I gave myself a year, and after a year I gave myself another. Now after another year I’m giving myself a number (but I’m not taking away my name).

It was 7:45 a.m. on 23 February 2011, in the middle of School Vacation Week and I had a good portion of the cast of Concord Carlisle High School’s pending production of “The Producer’s” asleep in my rec room. Figuring I wasn’t going to get any work done between then and 8:00 when it was time to holler “Rise and Shine!” and make everyone a healthy breakfast, I decided to start a simple hobby.

I thought it might be fun to see if I could come up with a year’s worth of interesting popular songs, which I could e-mail every day to a small group of friends.  I began with “House at Pooh Corner” by Kenny Loggins, figuring at the very least I’d end up with an interesting circuit of music.

I was pretty diligent and had posted 340 songs by the time 23 February 2012 had rolled around. Those 25 missed days represented time away from my desk.  Fervently hoping that a hobby that’s all about research and commentary without personal profit somehow squeezes into the “Fair Use Doctrine” of copyright law I decided to turn my hobby into a daily blog, Thisrightbrain.com.

I also decided to adopt Henry David Thoreau’s idea of taking two years worth of material and condensing it into one year’s worth of really good material, as he did with “Walden, or a Year in the Woods.”  Figuring to make one more circuit around the calendar, I selected the best songs from the previous year (let’s face it, there were some “misses”) while adding some new ones and burnishing my write-ups in hopes of coming up with one really good collection. It was also an opportunity to get creative with a lifetime’s worth of photographs by trying to match (mainly) old pictures with a lyric from that day’s song.

And now we’ve circled around to 23 February 2013 and this is posting Number 695.  This year there were 36 missed days (factoring in the leap year) again representing time away from the desk. But as the blog postings only amount to 295, my goal is to post 70 more songs and write-ups.  Considering I have three book projects going, some will be delighted to know that I then plan to take a break. In the mean time, what shall we cover today?

Released in 1994, “Return to Pooh Corner” is an album by Kenny Loggins. Described as “music for parents and children to enjoy together,” it features songs written by John Lennon, Jimmy Webb, Paul Simon and Rickie Lee Jones among others, as well as several traditional children’s songs. Re-written for those parents among us (and featuring Amy Grant) this is an updated version of a once and future featured song…

 LISTEN TO THIS SELECTION – Sunday 24 February

Return to Pooh Corner

 Christopher Robin and I walked along

Under branches lit up by the moon

Posing our questions to Owl and Eeyore

As our days disappeared all too soon

But I´ve wandered much further today than I should

And I can´t seem to find my way Back to the Wood

 So help me if you can I´ve got to get

Back to the House At Pooh Corner by one

You´d be surprised there´s so much to be done

Count all the bees in the hive

Chase all the clouds from the sky

Back to the days of Christopher Robin and Pooh

 innie the Pooh doesn´t know what to do

Got a honey jar stuck on his nose

He came to me asking help and advice

And from here no one knows where he goes

So I sent him to ask of the Owl if he’s there

How to loosen a jar from the nose of a bear

Help me if you can I’ve got to get

Back to the House at Pooh Corner by one

You’d be surprised there’s so much to be done

Count all the bees in the hive

Chase all the clouds from the sky

Back to the days of Christopher Robin and Pooh

 It’s hard to explain how a few precious things

Seem to follow throughout all our lives

After all’s said and done I was watching my son

Sleeping there with my bear by his side

So I tucked him in, I kissed him and as I was going

I swear that old bear whispered, “Boy, welcome home.”

 Believe me if you can I’ve finally come

Back to the House at Pooh Corner by one

What do you know there’s so much to be done

Count all the bees in the hive

Chase all the clouds from the sky

Back to the days of Christopher Robin

Back to the ways of Christopher Robin

Back to the days of Pooh