Judy Collins is still top of my playlist. She is remarkable and at 77 years old, she is still creating and performing music all over the world. She has inspired and thrived in the music community for more than half a century!
Her voice is still as angelic as always. Her original compositions continue to be rich with imagination and full of idealism and activism, while her selections by others are rich and inspired. She has collaborated through the decades with incredible talents…Leonard Cohen, Joni Mitchell, Stephen Sondheim and now with new artists like Ari Hest.
As a teenager, my BFF Sylvia and I would take a blanket and our guitars to the cliffs overlooking Newport Beach and channel Judy Collins! With the cool mist drifting up from the sea and the fog often settling around us…we sang…Both Sides Now…My Father…Since You Asked…Someday Soon…First Boy I Loved….(“when I was seventeen, I used to know you”). At 17, enthralled…passionate…living the lyrics…hippies…flowers in our hair…surfboards under our arms…peace symbols…love…lots of love! I was writing then…lyrics I would not sing…story of my life merely the prologue of a life yet lived.
Last summer…and 43 years later…I was able to see Judy in concert. It was as if I handed her my favorites and she agreed to sing each one. It was listening to a friend…she was with Sylvia and me on the cliffs of Newport Beach. Her music, punctuated with life stories, was both moving and fascinating. With eyes closed, it was not possible to hear her age…she was at 77, like 27.
Her recent collections are excellent. I feature a favorite on this Music Monday, “Stars in my Eyes” from the album “Strangers Again” released in 2015. The lyrics are beautiful and I love these…especially moving on this new journey…I think of this as I see my life change…yet I know really through it all I am still the same…love is a song! Enjoy!
“The face my mirror shows
Is still the one I used to know
Full of faith and hope that’s who I am
So many things have changed
But deep inside I’m still the same
And my feet remain on solid ground”
STARS MY IN MY EYES (Theme from Drawing Home)
I am a whispered prayer
Rising up through the air
Never knowing where tomorrow goes
I loved I laughed I cried
Filled the corners of my life
But there’s a reason why I spend my nights
Dreaming
Believing
Love is a song
The heart sings along
Strong as heaven’s light
I know it will play
To show me the way
As long as I have stars in my eyes
The face my mirror shows
Is still the one I used to know
Full of faith and hope that’s who I am
So many things have changed
But deep inside I’m still the same
And my feet remain on solid ground
It’s my turn
But I have learned
Love is a song
The heart sings along
Strong as heaven’s light
I know it will play
To show me the way
As long as I have stars in my eyes
There’s so much
Inside of us
Only love will set us free
Love is a song
The heart sings along
Strong as heaven’s light
I know it will play
To show me the way
As long as I have stars in my eyes
That sweet melody
Will be playing for me
As long as I have stars in my eyes
Performed Judy Collins and Aled Jones
Written By Jody Gray, Don Rollins and Steve Walsh
This New Journey 
Kathy, Kathy, how I remember these things, too. How many years later and we still have that. I remember your house, with your front door opened (which is how I live my life since then) and listening to music. I’ve had to explain the whole front door thing to my husband (28 years) but it is a part of us!
You know, Judy Collins is the epitome of a survivor. I admire her. That song, ‘My Father’ brings back SOOOO MUCH and I am happy to never forget. You have no idea how our friendship impacted my way of living. Washing hair in the kitchen sink, dishes on the towels, listening to the baseball games, listening to the war on TV, the front door always open. Not knowing who would pop in. Jan’s ‘Patrick”. Our tapestry. You have had a full life and will continue to do so. This is a bump in the road but your personality and tenacity will overcome it I am sure. XXOO Syl
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so much of our lives were shaped by our shared experiences…I laugh out loud at how much trouble we could find…bean bag hair…loaves of bread, peanut butter and jam…Ivan the Terrible…mini bikes…sneaking out (oops did I say that)…the beach…any beach…and I learned my first dutch words from your very mad mom (we no doubt deserved her wrath)…(found out much later she must’ve been really mad…cuz they were some potent words). And all these years later…time and distance does not separate our love. You are my forever friend…we know each other’s history and that is really special! I’m lucky and encouraged by your sweet words! LOVE YA SYL!!!!!
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