EYTAN MIRSKY: "This Year's Gonna Be Our Year"
Annus mirabilus. The ideal of the miracle year is intriguing, enticing, yet elusive, and damned near unattainable. We touch it sometimes, briefly. Our favorite sports team exceeds expectations. Our favorite performer delivers a brand new masterpiece, a film or novel or record that thrills our ever-fannish spirits. We connect with the one we love the most, and our hearts rise to a higher horizon. Something great happens to friends or family, or something great happens directly to us, and we feel the elation of miracle. This year...!
That euphoria is short-lived. Setbacks temper our optimism. We win, we lose, we remain precariously steady in place, all with varying and unequal proportion. People leave our lives, whether through death or distance, sudden discord, changes in goals, or a simple freakin' fork in the road. Time. See what's become of us.
But as we reach the calendar's final crumpled page, and we crawl from the rubble of the preceding twelve months' accumulated yin and yang, we still hope for something better beginning. Our new year's resolution may be survive and advance. But more than that, no matter how much past experience insists we should expect neither miracles nor miracle years, some resilient spark within us may still whisper, This year's gonna be our year.
In pop music--a cherished refuge for fragile hopes and unsteady ambition--the feeling is expressed elegantly by The Zombies in their delicate wonder "This Will Be Our Year." It's my favorite Zombies track, which is saying something when we're talking about the group that did "She's Not There," "Time Of The Season," "Care Of Cell 44," "A Rose For Emily," and so many more perfect, polished gems. For all that, though, the ultimate reconciliation of facing long, crushing odds and forging ahead anyway has gotta be "This Year's Gonna Be Our Year" by singer-songwriter Eytan Mirsky.
Do you know Eytan? He's had some success as a song-seller for film soundtracks, crafting tunes for The Tao Of Steve ("[I Just Want To Be] Your Steve McQueen," sung by Eytan), Happiness (the title song, sung in the film by actress Jane Adams and during the credits by Michael Stipe and Rain Phoenix), and American Splendor (the title song, sung by Eytan on screen). He's released six albums from 1996 through 2016, with a new one on the way, and he's recorded a number of additional tracks for various compilations and tribute albums. His public persona is a snarky Everyman, and he's made a lot of really good music. If you're a rockin' pop fan, you should get to know Eytan Mirsky. You should most especially get to know "This Year's Gonna Be Our Year," the lead track on Eytan's 2012 album Year Of The Mouse.
Do you remember
Way back in January
The way we had it all worked out?
Knew what we wanted
Knew what to do to get it
If there was ever any doubt
Then we'd say
This year's gonna be our year
Don't you know it's gonna be our year now
Much better than last year
Which wasn't good at all
Confidence. Forward! This year's the year. I know it. I think I know it.
But it so rarely works out that way.
Do you remember
The way we felt in August
When nothing seemed to go as planned?
We didn't waver
We never hesitated
'Cause it was time to make a stand
And we said
This year's gonna be our year...
At what point do we give up? When is it time to concede, to surrender?
Today is my 59th birthday. It's a number neither great nor small, not ancient, not new. My brain thinks I'm a teenager. There are days when my body's aches and my mind's troubles seem like even more than just under six decades of dead weight. There's so much to do. Sometimes, I don't want to do any of it.
But things get done. Bills are paid, responsibilities met. Goodbyes. Hellos renewed. Laughter gives way to tears, but laughter returns. I still know delight and wonder. I have my superhero comic books. I listen to my invigorating pop music, my loud rock 'n' roll. I read, I watch TV, I follow the ups and downs of my basketball team. I like food. I enjoy a cup of coffee in the morning more than I ever enjoyed a beer at night. I still enjoy a beer at night. I love, family and friends. I write. I look at my wife, and randomly say to her, "You're pretty;" every mundane task we do together, I call a date. Hugs and kisses. I clear the snow from my driveway, and set my car's radio to magnetic North.
And now we've reached December
And it's been so disappointing
That we're glad this sorry year's about to end
But in just a little while
We'll be back in January
And you know we're gonna start it all again
And we'll say
This year's gonna be our year
Don't you know it's gonna be our year now
Much better than last year
And the year before
Guitars and drums. Harmony. Purpose. Eytan sings, and we know he's right.
Every year, and every moment of every year, we will discover that our path has been blocked. We will overcome the obstacles, until the day comes that we can no longer overcome them. Today isn't that day. Not now. Not yet. We haven't quite exhausted our supply of miracles. Like freedom fighters, abolitionists, and suffragettes before us. Like Tom Joad moving his family west, or Green Lantern vowing to shed his light over dark evil, for the dark things cannot stand the light. Allen Ginsberg putting his queer shoulder to the wheel. Elvis. Chuck Berry. Rosa Parks. The Beatles aiming for the toppermost of the poppermost. Lesley Gore singing "You Don't Own Me." The miracle Mets. Barack Obama insisting Yes, we can. Malala. Anyone who's ever looked ahead and seen the promise of possibility, the odds against us be damned. Win or lose. This year. Annus mirabilus. This year's gonna be our year.
It must be true. I have a song that says so. This year, man. This year.
"This Year's Gonna Be Our Year" written by Eytan Mirsky, Mirsky Mouse Music BMI
You can hear the song here, and order music from Eytan here.
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Our new compilation CD This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio, Volume 4 is now available from Kool Kat Musik! 29 tracks of irresistible rockin' pop, starring Pop Co-Op, Ray Paul, Circe Link & Christian Nesmith, Vegas With Randolph Featuring Lannie Flowers, The Slapbacks, P. Hux, Irene Peña, Michael Oliver & the Sacred Band Featuring Dave Merritt, The Rubinoos, Stepford Knives, The Grip Weeds, Popdudes, Ronnie Dark, The Flashcubes,Chris von Sneidern, The Bottle Kids, 1.4.5., The Smithereens, Paul Collins' Beat, The Hit Squad, The Rulers, The Legal Matters, Maura & the Bright Lights, Lisa Mychols, and Mr. Encrypto & the Cyphers. You gotta have it, so order it here. A digital download version (minus The Smithereens' track) is also available from Futureman Records.
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