'Last Rose of Summer'

I’ve been on a posting dry spell of late – struggling to find things that are interesting not only to me, but things that I think will be interesting to others. And then find an interesting way to present them. I’ve been at this a couple of years now and I’m wondering if maybe it’s not time for a short break. If I decide to do that, I’ll let all of you know – I promise I won’t just disappear. And I’m not saying I’m going to do it, I’m just thinking I need to recharge. We’ll see.

On that note, happy Labor Day. A friend of mine from outside the U.S. asked me the other day about Labor Day, and what it meant, etc. After I explained, she asked me about the tradition of not wearing white after Labor Day. As I sit here wearing a pair of shorts and a t-shirt, I can assure you I am no fashionista, but I hazarded a guess that it had something to do with east coast debutantes and upper class families and bore no relevance to my life, particularly since I rarely wear white anyway.

It turns out I may have been somewhat correct. The tradition might actually have started in the South, though, where it is said “Southern girls know bad manners when they see them,” and a clear sign of bad manners is wearing white shoes before Easter or after Labor Day. Others say it started as a way to teach societal rules to the nouveau riche.

These days, I believe most agree it’s an obsolete tradition. One local newspaper columnist even wrote, “Here in Florida, where we wear flip-flops and shorts on Christmas Eve, avoiding white seems silly.”

All of this is apropos of nothing in regards to today’s post, which happens to be “Last Rose of Summer” from Judas Priest’s 1977 Sin After Sin album. I’ve just always thought “Last Rose” was a cool end-of-summer song, and since Labor Day is an end-of-summer holiday, it seemed to come together neatly.

Last Rose of Summer.mp3

Labels: classic rock, holiday, metal

posted by aikin @ 7:28 PM