I used to recite the other version.
Penny and The Quarters, “You and Me” off the Blue Valentine Soundtrack
If you saw Blue Valentine (keep tissues handy—the film is beautiful and pretty fucking heartbreaking) you’ll recognize this song. Here’s the story behind it, which began in Columbus, Ohio:
Penny & The Quarters are a “lost” soul band which came to prominence in 2010 after an unreleased demo of their song “You And Me” was used in the film Blue Valentine. Presumably teenagers at the time, Penny & The Quarters were invited to audition by Harmonic Sounds Studio in Columbus, Ohio, recording three demo songs in all. The songs were recorded some time between 1970 and 1975 at either Harmonic Sounds Studio or at the home of studio co-owner Clem Price in Columbus. Relegated to storage, the songs were discovered after Price’s death in 2006 when a collection of tapes and acetate records was purchased at his estate sale. One of the songs they recorded, “You And Me” was released by Numero Group and was later heard by actor Ryan Gosling, who recommended it to the director Derek Cianfrance as the song meant to bring the two lead characters together in Blue Valentine.Here’s even more of the story from the Columbus Dispatch →
Download at Aquarium Drunkard →
I know that this stuff probably doesn’t sound fun and breezy or grandly inspirational. What it is, so far as I can see, is the truth with a whole lot of rhetorical bullshit pared away. Obviously, you can think of it whatever you wish. But please don’t dismiss it as some finger-wagging Dr Laura sermon. None of this is about morality, or religion, or dogma, or big fancy questions of life after death. The capital-T Truth is about life before death. It is about making it to 30, or maybe 50, without wanting to shoot yourself in the head.
For many years I worked in palliative care. My patients were those who had gone home to die. Some incredibly special times were shared. I was with them for the last three to twelve weeks of their lives.
[…]When questioned about any regrets they had or anything they would do differently, common themes surfaced again and again. Here are the most common five:
I think most people have one top idea in their mind at any given time. That’s the idea their thoughts will drift toward when they’re allowed to drift freely. And this idea will thus tend to get all the benefit of that type of thinking, while others are starved of it. Which means it’s a disaster to let the wrong idea become the top one in your mind.
“
| — | Paul Graham |
