Peter Alsop‘s SONGS TO CHEW

    Hello there!  This week’s Song To Chew is BORED, BORED, BORED from my “Wha’D’YaWanna Do?” family album.  Feeling bored can be very painful.  When our daily ‘distractions’ recede, any painful feelings we might have stuffed away because we didn’t want to deal with them, seize the opportunity to step up front and demand our attention!  Sad, scared and angry feelings get our attention!  And ‘boredom’ is kind of a mix of all three!  It hurts and it comes out of not believing in ourselves.  Being bored can happen to those of us who use work to ‘medicate’ our painful feelings.  We ‘busy’ ourselves so our painful feelings never have a chance to surface.  It’s call “being driven”!  When we feel bored, it always helps to shift our perception into a ‘wait’n see’ attitude!  Life always presents us with a new focus. We just have trouble seeing what’s out there, when we're bored and feeling sorry for ourselves!  Give this a try!  Put your hand on your heart.  Feel it beating, then think about our limited number of heartbeats!  Why in the world would we use them up being bored!?  It's okay to take care of ourselves by removing ourselves from unpleasant boring situations. Try listening to this song!  Singing always seems to help!  I’ll be back next week with another ‘Song to Chew’.  Bye for now!
~ Subscribe to my Songs To Chew podcast = https://peteralsop.podbean.com
~ CAMPING WITH DADS = https://www.amazon.com/Camping-Dads-Peter-Alsop/dp/B08CS871QW/ref=sr_1_1
~ www.FaceBook.com/WeLikePeterAlsop
~ www.Youtube.com/peteralsop = videos
~ www.Patreon.com/peteralsop = support my music & other artistic endeavors
~ www.peteralsop.com/music  = CDs & downloads
~ Subscribe to my Songs To Chew podcast = https://peteralsop.podbean.com
~ CAMPING WITH DADS = https://www.amazon.com/Camping-Dads-Peter-Alsop/dp/B08CS871QW/ref=sr_1_1
~ www.FaceBook.com/WeLikePeterAlsop
~ www.Youtube.com/peteralsop = videos
~ www.Patreon.com/peteralsop = support my music & other artistic endeavors
~ www.peteralsop.com/music  = CDs & downloads

   Today we’ll listen to MY BODY’S NOBODY’S BODY BUT MINE.  It seems our Supreme Court doesn’t realize that when there’s an embryo developing inside a woman’s body, that it’s her choice and nobody else’s, to decide if she wants to give birth to that embryo or not.  The supporters of eliminating Roe v. Wade are the same people who sit in their “love thy neighbor” churches, mouthing platitudes like “do unto others, as you would have them do unto you”, while they vote against increasing the minimum wage to fifteen dollars an hour, funding school-lunch programs and any ‘single-payer health-care-for-all’ bills, - all of which would make it possible for impoverished parents to take better care of their children.  These legal constrictions on a woman’s right to choose is certainly not about caring for the welfare of children.  We marched through the streets of Milwaukee back in 1979 singing this song, and since then it's been sung at thousands of rallies, and in classrooms and auditoriums.  Everyone has the right to be in charge of their own physical body.  A woman’s decision to have an abortion is not taken lightly.  It’s something that should never be legislated by anyone but the pregnant woman herself.  It’s complex and personal, and up to one person only.  It’s her choice!  Then we’ll sing along with Holly Near’s anthem SINGING FOR OUR LIVES.  As Joe Hill said, “Don’t mourn, … organize!”  I say, “Don’t forget to vote, and keep singin’!”
~ Subscribe to my Songs To Chew podcast = https://peteralsop.podbean.com
~ CAMPING WITH DADS = https://www.amazon.com/Camping-Dads-Peter-Alsop/dp/B08CS871QW/ref=sr_1_1
~ www.FaceBook.com/WeLikePeterAlsop
~ www.Youtube.com/peteralsop = videos
~ www.Patreon.com/peteralsop = support my music
~ www.peteralsop.com/music  = CDs & downloads

    This week we’ve ‘chewing on’ my most popular song, “I AM A PIZZA”!  Other than the normal toppings, this song does not offer lots of complicated philosophical flavors, but there are a few.  There’s the importance of using imagination in our lives; the concepts of ‘playfulness’, ‘childlike fun’,  joy and the awareness that the health of our bodies depends on our ‘state of mind’.  When we let our minds wander freely, new doors open and we find unexpected solutions to puzzles in our lives.  When we stop trying to "make sense of everything" and we laugh or sing along, our other senses fire up and get us back in balance!  When ‘Life’ hands us a situation that we don’t expect, it can knock us for a loop!  How well we recover depends on how we see what just happened.  The ‘glasses’ we have on make all the difference about our ability to respond in healthy ways.  Listen to our podcast for free, then you can ‘follow’ or ‘subscribe’, and go back for all the other episodes!  Bye for now!
~ Subscribe to my Songs To Chew podcast = https://peteralsop.podbean.com
~ CAMPING WITH DADS = https://www.amazon.com/Camping-Dads-Peter-Alsop/dp/B08CS871QW/ref=sr_1_1
~ www.FaceBook.com/WeLikePeterAlsop
~ www.Youtube.com/peteralsop = videos
~ www.Patreon.com/peteralsop = support my music
~ www.peteralsop.com/music  = CDs & downloads

    This week’s SONG TO CHEW was written by my old friend Geof Morgan, one of the main musical voices of the feminist men’s movement in the 70’s and 80’s.  His song, THE MATADOR, is sung by our mutual friend and well-known singer-songwriter, Charlie Murphy.  This song emphasizes how some men feel the need to prove our bravery by taking life-threatening risks and performing violent acts.  Many of us understand that we will probably never have a ‘peaceful world’.  It’s likely that humans will always struggle with each other here on this planet, but it's past time for us to look honestly at our history.  If we want to be able to build social systems that support and lift people; if we want prosperity and lives with some grace and beauty, rather than lives under fear and poverty and wars, we need to abolish the violent ways we’ve learned to treat one-another, and find ways to value joy and love in our own male lives.
~ Subscribe to my Songs To Chew podcast = www.peteralsop.podbean.com
~ CAMPING WITH DADS = https://www.amazon.com/Camping-Dads-Peter-Alsop/dp/B08CS871QW/ref=sr_1_1
~ www.FaceBook.com/WeLikePeterAlsop
~ www.Youtube.com/peteralsop  = videos
~ www.Patreon.com/peteralsop  = support my music & other artistic endeavors
~ www.peteralsop.com/music  = CDs & downloads

    Today’s SONG TO CHEW from my ‘Fan Club Favorites’ album, is called ERICA LEVINE.  It was written by my dear old friend Bob Blue.  Throughout history in many different cultures, women have been treated like property.  Fathers would have to pay a certain amount of money or make a gift of property as a "dowry" to a young man, who would be willing to marry his daughter and take her as a wife.  Societies passed on the idea that there was something wrong with a woman who didn't have a husband.  She was "incomplete" or "not worth anything" if she wasn't married.  So Bob wrote this song about a young woman who had a strong sense of her own self-worth.  Erica didn't need to marry someone in order to feel good about herself, and she wasn't about to marry anyone until she was good and ready! We can't set a boundary for ourselves and take care of someone else’s feelings at the same time.  Click on the link below to listen, and if you like this podcast, please subscribe and tell your friends.  Bye for now!
~ Subscribe to my Songs To Chew podcast = https://peteralsop.podbean.com
~ CAMPING WITH DADS = https://www.amazon.com/Camping-Dads-Peter-Alsop/dp/B08CS871QW/ref=sr_1_1
~ www.FaceBook.com/WeLikePeterAlsop
~ www.Youtube.com/peteralsop = videos
~ www.Patreon.com/peteralsop = support my music & other artistic endeavors
~ www.peteralsop.com/music  = CDs & downloads

    Our ‘Song To Chew’ today is a classic children’s song from my “Uh-Oh!” album, ITSY SPIDER.  Many children’s songs have deep and lasting effects on us though out our entire lives. My version of this song is kind of an ‘up-grade’.  I learned the original Itsy Spider song in pre-school 70 years ago.  Back then we did hand motions; our fingers became Itsy spiders walking up the drain pipe, our wiggling fingers were the rain drops falling; and we’d throw our arms out to the sides as we “washed the spider OUT!”  The sun came out, and our fingers became Itsy spiders again, climbing back up the spout!  Again and again and again!  For 70 years!  And I started thinking, “what lessons have we been teaching our children!?”  The definition of insanity is ‘doing the same thing over and over again, and expecting different results!’  Maybe the Itsy spider ought to try something new!  Ya think?!  The original song models patience, and perseverance, and my version adds the importance of setting boundaries and walking through our fear of changing!  C’mon!  Have some fun and sing along with us!!
 
~ Subscribe to my Songs To Chew podcast = https://peteralsop.podbean.com
~ CAMPING WITH DADS = https://www.amazon.com/Camping-Dads-Peter-Alsop/dp/B08CS871QW/ref=sr_1_1
~ www.FaceBook.com/WeLikePeterAlsop
~ www.Youtube.com/peteralsop = videos
~ www.Patreon.com/peteralsop = support my music & other artistic endeavors
~ www.peteralsop.com/music  = CDs & downloads

    Today is April Fool’s day, and our song comes from my “Wha’d’ya Wanna Do?” album.  It’s called DON’T TRICK YOUR DAD.  Most kids love to trick or fool the adults around them, because when they know something that the adult doesn’t know, they feel powerful!  Adults usually have more power and information than kids, so when kids can reverse the roles on them, they’re delighted!  Some homes and parents feel safer than others, because they allow the open expression of our full range of feelings.  Like every other social skill we acquire, we need to figure out what works and what doesn’t work, and then practice!  When we play a joke on someone, every situation is different, and needs to be looked at from each person’s point of view, right?  We all know grown-ups who still haven’t learned that skill!  Jokes and tricks can be playful and fun, as long as there are no victims, which means that everyone feels included and no one feels excluded.  I used to love April Fool’s Day jokes, but now I don’t think they’re funny.  First, I get someone to trust me, … and then I play a trick on them.  Jokes are like that are scary and mean, even if we all laugh.  It’s just not funny when somebody ends up feeling victimized and left out.  It's always helpful to make sure others don’t feel unsafe with us.
~ Subscribe to my Songs To Chew podcast = https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/peter-alsops-songs-to-chew/id1446179156
~ CAMPING WITH DADS = https://www.amazon.com/Camping-Dads-Peter-Alsop/dp/B08CS871QW/ref=sr_1_1
~ www.FaceBook.com/WeLikePeterAlsop
~ www.Youtube.com/peteralsop = videos
~ www.Patreon.com/peteralsop = support my music & other artistic endeavors
~ www.peteralsop.com/music  = CDs & downloads

    Our “Song To Chew” for today, is WOMB ENVY performed and written by Ron Romanovsky and Paul Phillips, of ‘Romanovsky & Phillips’ fame!  It’s on my “Ebenezer’s Make Over” album; a collection of songs from the feminist Men’s and Women’s movements.  When I first met Ron and Paul and saw them perform, I felt an immediate bond with them because of their smart lyrics, their joy and the obvious fun they had performing their comic songs on contemporary gay life to audiences all over the U.S., Canada, and Australia.  Their songs carry such honest, vulnerable, and strong messages and consciousness-raising content, that their work helps lift the lives of many ‘in-the-closet’ men and boys who suffer in isolation under the cultural thumb of shame that was so prevalent back then.  Unfortunately those embers still smolder and burn right now, under the fabric of our world society.  I’m so glad you stopped by.  Feel free to explore these ideas with your friends, and join us again next week for another Song to Chew!
~ Subscribe to my Songs To Chew podcast = https://peteralsop.podbean.com
~ CAMPING WITH DADS = https://www.amazon.com/Camping-Dads-Peter-Alsop/dp/B08CS871QW/ref=sr_1_1
~ www.FaceBook.com/WeLikePeterAlsop
~ www.Youtube.com/peteralsop = videos
~ www.Patreon.com/peteralsop = support my music & other artistic endeavors
~ www.peteralsop.com/music  = CDs & downloads