The Luckiest Guy in the World
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- Опубликовано: 17 мар 2024
- A chance return to an all-time favorite song (The Sultans of Swing by Dire Straits) got Bill thinking about the extraordinary life he has led… which got him thinking about the extraordinary life ALL of us have led, here in a Land of Wonder and an Age of Everyday Miracles.
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I agree with Steve. The 1990s were peak culture for humanity.
I don't think thats the peak, when it comes to movies they have made the entirety of what they offer to us, so unimaginative and revolting, that we look back on the 70s to 90s films with growing reverence. This is a trough, a low spot, and once the unimaginative types who unjustifiably feel superior to all of us expire, things will improve.
Independent people are now making movies, because you don't need a studio to tell a story anymore... Things are changing for sure, but this femimindset will not last forever.
The 70's and into the 80's were far more interesting in every way, from music, movies, toys, computers, synthesizers, magazines, stereo / electronic stores, bookstores, hobby shops / military models / books / wargaming stuff, variety of cars, etc. Things were going downhill starting in the late 80's.
@Elhardt I wasnt alive back then and looking back the only thing that seems interest about the 80s are music and movies but I can still enjoy that now and more.
@@MarushiaDark316 Well if you didn't live back then, then you have no idea how boring everything is now. I mentioned entire industries and kinds of stores that no longer exist. You can't enjoy the products we had back then, because they can no longer be bought now. And while you can still enjoy that music and those movies now, you can't enjoy them on the big screen. And with so much junk created since then, it gets harder to find treasures amongst the trash.
@@MarushiaDark316 we're about the same age... But I have more in common with bills cohort in music tastes at least... Load wasn't bad I guess though lol
This generation never even had the opportunity to play Lawn Darts !
The 60s were my Teen years. 1960 I was 12. 1969 I was in Vietnam at 21.
Lawn darts are the answer.
@@garyfrancis6193BBGunWars helped too!
Dad got out in 67, glad he did or else I wouldn't be here 👍😅
Thanks for your service! Nam ended during my senior year of HS, so I didn't have to go. 10th Cavalry later on though. In the 60's we never locked ANYTHING at night. My dad even left the car keys in the ignition all night with the windows rolled down...we weren't worried about anything back then. 20 or so years later, little Amber Hagerman would be kidnapped from a spot only a few yards from a creek where we fished for crawdads. Things continue to decline, sadly.
@@garyfrancis6193lawn darts are the answer if the question is “what is fun if you ignore the risk until the inevitable happens?”. They were fun. Until…..
Born in 1956, I HAVE been hungry and cold. Growing up I lived in a 100 year old farmhouse (then) in Wisconsin, without running water or central heat. Our upstairs bedrooms were often below freezing as we had only an oil burning space heater in the dining room. The outhouse was 100 yards away, and the well was 100 yards away, up hill in the other direction. I was the water carrier for the family, befitting my Aquarius sign. Our school district never had a "snow day". And we were the first ones on the bus for about a 75 minute ride to the school 12 miles away. Sub zero temps were not uncommon. We stood in line for "cheese food" and canned cream corn as this was before food stamps. But damn, the music was awesome. I loved music from Elvis to the 90s decade. I did not remain poor. However. I had pretty good employment throughout my life.
You lived in luxury.
My life story sounds just like yours
@@garyfrancis6193 Compared to people Somalia maybe.
@garyfrancis6193 Ha! Monty Python remembers!
I'm a 56er, as well...good vintage!😉
I think about 2019, when I had a heart attack. 30 minutes after arriving at the hospital I was in the cath lab and had two stents implanted through an artery. 1-1/2 days later I was back home, with no large scars and no heart damage. It's a miracle.
How much did it "cost"? Did you get some of those thousand dollar aspirin? You're lucky that the solution to what ailed you was on the checklist of approved and reimbursable actions. Fixing you was profitable this time, it may not be the next time... lucky is right.
Thank God!
And I pray you never have another one!
@@whogivesacrapaboutastupidc2313 What it did cost was worth it! I do have good insurance, so there's that. I am thankful that I have a good cardiologist and a good hospital. I can't foretell what will happen tomorrow, but I can ALWAYS be thankful for today.
@@tngtacticalmiata1219 Me too!
Having a joyous and thankful attitude also makes you lucky.
1990's the best? PFAW! Give me the 1980's my man!
I hated the 80s, of course I was a teenager that decade and that is a rough part of your life, but the music sucked to me, the movies were amusing to amazing, depending on which one. After 2019 the movies have been worse than plays and whatnot that pretentious college blondes pull from their nether regions.
The 70s were meh to me, the 90s were lots of work and a divorce. The 00s were my second major conflict, 10s were chronic pain and the second divorce. Now in my 50s this has been the best decade of my life so far. Not because of the lack of decent movies, but because I am doing ok now that I don't have an ex camped out in my pocket book before I get paid.
The internet lets me do cool things I could only dream of in the 70s and 80s. I can make movies of my own now, without 'the messaage' and the nonsense they put in it trying to make movies more better.
The 1980’s had the greatest recession since 1929.
@@garyfrancis6193 Yes it did thanks to Jimmy Carter. The 1980's also had one of the greatest recoveries since 1776 - Thanks to Ronald Reagan.
Without googling it - do you have any idea what the top marginal income tax rate was on average between 1929 and 1980 and what it has been since?
If you do, do you understand why that shift is responsible for a relatively uninterrupted record of growth over the past 40 years?
And where we had those economic down turns over the past 40 years, they were tied to idiotic top down command and control economic policy.
Pithy little statements like yours are a joke!
I was fortunate to be a teenager during the 1960s muscle car era. I was 17 when cars like the Pontiac GTO, Plymouth Roadrunner, Ford Mustang, Chevy Chevelle burst onto the scene in the mid 60s. Like Scott, I worked every job I could until I was cruising Woodward Avenue and Telegraph Road in my very own 1966 Chevelle. It was a great time to be alive.
I was a teeny bopper in the '80s and we 'cruised the gut' in the car's you discussed with the Loud 60's-80s music cranked up.. Best music & cars for sure..
Yep cruising Woodward, White Castle slider burgers.
Telegraph Road is another great Dire Straits song.
Voting on the 1980’s as the best decade, man. The explosion of colors, sounds, action, explorations….
The 90’s gave us…. grunge. [sigh]
I agree.
Imagine still complaining about grunge 30 years after the fact.
I still listen to Alice in Chains, Soundgarden, and Pearl Jam all the time. Quality bands with great songs.
I'm with you. Even Bill's beloved Dire Straits agrees. That was when MTV had real music and they got their money for nothing and their chicks for free.
Well, we DID try to fix things with the late 1990s swing revival... Yes, it was largely cringe, but I was all in on it, Daddy-O!
Yup. The harder I work the luckier I get.
my sainted mother said that....There is no luck, it's hard work and learning from your mistakes. Work harder, you get luckier. AND my son, know when you are working hard on the WRONG thing...should you be there, be ready to drop the shovel and walk. You are working on the wrong thing. IF you don't take care of you, nobody else will."
Thanks mom.
Every once in a while I am reminded why I am a supporting member of this channel. It is the only one I pay to support. You guys are great. Thanks.
The best reactions are watching people react to the Righteous Brothers. "What? They're White!"
Brilliant! And Sultans of Swing got me playing guitar when I was a much younger man. This video is saved to my favourites. Thank you, gentlemen.
Frog leap studios did a cover of it and it is good
My Grand Mother Emma Stein was born in 1862, Died in 1958. Think of the changes she saw?
Speaking of lucky, I’ve been listening to you three since you started. Thanks, gentlemen.
lol. Remember Trifecta,.. a lot people say try what?
Your chief duty to others is to *hold up the mirror of reality* -- which includes conveying *wonder.*
Thanks for this episode, guys.
The Gorn and Captain Kirk behind Bill makes me happy.
Whether you think you can, or whether you think you can't, you're probably right.
The 90's were the peak of peace and prosperity, with the beginning of promise of the internet with none of the baggage of social media and the surveillance state. I'm class of 95 and I took it for granted.
yup, kids missed growing up in the 80s and playing outside
Dire Straits, one of my favirite bands of all time. So much great music.
who lese remembers the promise for the future held by the song "winds of change" by the skoprions?
A beautiful song of hope.
My daughter was wishing we could go back to the 90s. I’m wanting to go back to the 50s! You’re right though…we are so lucky we have those memories! Love ❤️ from Texas!
I was born to American parents overseas, and spent much of my childhood abroad. Americans have never understood how incredibly fortunate they are and how luxurious, protected, and pampered their lives are in comparison to most of the world, so yes indeed, we are the luckiest people ever!
My folks , who knew privation , hunger , poverty and hard , hard work gave me an idyllic life. Amazing……I’m 76 and would like another helping of life ,please.
My favorite Mark Knopfler tune ever is Romeo and Juliet
The version on the On The Night album.
@@roquri YAS!!
Hold on to your hats, boys... I think things are fixin' to (preparing to, in Texan) get much, MUCH worse...soon! Our generation HAS been very blessed, and we've seen so many marvels that previous generations didn't. I had a Texas Instruments pocket calculator my senior year in high school. It had more computing power, I'm told, than NASA's first Lunar landing module. When I was in the 5th grade, Mr. Spock only had a circular slide-rule. Ahhh...Star Trek! I hope I live long enough to physically see the return of Jesus...another blessing of THIS generation. Love you guys! -M
The luckiest guy in the world is Tsutomu Yamaguchi. He was in both Hiroshima and Nagasaki when the nuclear bombs were dropped on them, and yet he lived to be 93.
It's good to see boomers and gen-Xers acknowledge that they were born and lived in a very special time. As an older millennial I missed the moment by only a hair. I was a child during the end of the Good Days of the 90s and it gave me the mistaken idea that things were just going to get better from there.
Then I had to experience high school and college in the post-9/11 era and enter adulthood amidst the "Great Recession", then go to work amidst the divisive, miserable, unravelling society of the 10s, and I've spent my 30s sludging through the mind-numbing awfulness of the Woke era. Now I get to watch my father die of incurable cancer while I wonder whether I'm going to be homeless if my mother sells the house, since even a one bedroom apartment is well out of reach of my income now.
I've learned to count my blessings and I am grateful to God for all the wonderful things in my life. But I still can't help but feel weighed down by all the awfulness of this current moment in time and the dread that it will only get worse.
One thing I learned and how to stay out of the funk you know get out of your head, find one thing in a day and give you Joy or that you can draw Joy from. Even if it's somebody else's good thing joy for them. I'm with you living in an uncertainty sucks
The 60s were pretty good to grow up in.
Brilliant episode guys! Just a real feel good episode for us 60's babies. I feel so sorry for the kids who grow up with social media. And BTW, 80's and 90's music genre is the best! Now if you'll excuse me, I have to tell Alexa to play some Dire Straights!
I'm a few months older than Bill but at my former company (now retired), the Gen X and Millennial coworkers, when I would ask them "why they liked the music from my generation (70s and 80s bands)" would always answer "because you guys had the best music". I couldn't agree more.
Amen. Bill. Gratitude is very important. We watched fellow Americans stroll on the moon, and RETURN. Don't forget "Feels so Good" by Chuck Mangione. (My dad said, "It's like he can't figure out what style to use.") Then, "Sultans of Swing." I had the privilege of serving in Rickover's nuclear navy, and during the Reagan presidency. Now, a lovely wife, healthy children, grandchildren, and dear friends. The blessings of God and Western Thought cannot be overrated.
"SOS" came out in 1979. I pointed out to others back then that the singer sounded a lot like Bob Dylan. He did.
Yeah, I thought ol' Bob sounded better than ever.
The Wachowskis were correct, the 1990s were the pinnacle of human existence (which is why they set The Matrix in a faux 90s).
That's where my mind went
That was the best comment Bill! "The things are damaging the things we love, but the things we love are so strong that they can take it (for us and not break 😢😊)."
Born 1950. The things I have seen, WOW. I have been to over 30 countries and really do think this is the best of them all. Blessed is the best way I can express this. Thank you for making me look back and be thankful.
Blessings.
Born in 1980... A fascinating time, the era of the STS, the tech revolution... The internet in the 90s. Entering a new millennium. I had a job in high school because I wanted stuff, not because I'd starve without it. Truly a great time to be alive.
Smiled through this whole episode. Listened to Sultans of Swing hundreds of times. Now, relistening, so to speak, to Kansas after watching a documentary on this amazing band. In my seventies so grew up with the best music on the planet.
I had a stroke in 2014 and I have always been thankful to have it had it in 2014 and not 1914! Thankful not only for the medical tech (CT/MRI) but the tech that has enabled to adapt to the changes brought on by my stroke! Huge Dire Straits/Mark Knopfler fan here! I remember playing the Brothers in Arms CD on one of Sony's first portable CD players, thing was a beast!
👍👍 Amen!
OH MY GOODNESS, Bill!! I remember hearing Sultans of Swing when I was a rebellious grunge/alternative rock high-schooler and I dismissed it. Decades later now, it is one of my all-time favorite songs!! I could not agree more - there is a sublime, understated *PRECISION* to that music that makes it transcendent.
My life is a long string of bad choices, with awesome background music.
the live version from their 1983 Alchemy concert tour is the best version of Sultans of Swing ever!!!!!!!
I was born in 1958 and for me the 80's were my favorite decade. The 90's were also pretty good but they also brought us Ruby Ridge, Waco, Oklahoma City, TWA 800. I think it depends on how we are getting along in our lives at a given time as to how we remember it. I had a relative that lived from 1884 to 1986. She lived a long way from me so I saw her only a few times. I wish I could have sat down and talked with her about her life and the changes she saw and lived.
What an amazing positive message for the day! Thank you gentlemen❤
i dont know if im the luckiest guy, but i am darn lucky i grew up before the inteerweb age and age of the smartphone.
Dang Skippy we are lucky to have not had a smartphone. Made a study harder, pay attention to the world, we learned and retained much much better
Well done, Bill. Talking about the Sultans song was a poetic intro.
"A real man makes his own luck - Billy Zane, Titanic" - Dwight Schrute, The Office
Born in 1993, my brother had most of the model planes as a kid. (I have them now, since he doesn't want them anymore.) I didn't do so much flying model planes around. But I ran endless loops around our house and through the house in the rain with a podracer in each hand.
Bill I am 4 years behind you born in 1964 so I remember a lot of what you do. We both were freshmen the same year, 1979, me in high school you in college. I agree with you that we live in a science fiction world. My granddad on my dad's side was born in 1888. He remembered the pre-tech world were the steam engine and the telegraph was hi-tech. And he lived long enough to watch that same small step I did at 5 you did at 9.
Listen to the other song on Dire Straits first album. Water of love, Water line, 6 blade knife, their all great.
To Scott, as I have noticed a guitar in his background.. that triplet Mark plays effortlessly at the very end of Sultans can be copied by a little practice and patience by using the bottom two strings-B &E - and employing the down B, down E up E with a pull off on the E after the up. I struggled for years to teach myself the combination and was pleasantly surprised at how easy it actually was.
I have been servicing medical imaging equipment for almost 40 years. CT scanners have gone from taking 30 minutes to do an eight slice scan and another 30 minutes to reconstruct the images to taking a scan covering over 700mm in one second with a .2mm resolution creating 10,000 images, reconstructing all 10,000 in less than 3 minutes. MRI scans went from having to be completely still for 30 minutes,to breath hold scans that can take images of a beating heart between ventricle compressions while holding one’s breath for less than 30 seconds
God is good.
I feel exactly the same every time I hear “gimme dat ding”
I'm lucky because even though my favorite composers, singers, lyricists are gone
I get to enjoy the largest catalogue of big band music the timeline has ever given.
Or... we are living in a simulation.
So agree! I have fibromyalgia (and actually have found I had it all my life, but thought pain was normal, and in awe at how much others could do) and am free to not have to go out if I do not want to with needs just coming to my door, spend what time I am not watching my grandkids (which I love to do, as they are being raised enough independent to need little besides listening to them), can be freely researching anything I wish, can order in/have easy foods to fix, be resting anytime I wish, and can just reach from my bed to get what meds/natural things we have found to help. In most any other time or so many places, I would just be dead.
Thank you. I needed this. My business has cratered to zero over the last couple months and I don’t know where my next client is coming from. But hearing Scott say, “You make your own luck” was the encouragement I needed as I continue to strive against the discouragement, preparing for whenever that next job shows up. Cheers!
Great to hear your attitude shift. Bill should get credit for "You make your own luck."
Every generation has their own “best of time” moment. I’m in my 70’s and I realize my father had a different version than mine. However, I recognize those moments in his life contributed to mine. It’s stupid to downplay the advances or discoveries of previous generations. Without those discoveries, we wouldn’t have today’s discoveries.
Thank God you guys have finally commented on reaction videos. I am obsessed with musical reaction videos. And there are ALWAYS four bands which reaction channels end up featuring, and the listeners end up being giant fans of those bands. Dire Straits, Chicago, Yes, and Rush. Many of those "reactors" grew up on only hip-hop, or extreme metal, or else were raised Menonnite or even Amish. Seeing them exposed to the quintessential virtuoso popular music of my youth, clearly the greatest popular music of all time, always peps me up. Having grown up just north of Hollywood in the 60s and 70s, and living very close (too close, to be honest) to the music industry of that time, I agree with your assessment of us being supremely blessed in this age.
For all the negative things going on in the world, there's also a whole lotta good. We mustn't discount that which is good in the world and marvel at what mankind has accomplished.
Love the Cartier Family channel Bill references. Def worth a subscription!
The 80s were peak for movies, while the 90s were peak for video games.
Sim City and StarCraft
Bill needs to pay Scott more apparently
There's a guy luckier than anyone: Larry Silverstein.
Steve takes lizard pills!
I agree, we're "The Luckiest Guys in the World". I grew up in the 1950's which was the best decade in America. I'm also now witnessing the downfall of not just America but ALL of the western nations simultaneously!. What a great time to be alive Lol
My favorite music reaction videos are the ones with young women hearing The Righteous Brothers "Unchained Melody" for the first time, the version with Bobby Hatfield singing live on TV.
When I was a wee lad in the late 70's then a teenager in the 80's, my favorite past time was fishing. I was limited to ponds and banks of the lake if I was lucky. Today I fish out of a big damned kayak, that's motorized and has a fish finder. Now I can fish all the creeks, lakes and rivers. Back then no one even knew what a kayak was. I love these times. I'd prefer a little more morality, and a lot less "me me". Speaking of fishing....................
The best cover of Sultans of Swing is Leo Moracchioli and Mary Spender doing a metal cover of it.
LEO!!!!! I really like his version of Paint it Black
Wonderful. Thank you!
Chilean guitarist Miguel montalban plays a 15-minute instrumental version of sultans of swing that got the attention of Mark knopfler and his band.
And here just the other day, Bill was livid about the fact that he's been waiting his entire life for the real space program to get underway and now that it finally is, he's probably going to miss the best parts because America took fifty years off.
Makes the in-progress collapse of civilized society all that more painful.
Thanks for the upbeat and optimistic video. I think we need to have reminders like this evey so often, I know I do.
I enjoyed 70's, 80's and 90's. I've had a wonderful life, if you compare it to what this world could dish out. Glass is half full or half empty, depends on what you compare it to.
If it was a glass of beer, it's empty 🍺😜
I thought Steve was gonna turn into Wendell the Librarian for a minute..
My mom would call upstairs by our names.
Dire Straits is tied for my 3rd favorite artist( tied with Steely Dan, Kansas is #1, Supertramp is #2). I like Bill even more now. The 70s up to 2000 were the best years for music/culture
Mr. Whittle may have the lizard eyes but I say his heart is all human. ;-)
Hopefully it's not over yet!!! 😊
Mary here. Ya so lucky we are but to seeing nothing in our skis but stars. Was a blessing too.
One of the reasons to the crappy childhood in current USA and Canada is the current car-centric city design, which force them to stay at home, or be moved by adults to wherever they need to be.
Depends on where your main interest is in. If you are in college 79, you must be born around 1960, Bill? I been a long time reader of Flying magazine, and one of the story teller supreme was the late Len Morgan. He must be born around 1920? His flight experience went from almost Wright Brothers to well into the jet age. He learned on biplanes, then a co-pilot in DC3 in WW2, eventually captain of a 707 and retired captain of a 747 with Braniff. Talking about full spectrum experience. I still have several books he wrote and I am not letting it go. If you know someone that want a DC3 parts manual and a DC4 maintenance manual, let me know.
Its the best time to be looking back on life... Cause the future isnt as bright lol
My kidneys failed in 95 and im still here
There can be only one... Bill
90s was peak...
90s was part of the big blur for me. 40s, working, and tired. Much better now: retired, family close, good church, keep busy, and I, as the Irish say, have my sufficiency.
Watching this as I recouperate from a heart procedure to fix a heart rythm issue. Both my parents died from heart attacks. Today, I have exceeded the number of days my father lived, and seem to be ready for more years of living, Lord willing! I want to introduce my Grandson(s) to as much of the stuff I did growing up slightly earlier than Bill. Surprisingly, it's his parents that stand in the way most of the time being, in my opinion, somewhat overly protective.
Yes we live in an age far more abundant than those before us. However, I also see evil growing apace.
Wow my dad's been through two bypasses and just recently had arrhythmia.😅 I know it's not really funny, Still since they put a pacemaker in, docks are ahead of the curve on him. He doesn't have to wait till it hurts they call him tell him to come in.
I'm with you on overprotective parents. We used to fall out of trees how off away from home for a few hours and then head home come dinner time. Lawn darts BB gun wars, get into a fight and the downside of a sloped end up losing come home bleeding. 🤣 And moms hoping we didn't stain the clothes
American Pie by Don McLean has always been my favorite from back in the day.
It seems more appropriate now then it was then. Before I just thought it was a cool song, today it brings an almost prophetic tear to my eye.
The metal version by frog leap is the best sultans of swing.😂
LEO!!!!!!!!
I was watching Apollo 11 What We Saw. My godson who was around 5 came to see me. I pointed out, "that's Neil Armstrong. He's the first man to walk on the moon". He looked at me and said, "I thought Michael Jackson was the first man to walk on the moon." I laughed so hard. This story will be mentioned at his wedding.
Obviously, a great video, and obviously, too much is taken for granted, without historical context to consider the facts, which must result in gratitude. Gratitude for the sacrifice and genius of previous generations, who worked and used freedom for greater good - freedom that is at a precipice.
Amen!
Scott is still Out of Focus
Funny thing is that I was just watching that video. Those two brothers also do some killer Pink Floyd covers.
TV Guide, library catalog system, mail order, fax machine, telephone booths - gone. exotic fruits and vegetables at the grocery store, camera/phone/computer in my pocket, Tesla is perfecting auto driving - blessed beyond all measure
I'm 59 years old and great music stopped right around 2005.
It was killed by autotune and a series of DAW's that illiminated the need to learn to play an instrument.
AI will be the ultimate death of good musc
Hopefully, out of the ashes will rise the world of the 1950's through the 1990's when bands were made up of musicians who had to stand on stage, face their audience and capture their attention with a live performance.
I challenge the current crop of top selling artists to match the artistry, creativity, and sonic excellence of the likes of:
Elvis Pressley
Buddy Holly
The Doors
Creedence Clearwater Revival
The Beach Boys
Cream
The Beatles
Led Zeppelin
Pink Floyd
RUSH
Queen
Boston
The Police
Talking Heads
David Bowie
The Who
Fleetwood Mac
The Eagles
Van Halen
Cheap Trick
Tom Petty (Heartbreakers or solo)
Metallica
Foo Fighters
Alice in Chains
Supertramp
The Cars
The Cranberries
And yes Bill, Dire Straits
And one could just keep on going
Add Kansas and Steely Dan
@@michaelbaucom4019 Good additions. I just typed that list off the top of my head. Missed those two. Could also add
Lynyrd Skynyrd
AC/DC
INXS
and so many more
😂 mentioned C C R two young lady she didn't know what it was. She went looking for it and came back flabbergasted that she had never found them. I guess just a generation behind