Original Broadway Cast – "The Flesh Failures (Let the Sunshine In)" (1968)

Listening for the new told lies

With supreme visions of lonely tunes

Today’s featured song popped up on my iPod on Wednesday, while I was on a coronavirus-defying bike ride in Columbia, Maryland.

That ride took place only a few days after the birth of my sixth grandchild but first granddaughter, Eliza – whose desire to depart from her mother’s body was so urgent that there was no time for her parents to drive to the hospital.  She had to be delivered at home by a crew of EMTs from the local fire station.

The only way Eliza could be more beautiful is if she was twins:

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Today – Good Friday – the high temperature where I live was only 48 degrees.  (The low tonight is supposed to get down to 36.)

But two days ago, it was 77 degrees here when I loaded up my bike and headed to Columbia to ride the Lake-to-Lake-to-Lake Trail.  

I started by circling Lake Elkhorn:

Then I rode to Lake Kittamaqundi:

My next destination was Wilde Lake:

After I circumnavigated Wilde Lake, I reversed course and headed back to my starting point.

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Columbia is not a city – it’s a “census-designated place” consisting of ten unincorporated villages.

But it’s the second-most populous community in Maryland (after Baltimore), with just over 100,000 residents.

Sixty years ago, the area that Columbia’s villages occupy today was mostly farmland.  But in 1962, developer James Rouse started quietly buying up land with the intention of building a planned community.  He eventually purchased 140 separate parcels of land covering a total of more than 14,000 acres.

A statue of James Rouse and his partner (and brother) Willard Rouse overlooks Lake Kittamaqundi.  Some wag has put face masks on both statues, which are not six feet apart:

The Rouse brothers

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“The Flesh Failures (Let the Sunshine In)” is the final song on the 1968 original cast recording of the Broadway musical Hair. 

I was a high-school junior when I bought the album, and I played it to death – but usually behind closed doors so my parents would not hear the shocking lyrics!

Click here to listen to the original Broadway cast recording of “The Flesh Failures (Let the Sunshine In).”  Pay close attention at 1:42 of the track, when Lynn Kellogg and Melba Moore go to town.

Lynn Kellogg

Click here to buy that recording from Amazon.