We’ll be fighting in the streets With our children at our feet And the morals that they worship will be gone And the men who spurred us on Sit in judgement of all wrong They decide and the shotgun sings the song
I’ll tip my hat to the new Constitution Take a bow for the new revolution Smile and grin at the change all around Pick up my guitar and play Just like yesterday Then I’ll get on my knees and pray We don’t get fooled again
A change, it had to come We knew it all along We were liberated from the fold, that’s all And the world looks just the same And history ain’t changed ‘Cause the banners, they all flown in the last war
I’ll tip my hat to the new Constitution Take a bow for the new revolution Smile and grin at the change all around Pick up my guitar and play Just like yesterday Then I’ll get on my knees and pray We don’t get fooled again, no, no
I’ll move myself and my family aside If we happen to be left half-alive I’ll get all my papers and smile at the sky For I know that the hypnotized never lie
Do you?
Yeah
There’s nothing in the street Looks any different to me And the slogans are effaced, by-the-bye And the parting on the left Is now parting on the right And the beards have all grown longer overnight
I’ll tip my hat to the new Constitution Take a bow for the new revolution Smile and grin at the change all around Pick up my guitar and play Just like yesterday Then I’ll get on my knees and pray We don’t get fooled again Don’t get fooled again, no, no
Dreams inconsistent angel things. Horses bred with star laced wings. But it’s so hard to make them fly fly fly. These wings beat the night sky ‘bove the town. One goes up and one goes down. And so the chariot hits the ground bound bound.
We have forgotten (don’t try to make me fly) How it used to be (I’ll stay here I’ll be fine). How it used to be (don’t go and let me down) How it used to be (I’m starting to like this town).
When wings beat the night sky ‘bove the ground, Will I unwillingly shoot them down With all my petty fears and doubts, down, down?
We have forgotten (am I in love with this?) How it used to be (my constant broken ship) How it used to be (don’t go, I’ll shoot you down), How it used to be (I’m starting to like this town).
Kiss me out of the bearded barley Nightly, beside the green, green grass Swing, swing, swing the spinning step You wear those shoes and I will wear that dress
Oh, kiss me beneath the milky twilight Lead me out on the moonlit floor Lift your open hand Strike up the band And make the fireflies dance Silver moon’s sparkling So kiss me
Kiss me down by the broken tree house Swing me upon its hanging tire Bring, bring, bring your flowered hat We’ll take the trail marked on your father’s map
Oh, kiss me beneath the milky twilight Lead me out on the moonlit floor Lift your open hand Strike up the band And make the fireflies dance Silver moon’s sparkling So kiss me
Kiss me beneath the milky twilight Lead me out on the moonlit floor Lift your open hand Strike up the band And make the fireflies dance Silver moon’s sparkling So kiss me
Overhead the albatross Hangs motionless upon the air And deep beneath the rolling waves In labyrinths of coral caves The echo of a distant time Comes willowing across the sand And everything is green and submarine
And no one showed us to the land And no one knows the where’s or why’s But something stirs and something tries And starts to climb toward the light
Strangers passing in the street By chance, two separate glances meet And I am you and what I see is me And do I take you by the hand And lead you through the land And help me understand the best I can?
And no one calls us to move on And no one forces down our eyes No one speaks and no one tries No one flies around the sun
Cloudless everyday You fall upon my waking eyes Inviting and inciting me to rise And through the window in the wall Come streaming in on sunlight wings A million bright ambassadors of morning
And no one sings me lullabies And no one makes me close my eyes So I throw the windows wide And call to you across the sky
My mother had an uncle whose name was Rikard and my grandmother liked the name. But my father objected because it was too exotic and he said the kids in school would call me RETARD. So Rikard was out!
So they agreed to change it to RICHARD after Richard Strauss a favorite composer (my parents were very fond of classical music).
Nonetheless from my earliest boyhood my name was RICKY or RICARDO and yes sometimes I was called RICKY RICARDO.
My father had been an American officer in the Philippines and he taught me basic Spanish and Tagalog as boy for fun. If he called me in Spanish or Tagalog I knew he was calling for me.
Halika dito RICARDO! COME HERE! I heard hundreds of times.
The name Richard itself is probably Celto-Germanic in origin meaning RIC “ruler or king” and HART (hard or brave) or ARD (CELTIC) meaning LOFTY OR MIGHTY. In any case it is an old warrior name.
In Britain it became popular with the advent of the Normans after 1066. Of course, the most famous Richard is Richard I the Lionheart one of the leaders of the Third Crusade.
People who don’t know me call me RICHARD.
People who do usually call me AULD MUNRO or RIC or Ricardo. In baseball and the Marines people called me MOOSE. When I was at UVA everyone called me MOOSE. It was easy to remember.
I much prefer RICARDO to “Reek” (Rick to Spanish speakers).
But I am not very particular. I don’t even mind if people add an E to my surname. As long as the check goes through! I have cashed a lot of checks with MONROE or MUNROE!
When I lived in Spain i subscribed to a Spanish newspaper as RICARDO MUNRO A. (there were spaces for two surnames so I put an A for Anderson my mother’s maiden name!). That was my tongue in check Spanish alias.
Daily writing prompt
Write about your first name: its meaning, significance, etymology, etc.
Beyond the horizon of the place we lived when we were young In a world of magnets and miracles Our thoughts strayed constantly and without boundary The ringing of the division bell had begun
Along the long road and on down the causeway Do they still meet there by the Cut
There was a ragged band that followed in our footsteps Running before time took our dreams away Leaving the myriad small creatures trying to tie us to the ground To a life consumed by slow decay
The grass was greener The light was brighter With friends surrounded The nights of wonder
Looking beyond the embers of bridges glowing behind us To a glimpse of how green it was on the other side Steps taken forwards but sleepwalking back again Dragged by the force of some inner tide
At a higher altitude with flag unfurled We reached the dizzy heights of that dreamed of world
Encumbered forever by desire and ambition There’s a hunger still unsatisfied Our weary eyes still stray to the horizon Though down this road we’ve been so many times
The grass was greener The light was brighter The taste was sweeter The nights of wonder
With friends surrounded The dawn mist glowing The water flowing The endless river
Overhead the albatross Hangs motionless upon the air And deep beneath the rolling waves In labyrinths of coral caves The echo of a distant time Comes willowing across the sand And everything is green and submarine
And no one showed us to the land And no one knows the where’s or why’s But something stirs and something tries And starts to climb toward the light
Strangers passing in the street By chance, two separate glances meet And I am you and what I see is me And do I take you by the hand And lead you through the land And help me understand the best I can?
And no one calls us to move on And no one forces down our eyes No one speaks and no one tries No one flies around the sun
Cloudless everyday You fall upon my waking eyes Inviting and inciting me to rise And through the window in the wall Come streaming in on sunlight wings A million bright ambassadors of morning
And no one sings me lullabies And no one makes me close my eyes So I throw the windows wide And call to you across the sky
All of our children speak Spanish (we live in Southern California); we all speak English , of course, but I think it true to say we all speak, read and talk in Spanish every day. One has contact with native Spanish speakers by phone or in person virtually every day. There are neighborhoods that are majority Spanish-speaking in New York, Miami, San Antonio (Texas) and other places in California. But only 10-15% of the state-wide population are Spanish-speaking in states where Spanish is most common. However, the USA borders deep Spanish-speaking hinterlands in the Caribbean and the rest of the Americas.
Colorado like Washington State may be on the periphery of the Spanish-speaking world -but Miami , San Antonio, Los Angeles, New York City are not. LA and NYC are among the largest Spanish-speaking cities in the world and have their own Spanish-language newspapers and media. I , in fact, learned a lot of Spanish reading Spanish language newspapers and listening to World Series and World Cup games in Spanish.
I prefered Vin Scully when I hear the Dodgers but every single game is broadcast in Spanish and when we are the house of friends we hear the game in Spanish. We watch World Cup Soccer (Football) games in Spanish. Both baseball and soccer are very popular in USA Hispanic communities. MLB has all the scores and news in Spanish as well as English. https://www.mlb.com/es/news You can get the rule book in Spanish. Teams like the Dodgers actively recruit Spanish-speaking players from Latin America and have special tutors to help integrate them and make them feel at home. Many managers and scouts for the Dodgers and other teams speak Spanish.
We watch English movies with Spanish subtitles and Spanish movies with English subtitles. We also watch French and Italian films and shows with English subtitles.
I believe, by the way that English should be the official language of California (which it is) and English should be the official language of the USA.
But Spanish is not going away that is a certainty.
Not in my lifetime or the lifetime of my children. It will remain an important second language for many Hispanic Americans and be the primary language of private religious practices and family life.
One thing I DO NOT BELIEVE is that monolingual Spanish speakers will ever become a majority of the population of any state in the Union. Spanish-speaking populations will become more and more Americanized and bilingual over time and some will intermarry and not preserve their Spanish.
But as long as there is immigration from Spanish speaking countries and as long as the birth rate for Hispanic women remains over 2.1 Spanish will endure in the USA and in the Americas.
It’s Italian, German, and Gaelic I am worried about -those languages are endangered in North America. Ultra-minority languages will tend to disappear. Last I saw fewer than 500 people speak Gaelic in California. But Spanish is not alone there are many other competitors for large minority second languages. In many places, it has strong competition with Chinese, Vietnamese, Hindi, Punjabi and others. At Dodger stadium, I often hear Japanese. But Spanish is useful and taught in virtually every city and county in the USA. So after English, it is the language most familiar to Americans and is likely to remain so.
Spirit of Cecilia 
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