Category: Weekends

Opening Lyrics To Songs That I Love

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#8: Marvin Gaye, You Sure Love to Ball

Oh, baby, please turn yourself around/
Oh, baby, so I can love you good/
Oh, baby, I’ll make you feel so good/
Aw, sugar, just like you want me to/

Marvin Gaye: You Sure Love to Ball. YouTube

This will probably be my favorite segment on my blog in a very long time! Welcome to Opening Lyrics to Songs That I Love!

“You Sure Love to Ball” is a song released by Marvin Gaye on January 2, 1974. It was the third and final single released from his album “Let’s Get It On”.

The song was issued as a single on January 2, 1974. Initial radio airplay was good enough for the song to peak at 13 on the Hot Soul Singles chart and 50 on the Billboard Hot 100.[4] However, “You Sure Love to Ball” soon peaked out allegedly due to the controversial nature of the track, making the song the least successful of the three tracks released on Let’s Get It On. Its b-side included the solemn ballad closer of the album, “Just to Keep You Satisfied”. –Wikipedia

I find it hard to believe this song couldn’t reach the top ten of any musical chart-topping list. Sure, the lyrics are sensual and overwhelmingly sexy, but this is Marvin Gaye. People were used to his overuse of sexually-charged songs.

Not only that, the melody is catchy and the chorus is unforgettable. If I want to take it further, I’d say even the instrumental is worth listening to repeatedly.

And if I’m willing to listen to an instrumental over and over again, that tells you a lot about the actual song.

Marvin was strategic in developing and crafting his lyrics and took his presentation of them seriously. He played up shows and wooed the panties off women faster than a bullet train. The man was a gift to creating music for baby-making.

Don’t believe me? Listen to this song. The opening lyrics are enough to reel you in. The rest of the song will keep you in its grip.

For the next two Sundays, I’ll share with you my favorite opening lyrics to songs I truly love. Maybe you’ll enjoy it. Maybe you won’t. Perhaps you’ll share your favorite opening lyrics to songs you love as well. Perhaps you won’t. Either way, we’re going to have a good damn time.

See you next week!

A Few Moments To Myself

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A break is needed

AI-Generated Image: A Black woman with locs sitting on her couch, reading a book. She is wearing a beige sweater, khaki pants, and the background is soft and mellow with a hint of sunlight breaking through her window. Created with Canva.

I am in production and continued training mode at work. That being said, my focus is on the grind and perfecting the roles I am transitioning through. I am also searching for a part-time WFH job due to the impending rent hike that’s just around the corner.

Needless to say, I need a break.

I want to enjoy all that I can during this coming week at my job, learn more, and devote my time to our patients. I also want to maintain a sense of self as I come to grips with the reality of going back to working two jobs.

I will return to this creative space with the Sunday features: Opening Lyrics To Songs That I Love and Sunday Microfiction next Sunday, August 10, 2025.

For now, please enjoy this groovy tune and a few posts from the past in my absence.

Let Me Grow

What If We Could Haiku the Pain Away?

The Beauty of Love and Creativity

Something To Think About #16

Peace and blessings.

A River Bath

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Melissa’s Fandango Flash Fiction Challenge

From Ryan Grewell on Unsplash. The image depicts a bear in a body of water with rocks and trees in the background. Most of the bear’s body is submerged. We see the bear’s head above the water, along with his right leg, which he appears to hold with his right arm. What is this bear doing?😅

I am your most esteemed Tour Guide and Developer of this beautiful place, Logan Tismouth. If you’ll direct your attention to Caper the Bear, who appears to be river bathing as we speak…

Logan extends his arm and points his hand in the direction of the bear. The crowd follows with their eyes.

Caper is a show-stopper. He is one of the happiest bears any of us has ever seen. He is our featured attraction here at River’s Ridge Sanctuary. We provide semi-natural-to-their-habitat homes for bears, mountain lions, deer, bobcats, etc. You name it, we’ve got it! But Caper is something special.

Three years ago, he was found slumped over the stump of a chopped-down tree, dehydrated with a gaping wound in his lower left leg. Daniel, our Lead Ranger, placed the call to me. He gave me the rundown of the bear’s status and informed me to send out two more rangers, a sack of tranquilizers, and a pack of bottled water. He estimated his time there would be four hours. I issued the work order and had all of the items disbursed, along with the requested rangers, too.

If we had not acted fast, Caper wouldn’t be here today. So you see, not only is he our featured attraction, but he is the only bear with a story like this to tell at River’s Ridge Sanctuary. And we believe he knows just how special he is. I have to say, I’ve never seen a vain bear, but Caper is one.

He has grown accustomed to looking at himself in a mirror. When I visit his dwelling space, I take a hand-held mirror along with me. His greeting is always with a light paw to my right shoulder, and a welcoming scoff as he blows a puff of air into the forest around us. I pull out the mirror, hold it up directly in front of him, and he muses about himself for several minutes.

Stunned by his mannerisms, I leave the mirror with him. He has a collection of them now. Several of the rangers and staff have coined another nickname for him, one of which I do not approve, “Logan’s Very Special Vain Bear.”

Luckily, it hasn’t caught on… yet.

I enjoyed crafting this fiction piece for this week’s challenge. Maybe it’s something you’re interested in, too? If so, mosey on over to Melissa’s blog to give this challenge a once-over. I am sure she’ll be happy to see you there

Opening Lyrics To Songs That I Love

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#7: H.E.R., Process

I’m just tryin’ to process what just happened/
I’m just tryin’ to express what I’m feeling/
When the pressure gets too intense, burn some incense
Stop and take a deep breath… release it/

©2021 H.E.R., Process. YouTube

This will probably be my favorite segment on my blog in a very long time! Welcome to Opening Lyrics to Songs That I Love!

H.E.R.’s song “Process” appears on her album “Back of My Mind” (Apple Music Edition), released in 2021. The lyrics seem to be about navigating a challenging situation or relationship, feeling like someone is “slowing up the progress” and causing a lot of frustration and sleepless nights.

The speaker is going through an emotional “process” of dealing with this, feeling pushed to their limits, and on the verge of “popping” or “blowing up.”

Lines like “Pushin’ all my buttons/Teardrop, hurting/Say I’m off the deep end/Yeah, right, you’re reachin’ reveal the raw vulnerability and emotional turmoil. 

Essentially, “Process” seems to be a raw and honest expression of dealing with the difficulties and emotional strain that come with a challenging personal situation.

By this point, I guess you have made the assessment that I have a thing for love songs: love lost, love gained, seeking love, and learning how to love. Most of my favorite songs center around love and all things encapsulating love. H.E.R. does an incredible job with “Process” as she pens what it feels to move forward while in the throes of breaking down.

It is oftentimes hard to move on from such a loss. Grief, reminiscence, and the constant wondering of “What did I do?” and “What could I have done to make things better?” can eat us alive.

This song will forever be a favorite of mine. The opening lyrics pull you in to hear the deeper story–to sit down at her feet and vibe with her–to feel her pain. I am here for this kind of carrying on day in and day out.

For the next three Sundays, I’ll share with you my favorite opening lyrics to songs I truly love. Maybe you’ll enjoy it. Maybe you won’t. Perhaps you’ll share favorite opening lyrics to songs you love as well. Perhaps you won’t. Either way, we’re going to have a good damn time.

See you next week!

Opening Lyrics To Songs That I Love

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#6: Eric Benét, News For You

You tell me love ain’t been goin’ your way/
Cause you’ve been searching, but good ones are hard to find/
Said you won’t settle for less than your heart is asking/
And life’s too precious just to be wasting time/

Eric Benét, News For You. YouTube

This will probably be my favorite segment on my blog in a very long time! Welcome to Opening Lyrics to Songs That I Love!

In “News for You,” Eric Benét sings about the surprising and transformative power of finding love after having given up on it.

The song’s core message is in the lyrics: “Think your time for love is through. Well I got news for you.” Benét describes falling in love so completely that the thought of the person leaving feels devastating. The song embraces the “beautifully frightening aspect of love” that can be both tragic and deeply resonant.

The song was featured on his album “The One”.

When I listen to this song by Eric, I have to push away all of the negative thoughts that bounce about in my head regarding him and Halle Berry. Their marriage was an embarrassment on public display because of Eric’s constant cheating.

ON HALLE BERRY!!! Dude, like how?! Why?! I remember watching an interview with her, and then watching a separate one with him, and he spoke about being diagnosed as a Sex Addict. It was the first time I had heard the term.

He also spoke about being in the throes of counseling and therapy and trying to come to grips with the pain he had caused Halle, while also not hating himself in the process. Needless to say, they were some heavy interviews.

The song, though?! It’s one of my favorites by him because it pulls at the heartstrings. It makes me think about all of my failed relationships and the ones that were gifts to me because I learned something, and me and those exes are still friends. We know what we had, but we also know why we had to let it go.

The song is beautifully penned with a catchy chorus, and his distinctive vocals make it so much better. It’s an everlasting love song that can be and will be played on repeat for years to come.

For the next four Sundays, I’ll share with you my favorite opening lyrics to songs I truly love. Maybe you’ll enjoy it. Maybe you won’t. Perhaps you’ll share favorite opening lyrics to songs you love as well. Perhaps you won’t. Either way, we’re going to have a good damn time.

See you next week!

Sick Again

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Sunday Microfiction #6

Sick Again. Pictured Microfiction, created with Canva.

Have you gotten your copy of my new book: a collection of serial tales & flash fiction, Séduire (E-Book and Paperback) yet?

I recently signed up to write on Substack as well. Poking the Bear’s Belly for Fun is a place of healing as I speak about the most recent events with my place of employment, as it pertains to racism and discrimination. I welcome your visit.