Hey Joe, Where You Going With That Gun In Your Hand
I left the house this morning with a song stuck in my head. Hey Joe, a song made popular by the Jimi Hendrix Experience and one of my favorite Hendrix tunes.
It’s not a very happy song however.
Hey Joe, where you goin’ with that gun of yours?
Hey Joe, I said where you goin’ with that gun in your hand,
I don’t know why I had this song in my head this morning but maybe all the recent violence and these lyrics had something to do with it.
I spend a lot of Sunday mornings in church, don’t hold that against me. I guess one doesn’t expect to go to church and be confronted by a shooter, but as we all know, that happened this past Sunday. But then again one doesn’t expect to go to school, a concert, a nightclub, or a softball game and have that happen there either; have their wife or husband killed; their kids killed; their mother, father, sister, brother killed; their friends killed. The venue doesn’t matter, it’s all horrific.
And it’s final, they are gone…they’re just gone.
I read on Facebook last night that the recent rash of killings and violence was on account of the Republicans.
Well I don’t know if all that’s true
Cause’ you got me and baby I got you…
Wow sorry, there I go again, I just launched into a Sonny and Cher song…my wife says I do that a lot; hum, or sing mostly when I am nervous or uncomfortable.
But seriously, I don’t know whether all these bad things that are happening are really because of the Republicans.
But still, I am being vigilant. Especially when I am around my Republican friends.
It is true though, I do hum a lot and sing a lot because I do love music… and I like to sing. And not just when I am nervous, I like to sing just as long as no one else can really hear me. I can sing in a crowd, not to a crowd.
I was in church Sunday morning in Western Pennsylvania. Since the pastors were on vacation, the sermon was delivered by a lay speaker. A guy who is maybe a little younger than me; a guy who if I had to guess might be dealing with some health issues; a guy who just lost his job. But in spite of all that, a guy who delivered a message that was positive, inspiring, and one that hit home to me. It was awesome.
But that’s an essay for another day.
Something else happened at church Sunday. My mother-in-law’s birthday was Monday, so my father-in- law was the special music at church that morning. He got up, stood at that microphone, and in front of everyone introduced the song as being for his wife in honor of her birthday. He then proceeded to sing a solo for his wife, in front of me and my wife, and everybody else in that church.
It was awesome too.
It was very moving, it was the ultimate act of expression of love for his wife in my opinion.
I sat there thinking, wow… I am not worthy.
Some years ago a friend of mine who was also friends with a few guys who worked for my wife at the time told me one day;
“Dude, those guys would jump on a grenade for your wife.”
I got that.
I understand falling on a grenade for my wife. I can do that.
But singing…alone…in front of other people?
Sorry Kim, if given the choice between singing to you in front of large crowd of people and falling on a grenade?
I will take the grenade.