“Slow Down” was released as a single in the United States but was part of the same E.P. that featured “Long Tall Sally” (the song that kicked off this year’s Beatles Week). BeatleSongs tells us it was written and performed by Larry Williams (who?) and it was not a major hit for him, but when The Beatles released it in 1964 it was a minor success. Tell Me Why describes John’s vocals as “quixotic, hilariously straight” which seems about right.
Namaste means, roughly translated, “I bow to the divine spirit within you” or something like that. It’s a Hindu greeting, for the most part.I don’t partake of it, what with being Catholic, but I have a cousin who is Sufi, which is more closely related to that than my own belief system. It’s more of a “mystical” form of …. you know what, I’m not doing this justice at all.
Let me start out (again) saying my cousin follows a more mystical path of worship than I do, though we both believe in the One. Something from her side of things is the greeting “Namaste” which is a way of acknowledging the Divine in the other person. I don’t expect she says it regularly, but if it did come out of her mouth it wouldn’t surprise me.
I have been trying to be a more patient and forgiving person behind the wheel. What if that jackass in front of my going 10 miles under the speed limit is somebody I know? Road rage is easier to settle into when the other person isn’t “real” – meaning when it is some anonymous jerk who did you wrong it is so much easier to demonize and vilify them.
So I’m driving down the road on an arterial, going the speed limit. Essentially I’m doing what I am supposed to do. As I approach an intersection with another arterial I don’t need to slow down, as the light is green, not turning yellow, just a steady green. I still slow down a little because I’m not sure if it will change to yellow then red.
As I enter the intersection the light is still green and I’m cruising through at perhaps 5 miles below the speed limit. Approaching from my right on the other arterial is a pickup truck going at the same speed. Does he stop? No, he barely slows down enough to make a turn in front of me. Of course I slam on the brakes and try to avoid a collision. What is this person thinking? They essentially blew through a red light. Yes, you may take a right turn on red, but only after coming to a full stop and then in there is no other traffic which has the right of way, which I did because the light was green.
Did honk my horn in anger? No. Did I yell? No. What did I do? I simply said (with emphasis), “Namaste. MOTHERFUCKER.”