Fairy Tale High

On a fairy tale high

Don't you believe that your dreams all come true

The fairy tale world inside can bring it to you

You just have to wish, and you'll take off and fly

On a fairy tale high, fairy tale high

Fairy tale high, fairy tale high

On a fairy tale high

Just look around you, the dark clouds are far

Stand on your tiptoes, and reach for a star

As stardust comes sprinkling, it will brighten your eyes

On a fairy tale high, fairy tale high

Fairy tale high, fairy tale high

Fairy tale high, fairy tale high, fairy tale high

On a fairy tale high, feeling higher and higher

On a fairy tale high, feeling higher and higher

On a fairy tale high, feeling higher and higher

On a fairy tale high, feeling higher and higher

On a fairy tale high, feeling higher and higher

Random Thoughts

Wearing comfortable shoes makes dancing the night away a whole lot easier

I could easily eat french toast with honey for breakfast everyday

Spending some time alone can be so good for the mind

A simple salon trim and treatment can save my hair from feeling sad & dry

I need to worry less and remember: " Worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow. It empties today of its strength." - Corrie Ten Boom

I am very forgetful lately -I need to make bigger notes and actually read them

Life is too short to not wear all your "fancy" jewellery more often

Though I really want a Kindle, I doubt I could ever stop browsing around book shops (especially second hand book shops)

This is so true: ."...Regret is an appalling waste of energy; you can't build on it; it is good only for wallowing in." -Katherine Mansfield

Finishing one great book can reignite my passion for reading


I need more closet space asap - i'm just too messy without space to hide stuff


My new glasses sometimes slide down my nose slightly - it's a bit annoying


Having someone in my life that will make up silly songs with me is wonderful

Swing Down Sweet Chariot

Well, well, well, well

Why don’t you swing down chariot, stop and let me ride

Swing down chariot, stop and let me ride

Rock me, Lord, rock me, Lord, calm and easy

I’ve got a home on the other side

Swing, swing, swing

Well, Ezekiel was out in the middle of the field

He said he saw an angel with a chariot wheel

He wasn’t too particular about the chariot wheel

He just wanted to see how a chariot feels

Why don’t you swing down chariot, stop and let me ride

Swing down chariot, stop and let me ride

Rock me, Lord, rock me, Lord, calm and easy

I’ve got a home on the other side

Swing, swing, swing, swing, swing, swing

Well, Ezekiel went down and he got on board

The chariot went bumping on down the road

Zeke wasn’t particular about the bumpin’ of the road

He just wanted to lay down his heavy load

Why don’t you swing down chariot, stop and let me ride

Swing down chariot, stop and let me ride

Rock me, Lord, rock me, Lord, calm and easy

I’ve got a home on the other side

Well, I got a Father in the promised land and I ain’t stopping till I shake His hand

Rock me, Lord, rock me, Lord, calm and easy

I got a home on the other side

Swing down, sweet chariot, stop and let me ride

Swing down chariot, stop and let me ride

Rock me, Lord, rock me, Lord, calm and easy

I’ve got a home on the other side

I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For

I have climbed highest mountain

I have run through the fields

Only to be with you

Only to be with you

I have run

I have crawled

I have scaled these city walls

These city walls

Only to be with you

But I still haven't found what I'm looking for

But I still haven't found what I'm looking for

I have kissed honey lips

Felt the healing in her fingertips

It burned like fire

This burning desire

I have spoke with the tongue of angels

I have held the hand of a devil

It was warm in the night

I was cold as a stone

But I still haven't found what I'm looking for

But I still haven't found what I'm looking for

I believe in the kingdom come

Then all the colors will bleed into one

Bleed into one

Well yes I'm still running

You broke the bonds and you

Loosed the chains

Carried the cross

Of my shame

Of my shame

You know I believed it

But I still haven't found what I'm looking for

But I still haven't found what I'm looking for

But I still haven't found what I'm looking for

But I still haven't found what I'm looking for...

"Baby Did A Bad Bad Thing"

Baby did a bad bad thing, baby did a bad bad thing.

Baby did a bad bad thing, baby did a bad bad thing.

You ever love someone so much you thought your little heart was gonna break in two?

I didn't think so.

You ever tried with all your heart and soul to get you lover back to you?

I wanna hope so.

You ever pray with all your heart and soul just to watch her walk away?

Baby did a bad bad thing, baby did a bad bad thing.

Baby did a bad bad thing, feel like crying, feel like crying.

You ever toss and turn your lying awake and thinking about the one you love?

I don't think so.

You ever close your eyes your making believe your holding the one your dreaming of?

Well if you say so.

I hurts so bad when you finally know just how low, low, low, low, low, she'll go.

Baby did a bad bad thing, baby did a bad bad thing.

Baby did a bad bad thing, feel like crying, feel like crying.

Ohh. Feel like crying, feel like crying.

Ohh, feel like crying, feel like crying.

Baby did a bad bad thing, baby did a bad bad thing.

CHRIS ISAAK

Flappers

In Flaming Youth, Walter Fabian's best-selling novel about American young people, readers were introduced to a whole new breed of women: saucy, outspoken bombshells with short skirts, shorter hair and plenty of "It." "It" was nothing more than sex appeal – something women were not supposed to exhibit. In the 1920s, any girl who possessed "It" was called a Flapper. Flappers who liked dancing and syncopated music were known as Jazz Babies.

Flappers and Jazz Babies generally disdained convention and did as they pleased. Though many cartoonists portrayed the Flapper as ditzy, empty-headed and shallow, most were educated young women who were dealing with the disillusionment of postwar America and trying to forge their own paths in a new society. As such, cutting or “bobbing” the hair was considered a symbol of freedom as were short skirts and the absence of corsets.

Gradually, the Flapper look entered mainstream America. Single and married women in the cities and the country came to enjoy the comfort and ease of the new styles. The Flapper's signature hairstyle was given even more legitimacy in the late 1920s when First Lady Grace Coolidge cut off her long hair and adopted a short style.

The Jazz Age

To me the Jazz Age signifies an age of freedom in thought and action. The average young person of today is not bound by the strict conventions which governed the actions of previous generations.

Unidentified Denver Coed, Sunset Magazine, 1926

The lifestyles of young men and women in the 1920s were as shocking to their Victorian-era parents as the 1960s "hippie" generation was to Americans who came of age during World War Two, or as "Generation Next" is to parents who grew up in the 1970s. Each succeeding generation seems to be born to shock its parents, and the children of the twenties were no exception.

In reaction to uncontrollable forces around them – war, science, society – young people everywhere sought answers in places once considered unthinkable, both morally and physically. Ellen Welles Page, a young woman writing in Outlook magazine in 1922, tried to explain why this was:

Most of us, under the present system of modern education, are further advanced and more thoroughly developed mentally, physically, and vocationally than were our parents at our age. … We have learned to take for granted conveniences, and many luxuries, which not so many years ago were as yet undreamed of. [But] the war tore away our spiritual foundations and challenged our faith. We are struggling to regain our equilibrium. … The emotions are frequently in a state of upheaval, struggling with one another for supremacy.

In their attempt to come to terms with their place in this new world, young people began acting out – trying to test their new boundaries with more and more outrageous forms of behavior. Wilder music, faster cars and shorter skirts were just a few symptoms of this strange postwar era called The Jazz Age.

Jazz Vocalist - Keely Smith

These are my two favorite Keely Smith Songs

"Birth of the Blues" and

"Autumn Leaves"

Most well known as the straight duet partner of Louis Prima in the 1950s

As a solo jazz vocalist Keely sang mostly pop oriented material. Her greatest solo achievements were on albums for Capitol in the late 1950s backed by Nelson Riddle and Billy May

Beginning her career as the female singer in Louis Prima’s band, and later becoming famous as one half of their hugely successful Las Vegas lounge act, Keely Smith's early achievements were tied to someone or something else.

Now in her 70s, she has found the renewed interest and acknowledgment of her own talent to be immensely gratifying. "I’m thrilled that the resurgence is of my career by myself because for many years everything I did was with Louis, and now all of a sudden I’m being recognized on my own and that really is the ultimate for me," she recounted to the Los Angeles Times.

Throughout the 1950s, Louis Prima and Keely Smith were the undisputed King & Queen of Las Vegas and have been credited with essentially inventing the modern lounge act. Performing five shows a night at the Sahara’s Casbar Lounge, they became a huge draw for both the average blue-collar tourists as well as some of the biggest celebrities at that time. On any given night, Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis, Jr., Spencer Tracy, Gary Cooper, Natalie Wood, Robert Wagner, Howard Hughes, and the young Senator John F. Kennedy could be found in the audience. Many of the show business elite would add to the audience’s enjoyment of the show by affably heckling the duo and sometimes even getting up on stage to join the act.

During this period, Capitol Records issued a series of chart-topping albums that consisted of abridged versions of Louis Prima and Keely Smith’s beloved nightclub act. In addition, Keely released I Wish You Love, a solo debut that confirmed her own star power by receiving a GRAMMY nomination and selling over a million copies. Keely’s appeal and renown is just as strong today, having survived several decades, various musical trends and the fickle nature of the entertainment industry. Actor Robert DeNiro and director Martin Scorcese have been long-time fans of Keely’s and over the years have placed her music in numerous films, including “The Deerhunter,” “Raging Bull,” “Analyze This,” “That Old Feeling,” “Big Night” and “Mad Dog and Glory.”

The revival of the swing movement in the late ‘90s inspired The Gap retail chain to use Louis Prima’s signature tune, "Jump, Jive and Wail" in one of its popular ad campaigns. This renewed interest in swing and big band music also led to an invitation for Keely to perform at the House of Blues in Los Angeles, where she sang to a jam-packed crowd of admirers, both young and old. Most recently, Keely has performed to SRO audiences across the country, including a five-night stop in Atlantic City and a stint at Feinstein’s at the Regency in New York City. Talks are currently underway to book Keely into Caesar’s in Las Vegas, bringing her back full circle to where it all began.

Keely Smith is currently writing her autobiography, which has been a work in progress for several years. "I started it about four years ago and then put it aside," she explains. "When I read it, I wasn’t sure if I liked what I had written, but now I’ve started on it again. I want to do it with complete honesty, or not at all." And there are certainly plenty of lifetime experiences to chronicle: winning one of the first-ever Grammy Awards in 1959, performing at President Kennedy’s inauguration, receiving a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and friendships with everyone from The Rat Pack to Elvis Presley.

"I have been very blessed in my life," says Keely Smith reflecting back. And as she looks towards the future, there are even more accolades to receive and sold-out shows still to come. In October of 2000 in Tahlequah, Oklahoma, The Cherokee Honor Society will bestow Keely with its prestigious Cherokee Medal of Honor. "It’s the highest recognition that can be bestowed to a woman in the Cherokee nation," she states proudly. The Medal of Honor is given out annually to recipients whose achievements bring pride and honor to the Cherokee nation and community.

The incomparable Tony Bennett has gone on record naming Keely Smith "one of the greatest jazz-pop singers of all time." What better candidate then to honor Count Basie, one of the greatest bandleaders of all time. Further expanding her audience and repertoire, Keely Smith once again pays tribute to an important figure in her life with class, respect, and above all, an immense display of pure talent. Merv Griffin says it best—“Keely is awesome!”

Shambala

Wash away my troubles, wash away my pain

With the rain in Shambala

Wash away my sorrows, wash away my shame

With the rain in Shambala

*Ooooh... yeah

Yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah*

Everyone is helpful, everyone is kind

On the road to Shambala

Everyone is lucky, everyone is so kind

On the road to Shambala

How does your light shine

In the halls of Shambala

How does your light shine

In the halls of Shambala

I can tell my sister 'bout the flowers in her eyes

On the road to Shambala

I can tell my brother 'bout the flowers in his eyes

On the road to Shambala

How does your light shine

In the halls of Shambala

How does your light shine

In the halls of Shambala

Tell me how, how does your light shine

In the halls of Shambala

Tell me how, how does your light shine

In the halls of Shambala

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Sunday Morning Pick Me Up - River of Dreams

In the middle of the night

I go walking in my sleep

From the mountains of faith

To the river so deep

I must be lookin' for something

Something sacred i lost

But the river is wide

And it's too hard to cross

even though I know the river is wide

I walk down every evening and stand on the shore

I try to cross to the opposite side

So I can finally find what I've been looking for

In the middle of the night

I go walking in my sleep

Through the valley of fear

To a river so deep

I've been searching for something

Taken out of my soul

Something I'd never lose

Something somebody stole

I don't know why I go walking at night

But now I'm tired and I don't want to walk anymore

I hope it doesn't take the rest of my life

Until I find what it is I've been looking for

(Three beat Pause)

In the middle of the night

I go walking in my sleep

Through the jungle of doubt

To the river so deep

I know I'm searching for something

Something so undefined

That it can only be seen

By the eyes of the blind

In the middle of the night (break)

I’m not sure about a life after this

God knows I've never been a spiritual man

Baptized by the fire, I wade into the river

That is runnin' through the promised land (Long Five beat Pause)

In the middle of the night

I go walking in my sleep

Through the desert of truth

To the river so deep

We all end in the ocean

We all start in the streams

We're all carried along

By the river of dreams

In the middle of the night