March 15, 2025 by willedare

Mulligan Stew

Today’s song is a sassy tour de force with lyrics by Lorenz Hart and music by Richard Rodgers.

I love the introductory verse, which mentions “Mulligan Stew,” the “Beaux Arts Ball,” and “Noël Cad” a.k.a. Noël Coward.

Many songs from the 20s, 30s and 40s include references to specific people, places, products and events — thus functioning as historic 20th century time capsules for 21st century listeners.

A) Mulligan Stew, I learned from Wikipedia, is an Irish-inspired recipe for a soup or stew made from whatever food items one can round up.

It was also known as “Hobo Stew” during the early part of the 20th century in the USA.

I feel a special affinity for Mulligan Stew, because it appears to be very similar to the endless soup I like to make during the winter months.

I start with cut up carrots, potatoes, sweet potatoes, and onions — plus a frozen chicken thigh — and boil all the ingredients until the chicken is cooked and the carrots are starting to lose their crunch.

Then I add some cut-up garlic, fresh ginger, salt, pepper and whatever additional spices — curry powder? thyme? turmeric? one of Trader Joe’s multi-spice blends? — call out to me from the shelf.

Then I eat it for about a week — refrigerating it each night and adding more water plus additional ingredients — leeks? parsnips? kale? mushrooms? squash? rice? tomatoes? okra? tofu? canned beans? frozen artichoke hearts? leftover Chinese food? — on a daily basis before cooking it some more.

Yum!

B) Noël Coward, as you may already know, was a multi-hyphenate powerhouse — an actor-playwright-composer-director-singer from England who died in 1973 after a long and very successful career.

Image by -Rita-👩‍🍳 und 📷 mit ❤ from Pixabay

I have only learned and performed one of his songs — “If Love Were All” — which was part of Judy Garland’s repertoire.

But I have a Noël Coward songbook in my basement music library which probably deserves more attention in the future.

C) Wikipedia tells us that “The Beaux-Arts Ball… is the annual costume ball traditionally given by the students of the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris in the spring…on the rue Bonaparte overlooking the Seine… Its reputation for high style, nudity, wild antics, and cross-dressing encouraged imitators in American cities. In 1931, in New York, famous architects dressed up as their buildings and today, many American architecture schools hold similar costume balls.”

I am guessing that the one in New York in 1931 is the Beaux Arts Ball to which Larry Hart is referring in his lyrics.

They sound like very creative and somewhat outrageous events!

I am happy to share that my streaming numbers have been rising on Spotify and on Pandora (which are the only two music streaming platforms I currently monitor) — so a BIG THANK YOU to anyone and everyone who have given one of my songs a listen!

I have become more and more of a Pandora fan in recent months, even though their music is only accessible in the USA (and not globally like Spotify).

I use their free option, which means that I have to listen to ads every few songs — which I often mute.

And I use a similar free option on Spotify and YouTube Music.

Even though Pandora’s parent company, SiriusXM, has been laying off large numbers of staff in recent months, the core group of people at Pandora who offer customer service and training to independent musicians like me has — so far — remained intact.

What I particularly love about Pandora is that they do not use chatbots to communicate with independent musicians like me.

Real live Pandora staff offer free training sessions via Zoom each month to encourage musicians to take advantage of their free promotional strategies which can help songs find new listeners.

I tried one strategy — creating a featured track — and the song I featured received hundreds more streams as a result.

Of course, you probably remember that all of the music streaming companies pay only fractions of a cent per stream to recording artists and songwriters like me…

But I have released 58 songs during the past 4 years, and many of these songs have each been streamed over 1000 times on Spotify and Pandora — although less often on YouTube, Apple, Amazon, and other digital music platforms…

And all of those fractions of cents DO have the potential to add up to something substantial.

So I remain hopeful that my persistence will pay off as the months and years go by — as long as we have a functioning internet, a functioning economy and a functioning democracy…

Deep breath in.

Deep breath out.

Thank you to Doug Hammer for playing his beautiful Schimmel piano on this recording and for being very patient while we mixed and mastered it.

Thank you to Stephen C. Fischer for his elegant graphic design.

Thank you to Larry Hart and Dick Rodgers for their extraordinary songwriting partnership.

Thank you to the talented and generous photographers at Pixabay.

And a final thank you to YOU for making it to the end of another one of my blog posts!

You are always welcome to click here and listen to “The Lady Is A Tramp” on various streaming platforms.

February 9, 2025 by willedare

When Your Heart Is Full Of Love…

Valentine’s Day is on the horizon.

I have chosen to honor it with a sweet song by Frank Loesser which was nominated for an Academy Award in 1952.

Mr. Loesser wrote it for Danny Kaye to perform in a movie about the Danish writer Hans Christian Anderson.

According to Mr. Loesser’s daughter, he did not think highly of this song, and sometimes even used it as an example of songwriting to avoid.

But I love it.

Mr. Loesser began his songwriting career as a lyricist and co-wrote a bunch of great songs in the 1930s and 1940s including “Heart and Soul” and “Two Sleepy People” (both with Hoagy Carmichael), “I Don’t Want To Walk Without You” (with Jule Styne) and “See What The Boys In The Back Room Will Have” (with Friedrich Hollaender).

The first hit song for which he wrote both words and music was “Praise The Lord And Pass The Ammunition” during WWII.

Loesser ended up writing words and music for the songs in WHERE’S CHARLEY, GUYS AND DOLLS, THE MOST HAPPY FELLA, and HOW TO SUCCEED IN BUSINESS WITHOUT REALLY TRYING (along with a few less successful undertakings).

Some hits from those shows include “Once In Love With Amy,” “Luck Be A Lady,” “I Love You A Bushel and A Peck,” “If I Were A Bell,” “I’ve Never Been In Love Before,” “Somebody, Somewhere,” “Standing On The Corner,” “Joey, Joey, Joey,” “I Believe In You,” and “Brotherhood of Man.”

Mr. Loesser also continued writing songs which were used in movies such as “Baby, It’s Cold Outside,” “Let’s Get Lost,” “Inchworm,” and “Spring Will Be A Little Late This Year.”

And he wrote a few songs which became pop hits without any connection to Broadway or Hollywood, including “What Are You Doing New Year’s Eve?” and “I’d Like To Get You On A Slow Boat To China.”

Danny Kaye, his wife Sylvia Fine, arranger Billy May and Frank Loesser

I have long loved his song “Thumbelina” — and am very happy with this peppy version which Doug Hammer and I recorded quite spontaneously a few years ago when I was putting together an hour-long program of songs written or co-written by Frank Loesser.

I had been thinking I might use it in a Valentine’s-Day-inspired blog post, and then fellow blogger Jennie F. left the following comment regarding my blog post last month:

“Nature is as wondrous as music. Your (hyacinth) bulb flower(ing) says it all… Stay warm, and remember the words of Hans Christian Andersen, “Where words fail, music speaks.”

That coincidence/synchronicity sealed the deal.

Deep breath in.

Deep breath out.

Barley (I think?) photo by Frauke Riether from Pixabay

I had forgotten the exact plot synopsis of THUMBELINA (which I first read as a child), but Wikipedia refreshed my memory:

“Thumbelina is about a tiny girl and her adventures with marriage-minded toads, moles, and cockchafers. She successfully avoids their intentions before falling in love with a flower-fairy prince just her size.”

I had also forgotten that Thumbelina comes into being as a result of the actions of a woman who — longing for a child — plants a barleycorn seed.

Thumbelina then emerges from a barleycorn flower… and the adventure of her life begins.

As a Music Together teacher, I particularly resonate with Mr. Loesser’s lyrical admonition that Thumbelina dance and sing — since that is exactly what I do three mornings per week with a delightful crew of small children + the grown ups (parents, grandparents, and nannies) who love them.

Illustration by Thomas Vilhelm Pederson from original publication of THUMBELINA in 1835

By the time I bike (or take the bus) to class, vacuum the karate studio (the floor of which accumulates a surprising.amount of hair, clipped toenails, cookie fragments, dust etc. plus sand and salt during the winter months), hide the punching bags and karate trophies behind a wall of rolling screens, set up a boombox and instruments, change into my teaching — rather than biking/cleaning/snow shoveling — clothes, welcome families, lead a 45-50 minute class, chat with families after class, and then put away all the stuff I set up an hour earlier, I do not earn very much money per hour.

But the sweetness, playfulness, joy, humor, love and sense of connectedness I experience with my families each week is always a balm for my soul.

And there’s no way to put a price on that!

Leading Music Together classes helps me get out of bed in the morning AND reassures me that the human world is not an irredeemably f–ked up mess about which I can do nothing to help.

And sometimes one of the small humans in my class is inspired to give me a hug at the end of class.

Illustration from a 1914 edition of Han Christian Anderson’s Fairy Tales

When this happens, I feel like I am being visited be an angelic being who is offering me unadulterated love, comfort and gratitude.

It is such an honor to receive one of their hugs.

And sometimes I am offered a hug by one of the grownups in class, too — which I also appreciate and savor.

Another deep breath in.

And deep breath out.

These little children are a big reason why I ride my old and raggedy-looking bike rather than drive a car, why I rarely buy new clothes, and why I never travel (especially via airplanes) simply for the sake of going someplace new or warm or trendy.

I live a downwardly mobile life so that the children in my classes might be able to live an ever-so-slightly less chaotic and terrifying life due to the myriad ways that climate change is affecting all of us here on planet earth.

Yet another deep breath in.

And deep breath out.

Another radiant hyacinth bulb from Trader Joe’s

I end this blog post with some of my favorite quotations by the Dalai Lama.

“Our prime purpose in life is to help others. And if you can’t help them, at least don’t hurt them.”

“In our present circumstances, no on can afford to assume that someone else will solve their problems. Every individual has a responsibility to help guide our global family in the right direction. Good wishes are not sufficient; we must become actively engaged.”

“When you are discontent, you always want more, more, more. Your desire can never be satisfied. But when you practice contentment, you can say to yourself, “Oh, yes — I already have everything that I really need.”

“We can live without religion and meditation, but we cannot survive without affection.”

“The problems we face today — violent conflicts, destruction of nature, poverty, hunger and so on — are human-created problems which can be resolved through human effort, understanding and the development of a sense of sisterhood and brotherhood. We need to cultivate a universal responsibility for one another and for the planet we share.”

“As people alive today, we must consider future generations. A clean environment is a human right like any other. It is therefore part of our responsibility towards others to ensure that the world we pass on is as healthy, if not healthier, than we found it.”

“This generation has a responsibility to re-shape the world. Start the task even if it will not be fulfilled in your lifetime. Even if it seems hopeless now, never give up. Offer a positive vision, with enthusiasm and joy, and an optimistic outlook.”

“Happiness is not something ready made. It comes from your own actions.”

“Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible.”

THANK YOU for making it to the end of another one of my blog posts.

Thank you to Doug Hammer for his spritely piano accompaniment and his expert musical production skills.

Thank you to Stephen C. Fischer for his graphic design (and to the professional photographer in NYC who took this photo of me many decades ago…)

Thank you to Hans Christian Anderson for creating the story of Thumbelina and to Frank Loesser for creating his song “Thumbelina.”

Thank you to the wonderful photographers at Pixabay.

Thank you to the Dalai Lama for his wisdom and inspiration.

And thank you to everyone who has streamed my music on Youtube, Pandora, Spotify, Apple Music, Tidal, Deezer, etc.

Every stream — and especially every thumbs up and/or inclusion in a playlist — helps to improve the likelihood that the clever algorithms of these streaming services will share my music with new listeners.

And you can click here to stream “Thumbelina” if the spirit moves you.

And as always, I welcome any comments below!

January 28, 2025 by willedare

Something’s Gotta Give

Thank you to all the folks who continue to visit my blog despite the long gaps between new posts.

I just re-read my last one (written right after our most recent national elections).

It’s pretty grim.

Now we all bear witness to how the campaign promises — and threats — do or don’t become reality in the upcoming days, weeks, months and years.

Deep breath in.

Deep breath out.

Johnny Mercer by William Gottlieb (late 1940s…)

Today’s blog post aims to be a little lighter in tone and features a song for which Johnny Mercer wrote both the melody and lyrics.

Most of the time, Mr. Mercer wrote the lyrics to other people’s melodies.

For example, he co-created “Skylark” with Hoagy Carmichael, “Come Rain or Come Shine” with Harold Arlen, “Hooray For Hollywood” with Richard Whiting, “Jeepers Creepers” with Harry Warren, and “Moon River” with Henry Mancini.

Other songs he co-wrote include “You Must Have Been A Beautiful Baby,” “In The Cool, Cool, Cool Of The Evening,” “Anyplace I Hang My Hat Is Home,” “One For My Baby (And One More For The Road),” “That Old Black Magic,” “On The Atchison, Topeka And The Santa Fe,” “Too Marvelous For Words,” “Autumn Leaves,” “Blues In The Night,” and “I’m Old Fashioned.”

And there are even more hits in his extraordinary catalog of songs — which you can skim by clicking here if you are curious.

Mr. Mercer was a Southerner, born on November 18, 1909 in Savannah, Georgia. From the 1930s to the 1960s he co-wrote over a thousand songs — for movies and for Broadway shows — and was nominated for 19 Academy Awards, winning four Oscars for best original song.

Fred Astaire (Publicity Photo for DADDY LONG LEGS)

And if it wasn’t enough to write or co-write so many great songs, Johnny also had a successful career as a recording artist himself.

And he co-founded Capital Records.

Yowza!

According to some biographers, he could also be a very mean drunk who developed a reputation for sending beautiful — and apologetic — flower arrangements to people whom he’d insulted at parties the previous night.

He wrote “Something’s Gotta Give” in the 1950s for Fred Astaire to sing in a movie called DADDY LONG LEGS which co-starred a very young Leslie Caron as his eventual love interest.

I am not a fan of 50+ year-old leading men romancing much younger women in movies (or in real life for that matter), but this stereotypical, male chauvinist theme shows no sign of being banished from popular culture.

However, DADDY LONG LEGS did give us a very upbeat song with a few lovely turns of phrase — such as “some heavenly star-spangled night…”

And I realized — after I recorded it — that this song also reminds me of the likelihood that many somethings are gonna give in the upcoming days and weeks and months and years here on planet earth.

Another deep breath in.

And deep breath out.

I am planning to release a new recording — some originals and some covers — on a monthly basis for the rest of 2025.

And I am hoping to keep my blog posts shorter — and somewhat sweeter — than in previous years.

Here’s a lovely hyacinth bulb, which I bought at our local Trader Joe’s, blooming in my dining room.

I continue to be amazed at how an unpretentious, brownish bulb can — given some water and sunlight — differentiate itself into a vivid green stalk and lavish pink blossoms.

How is it possible?!

It is miraculous — and currently very aromatic!

Yet another deep breath in.

And deep breath out.

I will end with one more recent photograph — this one taken by my older sister of our younger sister’s culinary handiwork at a family gathering earlier this month.

Yum!!!

The eggs were provided by a flock of black Australorp hens whom my sisters take care of on their farm (along with Icelandic sheep, a dog and several cats).

It turns out that chickens are astoundingly attuned to daylight.

As soon as the winter solstice happens each year, egg production by my sisters’ flock begins to rise (having tapered off during the autumn…)

And as soon as the sun starts to go down each day, all of my sisters’ chickens troop back inside their coop and start to roost for the night.

You will probably not be surprised to learn that commercial egg-producing companies (if I am remembering correctly) take advantage of this sensitivity and manipulate the light their hens experience each day to maximize egg production.

One more deep breath in.

And deep breath out.

Thank you for reading and listening to another one of my blog posts.

Thank you to Doug Hammer for his splendid piano accompaniment — on his glorious Schimmel grand piano — and for his expert musical production skills.

Thank you to Stephen C. Fischer for his graphic design (and to the professional photographer in NYC who took this photo of me many decades ago…)

Thank you to Johnny Mercer for writing this song — and to Fred Astaire for inspiring him to write it.

And thank you to anyone who is moved to stream my recording of “Something’s Gotta Give” on Youtube, Pandora, Spotify, Apple Music, Tidal, Deezer, etc. by clicking here.

Every stream — and especially every thumbs up — helps to improve the likelihood that the mysterious algorithms of these various streaming services will share my music with new listeners!

And as always, I welcome any comments below!

November 10, 2024 by willedare

The Power Of Love?

I hope you are well as you read this blog post.

Outside where I live in Massachusetts, leaves are changing color and falling to the ground.

Inside I am sitting on our couch under a layer of blankets and writing in the middle of the night.

I woke up to go to the bathroom and now am unable to fall asleep,

All my brain wants to do is think about potentially catastrophic things which may start unfolding in 2025 as a result of our recent national election.

Before I continue this blog post, I am going to pause and acknowledge any readers who may be excited and happy about recent election results.

I do not want to rain on your parade, and I hope that you are savoring your victories.

Deep breath in.

Deep breath out.

However, if you are a reader who is feeling less excited and hopeful about the future as a result of last week’s election, my heart goes out to you.

Although I have decided not to read about politics and interact with the media for the time being, my brain — especially when I am lying awake in the middle of the night — keeps remembering things that are likely to be impacted in the next four years:

NATO — and the safety of all the countries bordering Russia…

The health of women I love — and the health of women I will never meet — due to new restrictions about what decisions they and their healthcare providers are allowed to make about their own bodies…

Social security — which I have paid into since I was three years old and which I was planning to start collecting in three years time…

Medicare/Medicaid and other health insurance options — for millions of Americans and for me.

The cost of anything we don’t make or grow in the USA — due to potential new tariffs.

The cost of anything we DO make or grow in the USA — due to the potential prosecution/expulsion of many people who currently harvest our produce, work in our slaughterhouses and meat-packing plants, labor in our restaurants, work on our construction sites, landscape our properties, mow our lawns, blow our leaves, etc. etc. etc.

My two nephews — one approaching draft-age and the other one still eligible to be drafted if we find ourselves in a situation where we need to expand our (already vast) military capabilities.

Image by Wolfgang_Hasselmann from Pixabay

Long term — and potentially irreversible — environmental consequences due to potential deregulation of rules which currently protect the entire web of life here on planet earth.

Our access and ability to vote, our access to education, our access to public healthcare in the event of another epidemic…

The list goes on and on.

I don’t understand how love and respect factor into any of the above.

I don’t understand how love and respect can withstand — much less overcome — the forces which spread disinformation, which lie, which aim to divide us, which value power and money over honesty and decency.

I hesitate to call those forces evil, but I have been reminded more and more in recent months about a book I read a long time ago by M. Scott Peck called THE PEOPLE OF THE LIE.

As the group mind at Wikipedia summarizes:

“According to Peck, an evil person:

is consistently self-deceiving, with the intent of avoiding guilt and maintaining a self-image of perfection
deceives others as a consequence of their own self-deception
projects his or her evils and sins onto very specific targets (scapegoats) while being apparently normal with everyone else
commonly hates with the pretense of love, for the purposes of self-deception as much as deception of others
abuses political (emotional) power (“the imposition of one’s will upon others by overt or covert coercion” (Peck, 1978/1992, p298^[7]))
maintains a high level of respectability, and lies incessantly to do so
is consistent in his or her sins.
is unable to think from the viewpoint of their victim
has a covert intolerance to criticism and other forms of narcissistic injury

Most evil people realize the evil deep within themselves, but are unable to tolerate the pain of introspection, or admit to themselves that they are evil. Thus, they constantly run away from their evil by putting themselves in a position of moral superiority and putting the focus of evil on others. Evil is an extreme form of what Peck, in THE ROAD LESS TRAVELED, calls a character and personality disorder.”

The group mind of Wikipedia also describes Peck’s understanding of love in his previous book, THE ROAD LESS TRAVELED:

“Love is not a feeling, it is an activity and an investment — ‘The will to extend one’s self for the purpose of nurturing one’s own or another’s spiritual growth’ (Peck, 1978/1992, p85). Peck expands on the work of Thomas Aquinas over 700 years ago, that love is primarily actions towards nurturing the spiritual growth of another.”

I welcome any insights into the power of love and how it does — or doesn’t — impact our current political situation here in the USA (as well as how love and respect may impact other patterns unfolding here on planet earth).

Please leave a comment if you are so inspired.

I end with a link to this heartful song at the beginning of this blog post in case you might like to listen to it on a streaming platform, add it to a playlist, or share it with a friend.

It was written by Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty, a delicious songwriting team who helped to create the musicals RAGTIME, SEUSSICAL, ONCE ON THIS ISLAND and A MAN OF NO IMPORTANCE (which is where “Love Who You Love” comes from) among many other projects.

I initially featured this song in a blog post I wrote in August 2015 which you can read by clicking here if you are curious.

Thank you to Ahrens and Flaherty for writing “Love Who You Love.”

Thank you to Doug Hammer and Mike Callahan for playing so beautifully on this recording of it.

Thank you to Gretje Ferguson for taking this photo many years ago.

Photo by Gretje Ferguson + Graphic Design by Stephen C. Fischer @ DigitalFisch

Thank you to Stephen Fischer for creating this graphic design using Gretje’s photo.

Thank you to the wonderful and generous photographers at Pixabay.

Thank you to all of the folks who helped to create the internet and WordPress so that I can share my thoughts and music with you.

And thank YOU for reading and listening to another one of my blog posts.

I welcome any comments below.

May 11, 2024 by willedare

Cry If You Want To

I first heard this song performed twenty-plus years ago by my friend Erica Leopold.

It was written by a woman named Casey Scott, and I am guessing that Erica heard the song when it was recorded by a jazz singer named Holly Cole — although I read in Casey’s bio that she used to live in the Boston area in the 1980s…so maybe Erica heard Casey busking in Harvard Square!

I have found a lot of comfort over the years re-visiting Erica’s version of this song — which she recorded with pianist Doug Hammer and included on her debut CD.

Erica used to attend lots of music festivals and concerts in order to find great songs from all genres — folk, jazz, pop — that she could weave into her own musical performances.

I produced a couple of her performances when I oversaw events at the Cambridge Center for Adult Education in Harvard Square. I also performed with her several times in a winter holiday benefit series.

She was a generous collaborator, and she “cleaned up very nicely” when it came time to perform — wearing beautiful outfits with elegant hair and makeup.

Erica moved from the Boston area to western Massachusetts, and her singing activities slowed down as she focused on mothering a wonderful daughter who became very involved with horses.

Then (ARGH!!!!!) Erica discovered that she had brain cancer — which she fought with grace and humor for several years.

Deep breath in.

Deep breath out.

I biked to visit her when she was getting care in an excellent rehab facility in the Boston area after a big operation. I brought my ukulele and a songbook, thinking that she might like to make some music together.

But after a few songs, I realized that she just wanted to be quiet, make eye contact and hold hands.

So we did that for a while.

“Cry if you want to, I won’t tell you not to, I won’t try to cheer you up… I’ll just be here if you want me.”

Erica hung in there for a long time, with a dedicated network of friends and family visiting her on a regular basis.

She died near the end of 2022…

Here’s a link to her obituary if you are curious to learn a little more about this lovely soul.

And here’s a link to her Facebook page — which offers a beautiful glimpse into her life.

Another deep breath in.

And deep breath out.

A few years ago I learned “Cry (If You Want to)” so that I could perform it with pianist Molly Ruggles during a UU church service in Medford, MA.

And then I recorded it with pianist Doug Hammer last year — in honor of one of my nephews, whose father had recently died.

“It’s no use in keeping a stiff upper lip, you can weep, you can sleep, you can loosen your grip. You can frown, you can drown and go down with the ship… you can cry if you want to.”

The graphic design for my recording of this song juxtaposes a photo taken by my sister Christianne of this nephew walking in a stream on their farm in upstate New York with a professional photo of me when I was about the same age as this nephew (who is covered up by my head to preserve his privacy…)

He will probably be grieving the loss of his dad — in obvious and not-so-obvious ways — for the rest of his life.

“You can stare at the ceiling and tear at your hair, swallow your feelings and stammer and swear…”

Yet another deep breath in.

And deep breath out.

I spent many hours this week putting together a Spotify playlist of songs for a baby shower in honor of my niece and her husband.

You may remember them from a blog post I shared in November 2019 about their wonderful wedding.

At the suggestion of her mother I included a lot of songs which our family used to listen to and sing when we were children and teenagers.

Some of them — such as “Stewball” by Peter, Paul & Mary, “I’m Gonna Be A Country Girl Again” by Buffy Sainte-Marie, and “Our House” by Crosby, Still, Nash & Young — moved me to tears.

My Niece and Her Husband (Photo by A Couple of Dudes Photography)

Music can be a very powerful connection to past events, past loved ones, past memories.

One more deep breath in.

And deep breath out.

I wish more of us would set aside time to listen to music and have a good cry.

I have a belief that much of the dysfunctional — and at times horrifically destructive — choices that my fellow human beings make on a daily basis are due to past injuries, past humiliations and past losses which have never been properly acknowledged and grieved.

For example, here’s a blog post I wrote back in 2019 about a very damaged — and damaging — human being who is still in the news these days.

When was the last time HE had a good cry?

Does anyone ever offer him an empathetic shoulder to cry on?

I am guessing, “no.”

I have long been fascinated by the way that tears come out of our eyes, which are located near the front part of our brains.

And I often wonder if crying might be part of how our brain processes/grieves/heals itself following an injury, insult or loss…

What do YOU think?

I hope that this song — which offers such a comprehensive, open-hearted, and non-judgmental invitation to cry — might touch the hearts of a few of my fellow human beings who may be feeling a bit shut down and overwhelmed by all that is happening these days here on planet earth.

One more deep breath in.

And deep breath out.

Thank you to Casey Scott for writing this song.

Thank you to the photographer who took the photo of me as a teenager — when I was still working a little bit professionally (doing voice-overs, commercials and subbing on the soap opera ANOTHER WORLD).

Thank you to my sister for taking the photo of my nephew in the glen and to Stephen Fischer for incorporating it into a graphic design for this song release.

Thank you to Doug Hammer for his sensitive piano playing and nuanced engineering/producing chops.

Thank you to the photographers at Pixabay for their beautiful images.

And thank YOU for reading and listening to another one of my blog posts.

If you like this song well enough to listen to it again, you are welcome to stream it by clicking here.

And you are always welcome to visit my musical website by clicking here.

December 26, 2023 by willedare

After The Holidays

Greetings during this time of short days and long nights in the northern hemisphere.

I hope you are warm and well as you read this blog post.

Right now in Massachusetts we are graced with a beautiful full moon shining down on our snow-less streets.

I first shared the song “After The Holidays” (in the player at the top of this page) three years ago in a blog post about the challenges of feeling lonely during the holiday season.

As you may remember — or perhaps you have blocked it out of your memory in order to be able to move on with your life — three years ago things were not going well in the USA.

Many hospitals were overwhelmed by COVID — with dead bodies being stored in refrigerated trailer trucks until funeral homes and crematoria could catch up with the demand for their services.

It was a very challenging winter holiday season.

And 2023 has brought new challenges — and tragedies — into our lives here on planet earth.

Deep breath in.

Deep breath out.

Wars continue to grind along, destroying human lives along with the lives of countless other beings caught in the cross fire. Pollution continues to seep into every ecosystem here on planet earth. Climate change continues to increase with catastrophic consequences.

My heart goes out to anyone who is feeling hopeless, who is feeling distraught, who is feeling alone, or who is feeling unloved during this holiday season.

And although I am fortunate to have a life partner + family + friends with whom I can gather during the holidays, I can vividly remember how heart-broken and grief-stricken I felt when the first big love of my life chose to end our relationship many decades ago…

“After The Holidays” taps into those feelings of raw desperation.

It was written by John Meyer.

His friend Judy Garland performed it on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson in 1968.

Mr. Meyer is still alive and living in New York City.

Earlier this month I tracked down an email address for him so that I could let him know I had released a version of his song.

And much to my (happy) surprise, he was kind enough to give it a listen.

Here is how he responded:

“Will, I’m impressed.

You’re note-perfect — good for you!

Others bend the melody to suit their often tasteless predilections.

And I like that you take your time with the song, investing it with real poignancy.

Thank you for sharing.

Merry Christmas!”

Needless to say, I am delighted (and relieved) that he responded so positively to how pianist Doug Hammer and I interpreted his song.

Deep breath in.

Deep breath out.

And I will gently point out that this is yet another winter holiday song written (or co-written) by Jewish composers/lyricists — joining a beloved list of favorites including “Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer,” “Silver Bells,” “Winter Wonderland,” “Let It Snow,” and “I Heard The Bells On Christmas Day.”

Here is a link to my version “After The Holidays“ in case you might like to stream it.

And as I have explained before, if you “like” one of my songs or add it to one of your playlists, that will improve the algorithmic sharing of my music.

Thank you to the John Meyer for writing such a moving song.

Thank you to Doug Hammer for playing so sensitively on my version of John’s song AND for being such a diligent engineer/producer.

Thank you to Stephen Fischer for his terrific graphic design work.

Thank you to the photographers at Pixabay — and to Scott Wynn — for their great images.

And thank YOU for reading. and listening to another one of my blog posts!

May your 2024 be full of peace and hope and determination…

November 15, 2023 by willedare

Microflora Can Amaze!

Seven years ago I wrote about the amazing world living in our intestinal tracts.

You can click here to read that blog post if you are curious.

Since then — I am happy to note — more and more research has been done on the extraordinary community of beings who live in our guts AND the fascinating ways that they contribute to our mental and physical health.

All of this research underscores how profoundly our human lives are woven together with the lives of other beings here on planet earth — bacteria, viruses, plants (who provide us with oxygen to breathe, food to eat, and a bunch of medicinal options), fungi, and our fellow animals.

As you probably are well aware, medical science is discovering that it is indeed healthy to eat

A) High-fiber foods — such as whole grains, garlic, onions, leeks, and beans which are considered to be PREBIOTIC-rich foods,

B) Yogurt and kefir (without lots of added sugar) which are considered to be PROBIOTIC-rich sources of beneficial bacteria which can help to diversify and/or replenish our gut biome, and

C) Fermented foods — such as kimchi, kombucha, miso and sauerkraut — which also have lots of live, active, beneficial bacterial cultures.

There are TRILLIONS of bacteria in our guts, and the proportions of more-beneficial bacteria to less-beneficial bacteria are influenced by what we choose to eat.

Eating lots of prebiotic and probiotic foods encourages more of the healthier bacteria to thrive.

And eating lots of refined sugar apparently causes more of the not-so-healthy bacteria to thrive.

Not surprisingly, getting regular exercise and sleeping well also contribute to our gut health.

An internet search for “gut health” yields lots of inspiring explanations and recommendations.

You can click here for a link to one I liked from Healthline.

As I say in my song, “the world within is calling for attention.”

What sort of attention do YOU give to your gut microbiome?

Even though I have not shared a new post for two months, my stats tell me that lots of people continue to visit my blog (maybe because I have over 100 past blog posts to choose from…?)

Whatever the reason, THANK YOU to everyone who keeps finding and reading my blog!

And another thank you to everyone who has been streaming my songs on Spotify, Pandora, Apple Music, YouTube and other platforms.

Any song you “like” or “heart” or add to a playlist improves the algorithmic activity of my music there.

You are welcome to click here and listen to “The World Within” on many streaming platforms if the spirit moves you.

You are also welcome to visit my website — where you can learn more about my musical life (including upcoming gigs) if you are curious.

Thank you to Doug Hammer for his playful piano playing AND his collaborative engineering expertise.

Thank you to the generous photographers and graphic designers at Pixabay.

Thank you to Stephen C. Fischer for all of his graphic design work on behalf of my musical life here on planet earth.

Thank you to the trillions of bacteria with which each of us co-exists on a daily basis.

And most of all, thank YOU for reading — and listening to — another one of my blog posts!

Deep breath in.

Deep breath out.

September 13, 2023 by willedare

The Babysitter’s Here!

I have loved this song by Dar Williams ever since I first heard it a couple of decades ago.

Ms. Williams weaves together several fundamental human themes — the value of role models, the heartbreakingly inevitable connection between love and loss, the challenge of female/male power dynamics, and the significance of being trusted — within the framework of a story told by a child about their beloved babysitter.

It is masterful songwriting.

I released it two weeks ago to coincide with the start of the school year here in Massachusetts.

I have several friends whose almost-grownup children are entering college — and they have shared with me that they are feeling simultaneously grateful/proud that their kids are becoming adults AND heart-broken/shocked that their kids are old enough to leave the family nest.

Deep breath in.

Deep breath out.

I do not remember having many babysitters when I was a child.

There was one, however — maybe a friend my mother met at a painting class? — who taught me and my siblings how to cook eggplant moussaka from scratch.

We happily prepared that meal again and again during our child and teen years following her recipe.

It was delicious!

The theme of trust and trustworthiness in Dar’s wonderful song very much reminds me of how respected I felt as a young adult when I was hired to help take care of three small children (one each from three families) who had all dropped out of the same pre-school together.

I myself had recently dropped out of college, and it was a very powerful — and healing — experience to be entrusted with these three little human beings.

Parents have to tap into a deep well of trust to let someone else take care of their children.

Without a lot of interviewing and no background checks, I and two other twenty-somethings were hired to have fun adventures with these three children in shifts during the day while their parents — who were architects, college professors and a child psychiatrist — worked.

We were given the keys to one of their cars (a Saab), three car seats, and a little spending money in case we needed to stop at a grocery store or bakery for treats during the day.

The parents also gave us a book on child development by Penelope Leach from which I learned that I could follow the children’s lead and let them to explore their curiosity/interests — which included (among other things) ants and dogs and pistachios and flowers.

One of my favorite memories is driving with them to a wonderful nature area — the Punkatasset Preserve in Concord, MA — and wandering very slowly up and down the trails so that we could pause whenever something caught the children’s attention.

Their interest in flowers led me to serve them food — such as apple slices, carrot sticks, chunks of cheese — in flower patterns on their plates.

This is something I still love to do with food.

Here’s a tomato flower I made recently from produce given to me by a neighbor with a farm share from an organic farm just over the border in Lexington, MA (about which I have written in a previous blog post).

They are so beautiful…and nutritious!

Plants are truly amazing.

How are they able to capture and transform energy — radiating from a nearby star! — into something delicious we can eat here on planet earth?

What a miraculous blessing…

Another deep breath in.

And deep breath out.

Last week I listened to a interview on YouTube in which an artist manager explained that Spotify’s algorithms seem to reward folks who release music on a monthly basis — and that if one is able to do this for 18-24 months, an exponential increase in streams sometimes kicks in…

This is what he has discerned from the streaming patterns of music released in recent years by a dozen independent musicians he is working with…

I have seen a significant (for me) increase in streams for the six songs which I have released (every three weeks) since the middle of April this year.

My recording of “The Babysitter’s Here,” for example, has gotten more streams (598) on Spotify in two weeks than many of the songs I first released have gotten in two years.

So I am going to stick with my plan to release a song every 3-4 weeks for the next 19 months and see if an exponential increase kicks in…

Thank you to everyone who has been streaming my songs on Spotify, Pandora, Apple Music, YouTube and other streaming platforms.

You are welcome to click and listen to “The Babysitter’s Here” on many streaming platforms.

And any song you “like” or “heart” or add to a playlist will improve the algorithmic activity of my music there.

You are also welcome to visit my website — where you can learn more about my musical life (including upcoming gigs) here on planet earth if you are curious.

Thank you to Dar Williams for writing such a delightful song.

Thank you to the families who trusted me many years ago to take care of their precious children.

Thank you to Doug Hammer for his sublime piano playing AND his patient engineering expertise.

Thank you to the generous photographers and graphic designers at Pixabay — and to my friend Carolyn for the lovely photo she took of.a rainbow from her living room window.

Thank you to Stephen C. Fischer for transforming photos from earlier parts of my life into graphic designs for my current song releases.

Thank you to my neighbors for sharing their beautiful vegetables with me.

And most of all, thank YOU for reading — and listening to — another one of my blog posts!

June 23, 2013 by willedare

The Magic of the Humble ‘Ukulele

I started playing the ukulele three years ago after attending a class in Harvard Square led by the marvelous Danno Sullivan.

Ukulele enthusiast, teacher and humorist Danno Sullivan — Danno Sullivan

Not only is Danno an inspiring teacher, he also has a terrific sense of humor — sprinkling his classes with droll asides and insights.

Since then I have been strumming on a regular basis — thanks to Danno’s handouts, the wonderful Daily Ukulele songbook, and the amazing group mind of the internet (where one can find chords and lyrics for almost every song under the sun).

Soon after discovering the chords for Coldplay’s song “Viva La Vida” on line, I realized that many of my favorite pop songs have a surprisingly simple structure — four chords.

And some do fine with just three chords — as in the case of Bobby McFerrin’s “Don’t Worry, Be Happy.”

And thus my life as a budding songwriter took root…

Deep breath in.

Deep breath out.

Cover image of THE DAILY UKULELE songbook

I had written lyrics in the past with a friend, pianist/composer Steve Sweeting (and you can listen to one of the songs we created together called “Stuff” by clicking here if you are curious).

I had also collaborated on a couple of songs with a guitarist friend (again as a lyricist).

And I had co-written a couple of songs with bandmates in a pop/rock band.

But until I picked up a ukulele, my songwriting efforts had been restricted to what I could cobble together using Apple’s blessed GarageBand program — songs consisting of my vocals plus various loops and samples from the GarageBand library.

Now, in the past three years, I have written a bunch of ukulele-based songs.

And in the past month I have attended three singer-songwriter open mics — accompanying myself (solidly but not very gracefully) on the ‘uke.

Another deep breath in.

And deep breath out.

In addition to helping me write songs, the ukulele has also given me a new way to hang out with my mom, with my dad, and with other friends and family members.

All I have to do is pick up a ‘uke, open up a songbook, and start strumming.

Almost invariably the mood in the room shifts to something lighter and (literally) more harmonious as everyone starts to hum and sing along.

I find this to be somewhat magical and amazing.

And it inspired me to write the song featured at the beginning of this blog post — a version which I recorded with Doug Hammer playing a shaker egg and his Schimmel grand piano — as well as a GarageBand version I recorded by myself using my Apple laptop (which I have included below.

I highly recommend that anyone reading this blog post consider buying a decent (but inexpensive) ukulele.

Then you can check out all sorts of fun, free, instructional videos on YouTube AND start attending a wonderful, welcoming ukulele Meetup gathering near you.

They happen all across the USA — and in many other countries around the world.

And the sound of many ukuleles being strummed together is quite heavenly.

Will McMillan wearing a tuxedo and strumming a blue ukulele — Me and my first ukulele (Photo by Stephen C. Fischer)

I think the largest group of strummers I’ve been part of was at The Cambridge Center For Adult Education in one of their front courtyards.

I helped organize it, and we had at least 40 people strumming and singing together with delightful leadership by the aforementioned Danno Sullivan!

ps: Since I first published this blog post, I’ve released a lot of music on various streaming platforms and have also created a new website which you are welcome to visit by clicking here.

Here are some links to songs I have written using my various ukuleles (I now own four of them) and then recorded with Doug Hammer playing piano — “Ode To Water,” “Can We Slow It Down?” “Heaven Here On Planet Earth,” “Boil A Frog Slowly,” “The World Within,” “Asleep At The Karmic Wheel,” “Waltzing With COVID-19,” and “Democracy Is Under Attack!”

Thank you for reading and listening to this blog post!

Thank you, too, to Danno Sullivan for his excellent instruction and ongoing inspiration.

Thank you as well to the Cambridge Center for Adult Education for offering ukulele classes with Danno (and to Michael Cicone — then head of educational programming at CCAE — for hiring Danno in the first place).

Thank you to Stephen C. Fischer for his fun — and very patient — photography sessions.

Thank you to Liz and Jim Beloff for their wonderful Daily Ukulele songbooks.

Thank you to Steve Sweeting for helping me get started as a songwriter.

Thank you to the generous photographers at Pixabay for their colorful ukulele photos.

And one final thank you to a few of the goddesses of music — Euterpe, Hathor, and Saraswati.

I welcome any comments — ukulele-related or otherwise — that this blog post may inspire!

amusicalifeonplanetearth

Music and the Thoughts It Can Inspire

Stephen C. Fischer

Mulligan Stew

When Your Heart Is Full Of Love…

Something’s Gotta Give

The Power Of Love?

Cry If You Want To

After The Holidays

Microflora Can Amaze!

The Babysitter’s Here!

The Magic of the Humble ‘Ukulele