Inspirational Journey
The Party’s Over
Those of us who are as old as I am and who remember the early days of Monday Night Football can recall the theme at the end of every game. At some point when the victory was obvious for one of the two teams, one of the announcers, Don Meredith, would begin to sing the song, “The Party’s Over.” Meredith was the “color man,” as it used to be called. He was a former professional football player himself---a pretty good quarterback. So he knew the game. And he was pretty funny. So his “color” commentary typically was both accurate and funny.
Don had a Texas drawl which made the song rather humorous. He was usually correct. He knew the game well enough, he would be able to tell the average fan that hope was basically lost for one of the teams. I would often turn off the tv when “Dandy Don,” as his sidekicks called him, sang the ending song.
I always assumed it was a real song, but never bothered to do a little research. But having done so told me the song originally appeared in the musical, Bells Are Ringing, in 1956. It was written by Jule Styne (composer), Betty Comden and Arthur Green (lyrics). For many of us the tune and words became familiar when Willie Nelson sang it.
“Dandy” Don Meredith may have sung more than the first verse, but I don’t recall. The words from the first verse were all that I remember. The opening line is the famous one: “Turn out the lights the party’s over.” This is the conclusive announcement. The game---the event or whatever---is finished. Turn out the lights. If effect, there is nothing to see or to do. Game over; lights out!
Of course, this is true for any number of events in our lives. Things happen in our own lives and then they are finished---lights out; the party’s over. Things happen in the lives of our kids. They graduate from high school and go to college. They leave our house. The party’s over; turn out the lights.
The second line of the song captures this reality of finality. The song affirms, “They say all good things must end.” Indeed, all good things do end. That is the nature of time. Time passes. Even if something lasts a long time, it eventually will end. I understand why people are sad when good things end. Being in the middle of a good thing is truly a blast. It is normal to wish it “could last forever.” But it won’t and we should be able to recognize that truth that “all good things must end.”
The trick is to be able to enjoy them while they last. I think some of us have such a difficult time trusting the good times that we really don’t enjoy them. We don’t fully participate in them because we fear the worse. Oddly enough, often the worse thing that can happen to good times is that they end. That should not come as a surprise. So relax and trust the good times.
I think this becomes especially true for us as we age. Like good times, it is clear to me that no one gets out of this life without dying. And if we are given the good fortune to live the proverbial four score; that only means we probably are closer to death than the infant. So enjoy life before you hear “Dandy” Don begin to sing! The real question is not whether we will die. The real question is whether we can learn to live, love and enjoy before we die!
Inevitably life’s party has many endings before the big ending, called death. The third line of the song attests to that: “Call it a night the party’s over.” To me this means there are “night times” to any endeavor. I am very aware of some of my colleagues who have been teaching for decades who have that sense that the “night” is over. In that business it is called retirement! Retirement is a kind way of saying, “call it a night the party’s over.” I am getting close! Retirement puts the period at the end of the sentence.
But there are other kinds of endings which finish things, but something new or next will happen. One can think of innings in a baseball game or chapters in a book. One finishes, but there will be a next one. The last line of the song acknowledges this fact: “And tomorrow starts the same old thing again.”
When I think about my friends in the monastery, this last line applies to their day. The finish each day with Compline. Literally, the party’s over; the lights are turned out and they head to bed. For them tomorrow starts the same old thing again. They will greet the middle of the night with Vigils (being “watchful”) and then will come Lauds “praise” for the new day). For them the party’s on again! What a wonderful way to live life.
I want to be spiritual and full of life in this way. I want to party when the party is happening. And when the party’s over, I want to be able to say thank you and Amen!