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How are you doing today? I hope everyone had a nice weekend. First thing let me give you an update from why Marie wasn’t around last week. In short Dave took a tumble on the ice. At first they thought he broke his hip but thank the good Lord it has a very bad bruised hip. Things have been crazy for her and on top of that she’s scheduled to get her back shot that makes her pain-free for a few months. Kindly keep them in your prayers until they both can get back on their feet again.
I borrowed inspiration from the National Day calendar for today’s theme honoring Winnie the Pooh. Everybody loves Pooh. I nearly forgot that I sketched Pooh & Piglet in 2018. Anyway, I sure picked a good one to challenge my lazy brain but I managed to pull together a playlist. I invite you to listen to my tracks while you’re read a little bit about each song selection and what prompted me to pick the title.
A.A. Milan got the idea for his popular children’s story watching his son, Christopher Robin play with his toys which first appeared in publication in 1926. I didn’t know Christopher Robin was a Disney movie. I delighted to find the song Christopher Robin on the movie soundtrack. Richard Sherman has a delightful Pooh Bear singing voice.
The bear with fluff for brains was name first Edward. So to honor the late Eddie Van Halen, I made an interesting discovery that he played guitar for Michael Jackson’s hit song Beat It. Here’s a bit of trivia from the New York Times you might find fun.
When the producer Quincy Jones called Van Halen and asked him to play on a new Michael Jackson album, he didn’t think he was the right guitarist for an R&B track. “Beat It” is a song about being tough, and given free rein, Van Halen played a virtuosic, expansive solo, during which speakers in the studio control room caught fire. Eddie played on the song for free, and wasn’t billed in the album’s credits. As he told CNN in a 2012 interview, one day when he was shopping at Tower Records, “Beat It” came on and he heard a kid snorting, “Listen to this guy trying to sound like Eddie Van Halen.” (“That is me!” Van Halen told them.)
Winnie was named after the Canadian city, Winnipeg. This got me to wondering what famous singers and musicians might I be familiar with, so I browsed this list to discover I knew a few but the one that caught my eye is the international folk artists, The Wailin’ Jennys. Dontcha just l love the play on words? I mean the first thing I thought of was the late country artist Waylon Jennings. I was surprised to learn TWJs have been around more than a decade. Their song, Bright Morning Star, bluegrass album peaked #1 in 2011.
House at Pooh Corner was written by Kenny Loggins but he didn’t record it first. Loggins was 17 when he wrote the song. He caught the ear of an upcoming band the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band who wanted the song for their next album but the song nearly got squashed before it got recorded. This is what Kenny said:
“About a month later, I got a phone call from John McEuen, who at the time seemed to be the leader of the Dirt Band. He says, ‘Kenny, I’m really sorry, but we won’t be able to record that song. We’ve been inundated with phone calls from Disney lawyers for the last few weeks, telling us that we’re not allowed to record a song about Winnie the Pooh.'”
“I was going on a date that night, and I mentioned to my girlfriend, ‘I’m kinda bummed tonight because I thought I had my first song recorded, and it’s not gonna happen. The Disney lawyers put the kibosh on it,'” he continued. “She looked at me and says, ‘Disney lawyers? Let me to talk to Daddy about that.’ I did not know that I was dating the daughter of the CEO of the Disney corporation.”
The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band took the song to #53 in 1970. Loggins recorded his song a year later with Jim Messina for their album Sittin In. Many years later, Kenny rewrote the song after his third son’s birth, Return To Pooh Corner.
This month’s honorary co-hostess is…. Me!
This is a mewsic linky party. Every other week we have a suggested mewsic theme (see side menu) to build your song set around and all participants share YouTube or Vimeo videos for our mewsic enthusiasts. Failure to meet this basic guideline puts your URL in danger of being removed or labeled – NO MUSIC.
Before I skip off, I have two things I want to mention. First, if you haven’t yet, I’d like to want to invite you to vote in my BoTB 2021 Round 2 from Friday. Alrighty, that’ll do it for today. If things go well then I’ll be back tomorrow with an edition of Tickle Me Tuesdays. Have a boogietastic week! X
X, Cathy
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Two visits today, with an over two hour break in between. Our cable was doing all kinds of annoying stuff, and they ended up sending out a tech. Had to turn off our internet for most of it. I just might blog about it tomorrow…but anyway, this was a nostalgic theme for me and I thank you. So anyway…enjoyed your post, especially the Van Halen part. While the tech was working on our cable connection I told my husband about it and Eddie setting the speakers on fire. What a story! And P.S. your artistic tribute to Pooh was very well done.
I love learning more about Winnie the Pooh, Cathy! Great post.
Eugenia,
It was fun learning these tidbits and I loved sharing them with everyone.
Winnie-the-Pooh is still a favorite, and Disney does not own him, no matter what they may think.
Mimi,
What are you saying Disney doesn’t own him, as in the story rights? I’m curious to know, so I found this very interesting article regarding what I think you’re referring to. I had no clue!
I learned a lot of interesting facts in this post. XO
Ellen,
I’m happy to share what I learn with others and I’m glad you learned a lot, my dear.
So very nice. Winnie the Pooh is such a cool character. There is so much you can learn from it.
Patrick,
Pooh is of good character in which we all can learn much from him, indeed.
I did NOT know about the House at Pooh Corner and that Kenny Loggins wrote it! Cool! Thanks!
My furrineds, I read that Loggins had written the song years ago but like everything I forgot, so it was nice to refresh my memory. I’m delighted you stopped in for a visit. Have a furtastic week!
THAT was one info-filled post! “Pooh corner” is a favorite of mine. And a funny story about Beat It from the local end: Our local AOR station told the dj’s to play it b/c of Eddie being on it, and the main Jockey would never say anything about it except, “There’s Eddie Van Halen on guitar…” and you could tell it was through gritted teeth, lol!
CW,
The DJ you mentioned, did he not like Eddie or was it it didn’t like the idea of being forced to play the song? Either way, sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do whether you like it or not.
Thanks for swinging by!
That was a nice bit of musical history. I can’t say I’ve been to a Pooh party before now!
Brian,
I enjoy learning bits and pieces about music. I’m happy that you enjoy it, too. And, now you can say you’ve been to a “Pooh Party”, my furriend!
This was a tough theme for me. I like what you did with it!
Mary,
Yeah, it proved to be tougher than I first thought, too. You did a fab job and I think everyone rose to the challenge this time.
Oh please pass the word to the girls I’m still breathing! hahaha oh and since my shot my back is starting to feel better. Woo Hoo!
Okie dokie, Sweetie!
Shhhhhhhhhhh HI CAT! Marie here… Dave is asleep for an afternoon nap praise the Lord! Now maybe I can take a little break. How are you sweetie? Thank YOU so much for holding down the fort. I want to work on my blog now that Dave has started to take naps. I told him it would help him heal faster. I think I got him talked into it, but he doesn’t sleep that long. Anyway, I got my shot last Friday. My daughter took me and my granddaughter stayed here with Dave. He is starting to walk around a bit with the crutch. Woo Hoo, but he’s still pretty sore. A friend of his stops by now and then to see if I have anything for him to do, which is oh so nice. Anyway, I have dishes to do, and hopefully I’ll get some time soon to work on my blog. It sure is the hugest riddle I ever tried to figure out. Love you my lil southern belle! Sending big hugs and when I have another minute I’ll bring you up to date. Sending my love…. HUGS, MARIE
Marie,
I’m happy to read your report that you got your shot and that Dave is getting around a bit now. I know he’s sore. It hurts just to think about it. Poor fella! Give me a call anytime and we’ll talk about your blog. I’m happy to do what I can. Thanks for boogieing with me, darlin’!
Oh the fond memories I have of being read to as a child! I love pooh- who could not? Have a great day!
Kathe,
I read some of the Winnie the Pooh stories my kiddos. They loved being read to. It was a great time to bond with my young ones.
Prayers for Dave and Marie. I didn’t know he took a tumble. I’m glad he didn’t break his hip.
Love Winnie the Pooh. How could you not and I learned things I didn’t know.
Thank you for joining the Awww Mondays Blog Hop.
Have a fabulous Awww Monday and week. Love and hugs. ♥
Sandee,
Marie sent me an email bringing me up to spend on what’s been happening on her end. I know how scary that was for her as I remember how terrified DH was when I took that hard fall a few years back. In fact, the thought of that still sends chills up his spine. I’m happy as you are that Dave is okay. I know he has to be sore, though. Bruises can linger on for the longest time. Do you know I still have bruising on my leg from the car accident? Isn’t that crazy? It doesn’t hurt but there’s a bluish mark visible. Thanks for visiting, my dear!
Interesting post and I love how you connect different things together in one thread. From Pooh to Eddie Van Halen to Michael Jackson.
Best wishes to Dave and Marie!
Thanks for joining me on the dance floor, Debbie. Have a boogietastic week, my friend!
Great choice, Cathy. I love that silly old bear.
Hi, Cathy!
Happy Awww-some 4M Monday, dear friend! I hope you and DH had a nice weekend. Prayers for Marie & Dave.
That Winnie the Pooh meme touched my heart. Like a good song, it bears (no pun intended) a universal message that applies to people in various situations like the loss of a lover, family member or best friend through death, separation brought about by change of residence, business travel or military service abroad. Christopher Robin looks like a charming movie for the whole family, filled with characters, human and stuffed, that you can love. I wanna see it!
The invitation for hard rocker Eddie VH to play on Michael Jackson’s R&B/pop single “Beat It” and his willingness to lend his guitar part to the song free and uncredited teaches a useful lesson. When people think outside the box, good things can and do happen. The song became a mega-hit for Michael and Eddie’s fame and legend grew because of his involvement on the recording which was revealed by word of mouth buzz. As Pooh stated in the movie trailer, the way to get where you’re going is to move away from your current position. Americans need to become more flexible, think outside the box, invite and welcome different types of people to join them in creating music, art and other uplifting forms of expression. Through collaboration, working together on projects to benefit everyone, and through joint celebration and fun we can make this democracy experiment work. When you are laughing together, singing and dancing together and having fun together there’s no time for hating and making war. The experiment worked at the Shady Dell and it can happen on a national scale if we move away from our current positions and walk forward together, hand in hand.
Thanks for sharing that Winnie’s name comes from Winnipeg and for introducing The Wailin’ Jennys, named after country giant Waylon Jennings. Their glorious harmony on “Bright Morning Star” brings tears to the eyes. What a great story about Kenny Loggins’ Pooh song being given the green light to be recorded by The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band only after timely intervention by the daughter of the CEO of the Disney corporation. I enjoyed the Dirt Band’s recording and Kenny’s “Return” sequel.
Last time I looked your band battle was breaking close to 50-50, hinting at a much better outcome for you this time around. Thanks for the morning smiles and entertainment, dear friend Cathy, and have a super week ahead!
Tom,
Winnie-the-Pooh is a lovable character that endures the heart of all no matter the age. Working together takes hearts not filled with hatred and until those hate-filled individuals have a change of heart then I’m afraid it’s going to be difficult for unity. Unfortunately, that’s just the sad reality that we live. Perhaps those with this kind of spirit to make the difference come together then that kind of examples will spread like a wild fire to ensure the sanctity of our republic and liberty.:)
You’re right, my current BoTB is more evenly matched compared to my last showdown. One of the artists has a slight lead. It’ll be fun to see how this battle plays out. Have a boogietastic week, my friend!