Halley Came to Jackson
My earlier post today about Halley's Comet and its connection to a referendum on Scottish independence - must have been inspired by my great fondness for a truly wondrous song.
And the one that comes to mind is - 'Halley Came to Jackson' - by Mary Chapin Carpenter (MCC), a famous American musician and wordsmith.
I used to play this song to my children when driving in the car - young children that is - not grungy teenagers who are sometimes impossible to satisfy.
But instead of the normal fractious noises that harassed parents often have to cope with on long journeys - for a short while at least - MCC's song instilled a wonderful, peaceful calm - as well as lots of questions that I couldn't answer convincingly at the time.
Nowadays I can bore for Scotland on the subject of Halley's Comet - which is dead easy - but the much more important point is that the Mary Chapin Carpenter song - has retained all of its human warmth and folksy charm.
So if you don't like this, there's something wrong with you - in my opinion - especially if you've got children.
http://youtu.be/cxpSNABnGcM
Halley Came to Jackson
Late one night when the wind was still
Daddy brought the baby to the window sill
To see a bit of heaven shoot across the sky
The one and only time Daddy saw it fly
It came from the east just as bright as a torch
The neighbors had a party on their porch
Daddy rocked the baby, Mother said "amen"
When Halley came to visit in nineteen ten
Now back then Jackson was a real small town
And it's not every night a comet comes around
It was almost eighty years since its last time through
So I bet your mother would've said "amen" too
As its tail stretched out like a stardust streak
The papers wrote about it every day for a week
They wondered where it's going and where it's been
When Halley came to Jackson in 1910
Now Daddy told the baby sleeping in his arms
To dream a little dream of a comet's charms
And he made a little wish as she slept so sound
In nineteen eighty-six that wish came 'round
It came from the east, just as bright as a torch
She saw it in the sky from her daddy's porch
As heavenly sent as it was back then
When Halley came to Jackson in nineteen ten
Late one night when the wind was still
