Happy Birthday George Harrison - Futurist

This is a busy time for birthdays that I feel are worthy of our memory, if not celebration.

The Trump administration and our current cultural maelstrom have breathed new life into a whole library of songs about social turmoil and resistance.  What's So Funny 'Bout Peace, Love and Understanding comes to mind.

But today is George Harrison's birthday, and over the last two years I've been listening to Beware of Darkness ...    a lot.

Beware of Darkness
(All Things Must Pass, 1970)

Watch out now, take care
Beware of falling swingers
Dropping all around you
The pain that often mingles
In your fingertips
Beware of darkness

Watch out now, take care
Beware of the thoughts that linger
Winding up inside your head
The hopelessness around you
In the dead of night
Beware of sadness

It can hit you
It can hurt you
Make you sore and what is more
That is not what you are here for

Watch out now, take care
Beware of soft shoe shufflers
Dancing down the sidewalks
As each unconscious sufferer
Wanders aimlessly
Beware of Maya

Watch out now, take care
Beware of greedy leaders
They take you where you should not go
While weeping atlas cedars
They just want to grow, grow and grow
Beware of darkness

February 25, 1943 - November 29, 2001

Note:  "Maya" (from Hindu philosophy) -  the illusion that the world is as it is perceived via the senses