
come crying like the wind
it seems like all this life
was just a dreamStella Blue
Thanks for the years of good info
I’m so sorry your lady is not there to celebrate with you. But thank you both for those years.
Beautiful. I’ve not been here for the whole period, but thanks indeed. By way of contrast, here’s my favourite band with their greatest number (imho): https://youtu.be/0IsVgJOclik
Odd as it may seem, this brings tears to my eyes, because the implied threat of violence is so frightening.
The Anniversary Waltz by Vera Lynn
We just discovered each other
Tonight when the lights were low
One dance led up to another
And now I can’t let you go
So tell me I may always dance
The Anniversary Waltz with you
Tell me this is real romance
An anniversary dream come true
Let this be the answer
To our future years
Through millions of smiles
And a few little tears
May I always listen to
The Anniversary Waltz
With you
Let this be the answer
To our future years
Through millions of smiles
And a few little tears
May I always listen to
The Anniversary Waltz
With you…
Please continue; the news you provide is important and needed and generally unavailable elsewhere.
Oh, I will; no worries about that. This job is what keeps me going right now.
Thank you.
With a little help from my friends, as Paul McCartney would say, right Boss?
Congratulations on 15 years, Baron. I just discovered you a few months ago, but I’ve been reading regularly. Like PGiddy wrote, please continue. You’re a good resource for news from the Euro zone. Knowing the goings-on in that region help to paint a clearer picture of the overall fight between nationalism and global communism.
You have done spectacular and we , your readers from all over the world , enjoy all you have put into it . As a South African I appreciate the fact that there are still people in the world who love their cultures and wish to retain them . Yes , I too wish that Dymphna was here , but as I learned when I was merely 27, we all have to let go at a given time . I might visit Canada in Spring . Thanks for so much so far . May I be so rude as to ask you to continue uninterrupted . I do find it quite enlightening.
My current goal is to make it to the twentieth anniversary.
You will. And further. Thank you so much.
Congratulations! I believe I’ve been here (on and off) for 12 or so years, probably not from the very beginning, but not sure. You’re doing a great job. Here’s for another 15, cheers!