J. J. Cale 1938-2013

Singer-guitarist-songwriter J. J. Cale, whose songs have been covered by a variety of rock and country musicians, passed away yesterday at Scripps Memorial Hospital in La Jolla, California at the age of 74, after suffering a heart attack.  Born John Weldon Cale in Oklahoma City, he would combine rock, country, jazz and blues influences to pioneer a style known as the "Tulsa Sound".  He adopted the knickname "J. J." to avoid confusion with John Cale of the Velvet Underground.

Read more at the Los Angeles Times, CNN, UT San Diego, USA Today, Classic Rock and Where's Eric.

Speaking of Eric, one of Cale's songs famously covered by Eric Clapton is Cocaine.

Clapton covered After Midnight in two different arrangements.  I think the slower second one was used in a beer commercial.  Here's Cale's original version:

For their Second Helping album, Lynyrd Skynyrd recorded Cale's Call Me The Breeze.

To close, this is Crazy Mama, the only J. J. Cale song I remember as an original version:

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Music Break - Happy 70th Birthday, Christine McVie

It's hard to believe, but Christine McVie turns 70 today.  It's even harder to believe that she left Fleetwood Mac 15 years ago.  But then, maybe there's something to be said for rockers who retire before they get old.

Before joining Fleetwood Mac, Christine Perfect played in the band Chicken Shack, recorded a solo album, appeared on some Fleetwood Mac albums as a guest musician, and then married their bassist John McVie.  Besides contributing some backing vocals and keyboards to their 1970 album Kiln House, she also drew the album's cover art.  As the group started rehearsing for the subsequent tour, they decided they needed a fuller sound and asked her to join.  This left her with a bit of a dilemma, since she had not yet recorded any of her own songs with Fleetwood Mac.  In order for her to take some turns as lead vocalist, they would have to play songs from her solo album or from her stint with Chicken Shack.  Get Like You Used To Be is from the latter variety, written with guitarist Stan Webb.  This rendition is from Christine's first tour with Fleetwood Mac, and includes Jeremy Spencer and Danny Kirwan on guitar.  Songs from this tour were later assembled into a live album entitled Madison Blues.  The YouTube user has labeled the video with Kirwan's name, but this is a Christine McVie song.

The first Fleetwood Mac album on which Christine McVie appears as a full member is Future Games, which was recorded in 1971.  Spencer had left the group and was replaced by American guitarist Bob Welch.  The only guest musician on the album is McVie's brother John Perfect, who plays sax and harmonica.  On her song Morning Rain, Welch plays an undistorted "clean" guitar, while Kirwan uses some distortion and wah-wah.

In early 1973, Fleetwood Mac released the Penguin album, with Bob Weston replacing Danny Kirwan on guitar.  Remember Me opens the album and includes Weston on slide guitar.

Later in 1973, the band released Mystery To Me, which concluded with the Christine McVie song Why.  This song features a slide guitar intro by Bob Weston, which reminds me a bit of Indian music.  The latter part of the song includes some harmony vocals to which Bob Welch may have contributed.  Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham would later add their voices to the live version of Why, when the two Bobs were no long in the band.  (As far as I know, Buckingham never did try to re-create Weston's slide intro.)

I have mainly included Christine McVie songs from before Buckingham and Nicks joined Fleetwood Mac, because I think that these earlier songs are as good as her better-known songs from after they joined.  But I have to include something from that slightly more recent era.  Say You Love Me is from the group's 1975 eponymous album.  Buckingham contributes some catchy electric guitar parts and plays rhythm on the banjo, which meshes with McVie's piano.  He and Nicks also provide some excellent harmonies.

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This Date In History, And Today

June 6th is widely commemorated as the day in 1944 during World War II when the western Allies invaded Europe, landing on the beaches of the German-held French region of Normandy.  From their narrow foothold, they would eventually advance across France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and Germany itself, joining the westward-advancing Soviet army to defeat the once-powerful German military forces.  Here are a few links to some historical facts and modern tributes:

The History Channel has a page on D-Day, with lots of places to explore.

The British version of the History Channel likewise has a D-Day page.

The U.S. Army has a webpage remembering D-Day.

More information on D-Day can be found at the National WWII Museum, World War II History Info and the Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library.

Paying tribute to the events of D-Day are Nola(dot)com (New Orleans being the site of the above-mentioned National WWII Museum), the Patriot-News, CNN and Business Insider.
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In more recent military history, June 6th was the second day of the Six-Day War, in which Israel defeated neighboring Arab countries, taking the Sinai and the Gaza Strip from Egypt, the West Bank and the old city of Jerusalem from Jordan, and the Golan Heights from Syria.  This war is remembered by History Learning Site, the Jewish Virtual Library, Israeli Weapons and SixDayWar(dot)org.
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June 6th, 1799 was the birth date of Alexander Pushkin, considered to be the founder of modern Russian literature.  You can read about him at the Literature Network, Russiapedia, Poetry Lovers Page and AlexanderPushkin(dot)com.
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On June 6th, 1949, according to the History Channel, George Orwell's book 1984 was published.
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Moving on to today's news:

From ABC News, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie (R) has appointed Jeff Chiesa (R), currently the state's attorney general, to be interim Senator until the special election previously announced by the governor takes place later this year.  Chiesa has stated that he will not run in that election.

From the Washington Post, the FBI and the NSA have been data-mining from nine leading U.S. Internet companies.

From National Review, the House has voted to de-fund President Obama's DREAM policy, which he enacted by executive order.

And from The Hayride, Obama criticizes warrantless wiretaps.

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Frank Lautenberg 1924-2013

Senator Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) died earlier today in Manhattan of viral pneumonia.  He was the oldest member of the Senate and its only World War II veteran.  After a successful business career, he was elected to the Senate in 1982, after which he served three terms, declining to run in 2000.  In 2002, when Robert Toricelli (D) decided to step down from the other New Jersey seat, Lautenberg came out retirement and replaced him, later winning re-election in 2008.

Among his notable accomplishments was legislation to cut highway funding for states that did not raise their drinking age to 21, and later for not setting their definition of "legally drunk" at blood alcohol content level of 0.08%.  He also helped to establish a ban on smoking on all commercial airline flights and in federal office buildings.

Governor Chris Christie (R) will have the duty of naming a temporary Senator to fill Lautenberg's seat until the end of his term, which will be on 03 January 2015, after the 2014 election.  Lautenberg is survived by his second wife, his four children from his first marriage, two stepchildren, and 13 grandchildren.

Read more at the New York Times, CNN, USA Today, NorthJersey(dot)com and NPR.

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I Drive Your Truck

Writing in National Review Online, Lee Habeeb tells the story of Paul Monti, who lost his son Jared in Afghanistan, and the way in which Mr. Monti copes with his loss.  Habeeb was deeply affected by an NPR radio show in which Monti told his story, and as it turned out, was not alone.  A Nashville songwriter listening to the same broadcast was likewise moved, and with the help of two co-writers, turned Monti's story into a song, which was soon afterwards recorded by singer Lee Brice.

This, of course, is but a brief summary.  Read the full story at the above link.

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Pat Summerall 1930-2013

Pat Summerall, who spent almost 40 years broadcasting televised NFL games, died yesterday from a heart attack, at the age of 82.  He had been recovering from surgery for a broken hip.  Starting in 1961, he worked for CBS for 31 years, before moving to Fox and retiring after 8 more years.  Before entering the broadcast booth, he had played football at the University of Arkansas and later for nine seasons in the NFL, mostly as a kicker, with the Cardinals (then in Chicago) and Giants.  He was originally with the Lions, but lost his rookie season to a broken arm.  The Cardinals also briefly used him at defensive end.  Besides football, he also covered the Masters and the U.S. Open tennis championship during his time at CBS.

Summerall was born in Lake City, Florida.  In high school, he was all-state in football and basketball.  In college, he earned a bachelor's degree in education and a master's in Russian history.  He later became an alcoholic.  Twelve years after being successfully treated at the Betty Ford Clinic, a liver transplant was necessary to save his life.  He spent the latter part of his life in the Dallas area, and was in a Dallas hospital when he died.

Read more at CBS Sports, Sports Illustrated, Dallas News, Arkansas Business and USA Today.

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Margaret Thatcher 1925-2013

Margaret Thatcher, who served as the United Kingdom's first female Prime Minister, died today at age 87 after a stroke.  Known as the "Iron Lady", a sobriquet bestowed by the Soviet media, Thatcher was the leader of Britain's Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990, and Prime Minister from 1979 to 1990, when she was ousted from both positions in favor John Major.  During her time in office, the United Kingdom's government moved rightward, privatizing some of their state-run businesses, and won a war against Argentina over the Falkland Islands in 1982.  She was also a major ally of American President Ronald Reagan during the waning years of the Cold War, and later advised his successor George H. W. Bush "this is no time to go wobbly" as he considered his response to Saddam Hussein's invasion of Kuwait in 1990.  After stepping down, she was named a Baroness and served in the House of Lords.

Margaret Roberts was born in 1925 in Grantham in central England.  Her father was a grocer and a Methodist lay minister.  She received a degree in chemistry at Oxford University and worked as a research chemist before becoming a barrister.  She may have helped to invent what came to be known as "soft-serve" ice cream.  She married local businessman Denis Thatcher in 1951, and gave birth to fraternal twins Carol and Mark two years later.  In 1959, she was elected to the House of Commons for the first time.  She stopped making public appearances in 2002 after suffering a stroke, making an exception to attend Reagan's funeral in 2004, and later had several smaller stokes.  Her husband Denis, 11 years her senior, died in 2003. Funeral services will be held at St. Paul's Cathedral, followed by a private cremation.

Read more at CNN, Fox News, the Guardian, BBC News, the Wall Street Journal and the Independent.

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Ed Koch 1924-2013

Ed Koch, who served as Mayor of New York City for twelve years, died today of congestive heart failure at the age of 88.  His political career included a stint a city councilman and nine years in congress.  He was known as an "independent liberal", who could work with conservatives.  He crossed party lines on two notable occasions, supporting Rudy Giuliani's mayoral campaign in 1993 and President George W. Bush's re-election in 2004.  Outside of politics, he had also been a television judge, radio talk show host, law partner, newspaper columnist, professor and movie reviewer.

Koch was born in the Bronx in 1924, the son of Louis and Joyce (Silpe) Koch, both Polish Jews who had each immigrated to New York.  His family would move to Newark, NJ and later to Brooklyn.  He spent two years attending City College in Manhattan before being drafted into the Army in 1943.  Because he could speak German, he was assigned to help replace Nazis in government positions with non-Nazi Germans.  He was discharged in 1946 with the rank of Sergeant.  He got his law degree from New York University and spent 20 years practicing law before entering Congress.  During his time as Mayor, from January 1, 1978 to December 31, 1989, he ran unsuccessfully for Governor, losing in the 1982 Democratic primary to Mario Cuomo.  In 1989, he lost the primary for Mayor, to the man who would succeed him, David Dinkins.

Read more at the New York Times, the New York Post, CNN, Fox News, Yahoo News and the Wall Street Journal.

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Stan Musial 1920-2013

For the second time today, a legendary baseball figure has gone to the great dugout in the sky.  Stan Musial, known as "Stan The Man", died this afternoon at age 92, from natural causes.  Musial spent his entire career with the St. Louis Cardinals, playing outfield and first base.  In high school and in the minor leagues, he had also pitched.  After ending his playing career, Musial worked for the Cardinals as a vice president and then as their general manager.

The son of a Polish immigrant father and a Czech-descended mother, Stanisłaus Franciszek Musiał was born in Donora, Pennsylvania.  Upon enrolling in school, his named was changed to Stanley Frank Musial.  At Donora High School, one of his teammates was Buddy Griffey, whose son Ken Griffey and grandson Ken Griffey Jr. each had successful major league careers.  After spending a few year in the minor leagues, Musial joined the major league Cardinals in September 1941 and stayed with them until the end of the 1963 season, except for a stint in the U.S. Navy in 1945 and 1946.  During his career, Musial won seven National League batting titles and three NL MVP awards, and was chosen to appear in 24 All-Star games.  The Cardinals retired his number, 6.  He was named to the Major League Baseball All-Century Team, and elected to the baseball Hall Of Fame in 1969, his first year on the ballot.  More recently, Musial was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.  Go to Baseball Reference to see his career statistics.

Read more at the Los Angeles Times, CBS News, the Global Post, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and the St. Louis Cardinals website.

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Earl Weaver 1930-2013

Earl Weaver, who managed the Baltimore Orioles to four American League pennants in 17 seasons, and a victory in the World Series in 1970, passed away today while on an Orioles Fantasy cruise in the Caribbean Sea, after collapsing in his room at around 2:00 a.m.  He was 82 years old.

As a manager, Weaver compiled a career winning percentage of .583, one of the highest in major league history.  He was inducted into the baseball Hall Of Fame in 1996 by the Veterans Committee.  Unlike many of his managerial contemporaries, he had never played in the major leagues.  After managing in the Orioles' minor league system, including the Elmira (NY) Pioneers and Rochester (NY) Red Wings, Weaver became the major league team's first base coach at the start of the 1968 season.  He was promoted to manager in July of that year, holding the job through 1982.  After that season, the Orioles retired his number, 4.  He returned to manage them again in 1985 and 1986.  Ironically, the Orioles won the World Series in 1983 during his hiatus.

As a manager, Weaver extensively compiled and used statistics, such as head-to-head batting statistics of his own players against individual opposing pitchers.  He often platooned two players, one batting right-handed and the other batting left-handed, in one position.  Weaver's relations with American League umpires were a story unto itself.  He was ejected from at least 91 games, including twice before the game even started, and three times from both games of a double header.

Read more at ESPN, the Baltimore Sun, the Sporting News, the New York Daily News and USA Today.

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The Te'o Hoax, And Some Other Stories

Manti Te'o is a college football player who recently completed his senior season with Notre Dame, the team losing to Alabama in the BCS Championship Game.  During the 2012 season, he endured the deaths of his grandmother, Annette Santiago, and his girlfriend, Lennay Marie Kekua, within days of each other.  Earlier during 2012, Te'o had learned that Kekua was in a car accident, recovered from the resulting injuries, graduated from Stanford, and then was diagnosed with leukemia, from which she eventually died.  There was one problem with all of this.  Te's and Kekua never met in person.  Their relationship was completely online.  All of these events, and Lennay Kekua's very existence, were a hoax.  The only remaining question is whether Te'o was purely the victim of this hoax, or was in on it.  Read more at Deadspin, CBS Sportsline, Newsfeed, Fox News and the Sporting News.

In other news:

From the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, an Illinois woman survived for two days after her car skidded into a ravine.

From the Sioux City Journal, a tribute to Sioux City native Pauline Friedman Phillips, known to the world as Dear Abby.  She recently passed away at the age of 94.

From Yahoo News, a Florida man was killed when he was run over by his dog.

From Israel National News, about 4,300 of Nazi-seized advertising posters will be auctioned off in New York.

From WGRZ, Border Patrol agents have arrested a man who entered the United States illegally, by paddling across the Niagara River into Fort Niagara State Park.  (Full disclosure:  I have visited Fort Niagara.  It's in the northwest corner of New York state, on the east bank of the Niagara River where it empties into Lake Ontario.  If the sky is fairly clear, you can see Toronto on the other side of the lake.)

From Breitbart's Big Journalism, the NRA, which has been vilified in the wake of the Sandy Hook massacre, has a better approval rating than the president.

And finally, to return to our first topic, it seems that Manti Te'o might have been living out a song that I remember from the 1970's.

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Norman Schwarzkopf 1934-2012

Retired General H. Norman Schwarzkopf, who led coalition forces in the 1991 Gulf War, died earlier today in Tampa, Florida.  He graduated from West Point in 1956, was commissioned a Second Lieutenant, served two tours in Vietnam, received three Silver Stars, and later served in the invasion of Grenada.  Somewhere during all of that, he was given the knickname "Stormin' Norman", which he reportedly didn't like all that much, preferring "The Bear", which was used by some of his troops.

Read more at CNN, the Los Angeles Times, ABC News, US News, the Wall Street Journal and Newsmax.  As reported in the Newsmax story, Schwarzkopf's father, also named Norman, was the founder and commander of the New Jersey State Police, after serving in the Army during World War I and achieving the rank of Colonel.  At the time the future General was born, the elder Schwarzkopf was leading the investigation of the Lindbergh kidnapping.

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Robert Bork 1927-2012

Former Solicitor General and appeals court judge Robert Bork, known for being unsuccessfully nominated to the Supreme Court by President Ronald Reagan in 1987, passed away earlier today at age 85.  Democrat senators led by Ted Kennedy visciously opposed the nomination, which failed by a vote of 58-42.  During his time as Solicitor General, Bork carried out President Richard Nixon's order to fire special counsel Archibald Cox, after the attorney general and his deputy refused to do so, both resigning in protest.

Read more at the Los Angeles Times, CNN, Fox News, USA Today, the Washington Post and Reuters.

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Happy And Sad News In The Senate

First the happy news:

To replace Senator Jim DeMint, who announced his intention to resign from the Senate and become the leader of the Heritage Foundation, South Carolina governor Nikki Haley has appointed Tim Scott, currently one of their state's representatives in the House.  He will become the first black Republican senator in over 30 years, and first ever black senator from South Carolina.  Because there are four years left in DeMint's term, Scott will serve for two years before facing a special election in 2014, to determine who serves the last two years.  Read more at the Weekly Standard, National Review, Yahoo News, Newsmax, the Christian Science Monitor and Time.

Now the sad news:

Senator Daniel Inouye, who had represented the state of Hawaii in the Senate since 1963, becoming the second longest serving senator in U.S. history, died earlier today of a respiratory ailment, at age 88.  The son of immigrants from Japan and first Japanese American to serve in Congress when he was elected to the House in 1959, Inouye also won the Medal of Honor in World War II.  While fighting in Italy, Inouye destroyed two machine gun nests after being shot in the stomach while leading an assault against the Germans, after which he was again wounded, losing his right arm.  Inouye died at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.  The last thing he reportedly said was "Aloha".  Hawaii governor Neil Abercrombie will name a successor to serve the remaining two years of Inouye's term.  Read more at the Los Angeles Times, the Chicago Tribune, CNN, Slate, the New York Daily News and the Hawaii Reporter.

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Apollo 17

Forty years ago this month, NASA launched Apollo 17, its last mission to the moon.  Mission commander Gene Cernan, lunar module pilot Dr. Harrison "Jack" Schmitt and command module pilot Ron Evans lifted off just after 12:30 a.m. on December 7th, 1972.  While Evans performed experiments in lunar orbit, Cernan and Schmitt explored the area of Taurus-Littrow, discovered orange soil, and composed the brief musical parody "I was strolling on the moon one day".  They splashed down in the Pacific Ocean on December 19th.  Previously planned subsequent Apollo missions were cancelled.

Dr. Schmitt remembers the mission vividly.  He remains the only trained geologist to collect rock samples on a world other than earth.  Cernan, who named a large rock after his daughter, remembers the camera he left on the moon.

Go here for a panorama of what the two astronauts saw.  For more on Apollo 17, go to Universe Today, National Journal and Views Of The Solar System, and watch this video:

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It Is The Soldier

In 1970, an American soldier named Charles M. Province wrote this poem, which is still worth remembering:

It is the Soldier, not the minister
Who has given us freedom of religion.
It is the Soldier, not the reporter
Who has given us freedom of the press.
It is the Soldier, not the poet
Who has given us freedom of speech.
It is the Soldier, not the campus organizer
Who has given us freedom to protest.
It is the Soldier, not the lawyer
Who has given us the right to a fair trial.
It is the Soldier, not the politician
Who has given us the right to vote.
It is the Soldier who salutes the flag,
Who serves beneath the flag,
And whose coffin is draped by the flag,
Who allows the protester to burn the flag.

I don't know if Province was still in the Army when he wrote this.  I would very much like to refer to him by his rank, thus giving him the respect that he is due, but I don't know the rank at which he was discharged.  There doesn't seem to be too much information about him out there, other than that he founded the George S. Patton Jr. Historical Society.  But in any event, his message is timeless.  More broadly, it is the soldier, the airman, the marine and the sailor who secure the rights with which we are endowed by our Creator.  To all who have served, thank you for defending my rights.  To all Americans, have a happy Veteran's Day.

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Flight 93 Memorial

During my recent roadtrip to some western parts of Maryland, I took a swing up into Pennsylvania and visited the memorial to Flight 93, which crashed near Shanksville on 9/11/2001, after some of the passengers and crew tried to wrest control of the airplane from the highjackers.  This was my third visit to the memorial, the others having been in 2006 and 2008. 

The memorial and its environs have changed since 2008.  During my previous visits, there was only a temporary memorial, reached by some back roads extending between Shanksville and Lambertville to the north.  Now, there is a new road extending southward from US 30, leading to a paved parking lot, some restrooms, and a walkway to the memorial itself.

I remember quite a bit of controversy about some plans for the memorial's design, which was alleged to contain quite a bit of Islamic symbolism, including a large circular wall with a gap, which from the center of the circle allegedly would point to Mecca.  The actual memorial, at least for now, does not include the circular design, but some straight wall sections.  However, according to the link above, the memorial is not yet complete, and thus could still in the future incorporate design features that some find objectionable.

Here is the wall and a pretty good crowd of visitors.

The wall is made of panels, bearing the names of passengers and crew.

Along the walkway between the parking lot and the memorial are some kiosks and a seating area.

Extending along the walkway is this wall, set at what appears to be a 45 degree angle, and including some niches.  Flags, flowers and other offerings have been placed in these niches, continuing a tradition that began with the temporary memorial.

As an added note, my 2008 visit was reported in a post on AndRightlySo, the blog that took me in, so to speak, a few months before.  While the blog is now longer on the web, two of my blogmates created a backup site at Wordpress, which is still around and contains some of our posts from that year.  At it turns out, this includes the post about my 2008 visit.

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Neil Armstrong 1930-2012

Neil Armstrong, whose "one small step" became a "giant leap for mankind" as he set foot on the moon, has died following complications from heart surgery which he underwent several weeks ago.  He had previously suffered a minor heart attack in 1991.

Before becoming the first person to walk on the moon, Armstrong had become the first American civilian to fly into earth orbit, as the commander of the two-man mission Gemini VIII, which accomplished the first-ever docking with another spacecraft.

After his historical flight on Apollo 11, Armstrong served as a NASA manager in Washington, DC, taught engineering at the University of Cincinnati, and served on the panels that investigated the Apollo 13 accident and the Challenger disaster.

As he stepped onto the moon, Armstrong said, "That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind."  In doing so, he spoke the "a" so faintly that it was often left out when the sentence was quoted.  This led to some confusion because "man" (without the article) and "mankind" have similar meanings.  But the recording of his words caught the faint "a", thus preserving the context and contrasting the small size of his literal step with its enormous significance for the human race.

Read more at ABC News, the New York Times, BBC News, CNN and Cosmic Log at NBC News.  Here's a brief video from Armstrong's visit to the moon:

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Sherman Hemsley, Movin' On Up

Sherman Hemsley, who played George Jefferson on All In The Family and The Jeffersons, and later Deacon Ernest Frye on Amen, died today at the age of 74, in his home in El Paso, Texas.  The cause of death has not yet been disclosed.  Besides his well-known acting career, he was also a singer who released two albums during the 1990's.

Read more at CNN, People, the Hollywood Reporter and Entertainment Weekly.  Here's the gospel-flavored Jeffersons theme song.

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Sally Ride 1951-2012

Sally Ride, the first American woman in space, has died at her home in La Jolla, California after a 17-month battle with pancreatic cancer.  Besides her two space shuttle flights, both aboard the Challenger, she served on the commission that investigated the explosion of that same shuttle in 1986.  She later served on the board investigating the loss of the Columbia in 2003, the only person to serve on both the Challenger and Columbia commissions.

Sally Ride received bachelor's degrees in both English and physics, and then went on to earn a masters and a PhD in physics, all from Stanford University.  Besides her work for NASA, she also served as a physics professor at the University of California, San Diego and as the director of the school's California Space Institute.  She also started her own company Sally Ride Science, which created educational programs and products intended to help girls and young women pursue interests in science and math.  Dr. Ride received many honors for her work, including NCAA's Theodore Roosevelt Award and the NASA Space Flight Medal.

Read more at Biography, MSNBC, Fox News, USA Today, Yahoo News and CNET.  The MSNBC report recalls that on the day of her first space flight, thousands of people wore T-shirts and buttons bearing the slogan "Ride, Sally, Ride", but does not say where that slogan comes from.  That particular phrase is found in the backing vocals of a Wilson Pickett song.  Little did Pickett (or whoever actually wrote the song) know that he was predicting by name the first American woman to go into space.

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