Music Notes

Bard's Hall, June 2025, Entry 5

Ẃeβ࿚Ẃỉtcĥ StephBee "The Bard's Hall Contest" 

I grew up with Winnie the Pooh, so of course I always liked Eeyore. As a kid, I didn't understand why he was always so sad, though when I read the original stories by A. A. Milne, I became more aware of the British sense of humor involved.

Did it ever occur to you that Eeyore's name is onomatopoeic? In our rural Tennessee county, the school board office was next door to a field. In that field stood a donkey. The donkey literally brayed “Eeyore” to anyone who would listen What a delightful learning experience!

As an adult, I appreciate Eeyore's depressive and occasionally cynical nature. I like how Pooh Bear and his friends love the little purple donkey with the loose tail, and the way everyone wishes him well but doesn't try too hard to change him… although there was the Little Golden Book, Eeyore, Be Happy! which could be summed up in the Grumpy Cat catchphrase: “I had fun once. It was awful”

A few years ago, while getting over my creative collapse from the Covid lockdown, I developed the habit of taking selfies with Squishmallows in the store. This was partly because I couldn't afford to buy any of them and wanted something to remember them by. I've never been a selfie sharer, preferring to make eclectic art pieces using my unsmiling face as a surrealist element, rather than taking straightforward photos for social media purposes.

When I saw the Eeyore Squishmallow at Walgreens, of course I took a selfie with it. This was in 2021, during Imagine Dragons Mercury Act 1 era. One of the tracks from Act 1 taught me the pop psychology catchphrase “it's ok to be not ok.” I was impressed with the concept at the time, assuming it to be unique.

For me, it wasn't a big leap at all to draw an artistic connection between my Eeyore selfie and the mental health/self esteem message of the song. I'd been creating art combining song lyrics with innovative images for years. I worked with the image in my favorite Android photo editor, Photo Studio, and created this:



Later, in 2022, Imagine Dragons was celebrating the tenth anniversary of their debut album Night Visions. They released several previously unheard-of tracks from their vault, and I found one of those to be especially soothing: Easy.

I remembered my Eeyore selfie and came up with a fresh idea. I wrote out the lyrics to Easy in my best “pandemic cursive,” snapped a picture of it, and layered the transparent sheet of words over my image, resulting in:



Not sure how to do that again… I haven't used those photo editing techniques in years. I impress myself sometimes, looking back at the intricate digital art pieces I made on my phones in those days.

I've only ever shared these two pictures with one person, a close pen pal. I treasure these, because they entwine so much of what I love: music, art, handwriting, autumn, worldview, stuffed animals, Eeyore. I was still wearing my mask because of Covid; you can see it under my chin. I wasn't smiling, because it was supposed to be a solemn picture. Generally, I look more artistic when I'm not trying to “happy grin” for photos.

So… if any of you ever wanted to know what I look like, now you know I may remove the pictures someday, or I'll probably just let this blog post sink into the sands of time. Enjoy!

Oh, and here are the two ID songs. The picture is best suited to Easy, in my opinion, but It's Ok is appropriate as well.

Words: 628.