I have some song lyrics to cheer us all up. The song is "Life is just a bowl of cherries" and it was written back in the Depression by Lew Brown and Ray Henderson.
It goes something like this:
Life is just a bowl of cherries,
Don't take it serious, life is too mysterious.
You work and slave, you worry so
But you can't take your dough
When you go, go, go.
The best things in life to you were just loaned,
So how can you lose what you never owned.
Keep repeating it's the berries
And live and laugh at it all.
To get the maximum enjoyment listen to the version the Hi Lo's did in 1956. They are the greatest vocal group ever in my opinion. The last time I sang it was when I was driving from Paris to London (you can do that now) with my English pals, Bob and Steve. They griped that life was not a bowl of cherries and when I broke into "I talk to the trees but they don't listen to me" from Paint Your Wagon, they sneered that of course they don't listen you idiot, they're trees. However, all three of us sang a rousing rendition of "There'll always be an England".
Popular songs mirror important economic transitions. Downswings produce popular songs that celebrate the common man, and sing to our collective hopes and helplessness. In 1930 we sang Happy Days Are Here Again, and the GNP dropped to $75b. In 1931 we complained I've Got Five Dollars, and the GNP fell to $59b. In 1932 we asked Brother, Can You Spare a Dime, and the GNP careened to $42b. "They used to tell me I was building a dream, with peace and glory ahead. Why should I be standing in line, just waiting for bread?" But the downswing soon morphed to a downbeat: By the mid-1930's, jazz had become America's most popular music. And it had a new name: Swing. And swing it did...right out of our funk. By 1939 we were mad and reading Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath, and watching Jimmy Stewart rail against powerful interests in "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington". I wonder if the 1970's blue collar anthem Take This Job and Shove It by Johnny Paycheck had the same effect? Probably not. At least we had All the President's Men. I wonder what we have now? A Michael Jackson Tribute album at #1? Oh brother, can you spare me, indeed.
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