Line 'Em Up

I haven't put up any music in a while. But this song has been on my mind.

This is a pretty dark song, if you really listen to it. Look at the first verse. Anyone who was around when Nixon was President (I was a child, but I remember really well much of what happened) probably remembers how big a fall he took. It was a huge disgrace. And he is remembered mostly as a President who did things that were overtly criminal and, somehow, managed to not go to prison. To this day, there are many who can't get over that.

It's a song about how difficult it is to live life and not make mistakes. But no matter how hard we try, we still do. That "little detail" is what makes human beings, well, human.

There is also a pretty significant criticism of the Rev. Sun-Myung Moon in the last verse - remember the Unification Church mass wedding ceremonies he presided over?

In a really current event - happening right now - look at what happened today with Senator Gregg's bailing out of the Secretary of Commerce job he was chosen for. There are those who say that he somehow embarrassed himself by making this choice. Perhaps this is true, but I would submit that his conscience got the better of him, and he decided that he couldn't work with someone who was going to take away one of the biggest parts of his job - the Census. Most people may not realize that Census duties are handled by the Commerce department, and President Obama is planning to take that under the umbrella of the White House as of 2010.

Is this a mistake? I don't know, but it seemed awfully strange that he picked a Republican for that job and took away one of the biggest pieces of it. It's sort of like saying, "we like you, but we don't trust you" - kind of telling, if you think about it.



I remember Richard Nixon back in '74
And the final scene at the White House door
And the staff lined up to say good-bye
Tiny tear in his shifty little eye
He said nobody knows me
Nobody understands
These little people were good to me
Oh I'm gonna shake some hands

Somebody line 'em up
Line 'em all up
Line 'em up
Line 'em all up
Line 'em up
Line 'em all up
Line 'em up
Line 'em all up

At that time my heart was all broke
I looked like ashes and smelled like smoke
And I turned away from my loving kind
Try to leave my body and live in my mind
But it's much too much emotion
To hold it in your hand
They've got waves out on the ocean
They're gonna wear away the land

Oh, line 'em up
Line 'em all up
Line 'em up
Line 'em all up
Line 'em up
Line 'em all up
Line 'em up
Line 'em all up

Oh I've seen corn in Kansas
And I've seen picket fences
And certain cowboy dances
I've gone lining up for shows
I've been safely placed in rows
Sure I know how it goes

Another day goes by
Little time machine
I'm breaking my brain
Over what it might mean
Just to claim the time
And to turn away
To make today today

Who waits for you
Lonely tired old toad
It's your life laid out before you
Like the broken white line down the center of the road

Line 'em up
Line 'em all up
Line 'em up
Line 'em all up
Line 'em up
Line 'em all up
Line 'em up

Yeah, big moon landing
People all standing up
Smiles for the loved ones
They go walking on down the aisles
Each re-engages stepping into the sun
I watch them turn like pages
One by one by one....

-- Words and music by James Taylor