Stay Down, Luke

Stay down, Luke...
Inmates to Paul Newman in the fight scene, with George Kennedy in "Cool Hand Luke"

A musician's lot - out of work for months, in serious need of a shave, living in a small RV parked in the rear of the bar and living on charity and food stamps.  And yet he doesn't give up.  Every chance he gets, he drags out his old guitar and takes whatever stage is offered, playing for tips which don't come and an audience that doesn't pay attention.  It's no easy life and he isn't getting any younger - but he won't stay down.  It's like that when something calls to you, I think to myself, the music won't let you go.  The temptations of a 9 to 5 life pull at you, promising stability and security, maybe even what passes for normalcy, but the music pulls harder.  He isn't so different from most of the musicians I know, a little less lucky, a little more lonely, perhaps, but just as driven, just as compelled.  Sometimes I wonder if finding your bliss isn't a curse as well as a blessing.

Most  people I know specialize in ordinary lives.  They finish school and leave the nest, go out in the world and find work - rewarding if they're fortunate - and settle down to marry and raise families.  One marriage often leads to another, one career often ends and another begins.  Some of us end up on top and others end up on food stamps but most of us wind up somewhere in the great gray middle.  Nobody ever said it would be easy or fair and we all have times when we have to choose between staying down or taking another black eye.  Most of us aren't going to see our names in the headlines - most don't want to - but musicians and artists seek the stage like the gold at the end of the rainbow. 

The real world can be unkind and unappreciative of anyone who colors outside the lines, who's different or doesn't speak in standard form - we like the predictability of uniformity and tend to trust only what we understand.  Write a poem that doesn't rhyme, paint a picture that's harsh, tell a story that stings or take a picture that doesn't flatter - and the world may just say, Stay down, Luke.   Don't conform to the accepted dress code, paint your face in odd colors, wear a mohawk and be proud of it - and you're likely to get labeled, maybe kindly, maybe not. 

Paul Newman got up.  You're only beaten if you stay down.