Song #3: Now Is the Only Time

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Now Is the Only Time by Ignatius Zoo

There are literally thousands and thousands of songs about Alzheimer's released every year. And they're all so, you know, morose and sorrowful. I figured it was time for a happy, peppy Alzheimer's song.

This one has been in my head for a few weeks. At least, the final third was, the part that begins, "We're going to decline". It didn't really have a topic, until this past weekend when my grandmother visited briefly. I realized that her firm memories will soon pre-date my birth. I will just be a kind stranger to her. So, this is her song now, and always was.

Her memory is gone, but the person that she was is still there: sociable and kind, very pleasant company. I know that some people suffering from Alzheimer's become suspicious and nasty, surrounded by people they believe to be strangers, and probably hostile ones. So there is a little nugget of solace in her condition.

This sounds basically the way I intended, sort of. I inteded to use picking, a guitar technique I hardly ever use. My fingers not being so nimble today, I chose to replace the picking with "doot-doot-doot" singing. Other than that, exactly what I'd intended.

For a change, straightforward lyrics.

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Now Is the Only Time
©2011, Ignatius Zoo

My mother's mother was born in 1924
She's still around, but she don't know me anymore
She kinda knows my name back from when I was a kid
But she seems to think that I should look the way I useta did
She receives me like a lady, graciously
I introduce myself each time, she's always pleased to meet
It's like she is the hostess at a party that never ends
And every hour, she gets to meet me once again
Each time
Each and every single time
Now is her only time

This time
Now is her only time
She doesn't seem to know
She doesn't seem to mind
It just doesn't make sense
It's always present tense
Each moment is a blend
Of happy accidents
Each time
Each and every single time

Sound the alarm, the library's burning down
Soon it will be nothing but ashes on the ground
The air is filled with burning pages of history
Carried by the wind like crispy autumn leaves
So high
They disappear into the sky

As easy as it comes
That's as easy as it goes
Where the wheel stops, no one knows
Make this the only time

In time
We're going to decline
We're gonna go blind
We're gonna lose our minds
And then we're gonna die
Make this the only time
Make this the only time
Now is the only time
Now is the only time