Bada-bing bada-boom . . .

OK, so the calendar changed.

Did anything else change with it?

Well, yes. In Quebec, it means payroll deductions will increase as the tax man digs a little deeper into our purses and pockets. The annual “contributions” we make to things like EI (unemployment insurance) are front-loaded, meaning we pay what the government considers to be our dues until we reach the maximum contribution. For many, that’s in the summer or early autumn, when they see their net income rise again.

I know. That is incredibly boring and depressing. I bet no one was celebrating that on New Year’s Eve.

There are other similar deductions that hit the maximum ceiling about nine months into the year for many people. But I don’t want to be a total Debbie Downer on this first day of 2021.

What I really wanted to talk about is music and how so much of it transcends time and age.

Like the song Tax Man by The Beatles. It is a timeless social statement. You know they’ll be playing that one for as long as people have to pay taxes . . . “cause you’re working for no one but me.”

Many of the songs from the 1960s onward are timeless statements, with the splendors and heartbreak of romance being near the top of the list, no doubt.

Think Nancy Sinatra’s version of These Boots Are Made for Walking, written by Lee Hazlewood and recorded in January 1966.

I heard it this morning, and it sounded as great as ever. It inspired me to write this post. I bet many women have pressed play on that one over the years, whether it be on an external player or the one inside their head.

The subject of music playing in your brain is an interesting one by itself, but Nancy’s song is overriding the academic approach in my head at the moment.

You catch my drift. Nancy’s song sounds as fresh in 2021 as it did yesterday in 2020. And as it did in 1966, and all the years in-between. It will outlive us all, as will so many other great songs since the start of the British Invasion in the 1960s.

And thank the proverbial God or Goddess for that. It is something to celebrate on New Year’s Day 2021. Music is always there to inspire us and bring us comfort and happiness. There is a song for every occasion. Its recording date is irrelevant.

Lest you accuse me of planting an earworm in your brain, how about She’s Not There by The Zombies? Yup, I heard that one again this morning, and it sounded as fresh as ever.

But how we are able to call it up in our memories is baffling, even to science, apparently. Who cares?

Let’s just go with the flow, and count our musical blessings.

Spot this one: “Hey, hey, my, my, rock and roll can never die.”

— Jillian