Endle St. Cloud – "Piano Adagio" (1968)

Things are hard for young folks in this world

Things are hard for old folks in this world 

Let’s face it, boys and girls – things are hard for pretty much everybody in this world.

That was true in 2015, and I’m pretty sure it will be true in 2016 as well.  

Jonas Salk

Jonas Salk, who developed the first successful polio vaccine, believed that evil would one day disappear:

I judge things from an evolutionary perspective – "How does this serve and contribute to the process of our own evolution?" – rather than think of good and evil in moral terms.  I see the triumph of good over evil as a manifestation of the error-correcting process of evolution.

Phaedrus

But the Roman author Phaedrus was not so optimistic.  He offered this piece of advice to his readers:

Submit to the present evil, lest a greater one befall you.

That may be about the best we can hope for. 

In the next 2 or 3 lines, we’re going to take a look at what’s in store for your favorite little wildly popular music blog in 2016.  Take my word for it – it doesn’t paint a very pretty picture.

Sorry to be a Debbie Downer on New Year’s Day.  But to quote our old friend, Lt. Commander Philip F. Queeg, “I kid you not.”  

Thank You All Very Much was the 12th and final album released by International Artists, a legendary independent label based in Houston whose other releases included albums by the 13th Floor Elevators and Bubble Puppy.

  

Endle St. Cloud is both the name of a band and the name of the band’s lead singer and pianist – although not his real name.  Each of the songs on Thank You All Very Much (which was the band’s only album) is prefaced with a brief piano-accompanied monologue.

“Piano Adagio” is 36 seconds long, which makes it the shortest song ever featured on 2 or 3 lines.  

Here’s “Jessica,” the song that “Piano Adagio” precedes:

Here’s a video of “Piano Adagio” that was uploaded to Youtube in October 2014.  It has attracted exactly four page views to date.  Which of you will be the fifth viewer?

Click below to order “Jessica” from Amazon.  (No one in his or her right mind would spend 99 cents on “Piano Adagio.”)