Poetry Saturday: Lovely Day

Bill Withers has one of those voices from the 70s with a forever impression on my soul. He didn't enjoy a long recording career but has created an incredible body of music over his lifetime. There's a good beat behind his tunes and his melodies are great and the lyrics to his songs are sometimes so relevant they haunt me. And his voice! Amazing.

One of his best-known songs (and for good reason) is the feel-good Lovely Day, which was famously featured in a Gap commercial in the late 90's. In fact, as I recall, this commercial was part of the campaign that made the Gap instantly hip and relevant again, and this particular commercial was infectious. A couple of weeks ago, iTunes was rolling through Bill Withers' album during dinner, and when Lovely Day came on, my 5-year-old was inspired to jump up from the table and dance around the living room. As my husband and I enjoyed the impromptu performance, I spied a stack of newly-washed fabrics behind my son. Upon closer inspection, a yellow printed cotton made itself known as "the one", and suddenly the image of a full yellow cotton skirt blowing in the breeze popped into my head, clear as day: The Lovely Day Skirt.

No pattern, just a remnant of yellow for the skirt and a remnant of white for the lining, folded creatively into somewhat equal pleats, but it's hard to know for sure when you're eyeballing it. A great song, an impromptu dance, and a spontaneous skirt zipping through the machine on a sunny spring day.

When I wake up in the morning, love,
and the sun light hurts my eyes

And something without warning, love,
bears heavy on my mind.

Then I look at you and the world's alright with me
Just one look at you and I know it's gonna be -

A lovely day