“10 things were created on the first day of Creation… the length of day and the length of night.” – Talmud, Hagiga 12A
Today’s Daf Yomi got me thinking about the Kinks’ rocker, “Till the End of the Day”. Every Monday is a new chance to get the week right. Make the most of it.
Yeah, I get up / And I see the sun up
And I feel good, yeah / ‘Cause my life has begun
You and me we’re free¹ / We do as we please, yeah
From morning, till the end of the day
Christine Anne on youtube has the story of how it was written, from Ray Davies:
“I remember how ‘Till the End of the Day’ came about. I had a bit of writer’s block, and my managers were getting worried because I hadn’t produced anything in almost a month. [Laughs] They sent Mort Shuman ’round to my house, one of my hit-writing heroes. He wrote ‘Save the Last Dance For Me” with Doc Pomus. This mad, druggy New Yorker came ’round to my little semi-detached house in London. He said, ‘I’m here to find out what you’re thinking about. I’m not interested in what you have written; I’m interested in what you’re gonna write.’ He was completely paid off by my managers to say it. I thought it was ridiculous that there was so much importance put on it. If I don’t want to write for a month, I won’t. To say the least, I was pressured into doing it. Then I went off to stay with my sister and bought a new toy, a little upright piano, and wrote ‘Till The End Of The Day.'”
Of the song’s meaning, Davies said, “That song was about freedom, in the sense that someone’s been a slave or locked up in prison. It’s a song about escaping something. I didn’t know it was about my state of mind.”
¹ Or as Laurie Anderson put it, you were born, and so you are free. While I do love that sentiment, I do recognize that this is not true of everyone on the planet. And so, on this day when we honor two presidents who fought for freedom in different ways, I celebrate those who fight for personal freedoms.