The song has been on my iPhone for a long time. I think I first heard it in the 60s. I didn’t hear it though as a stand alone song. I remember hearing it as I watched the movie…The Strawberry Statement. We were in Cape Cod. It was at the time between law school and life.
The movie had some wonderful songs but it was The Circle Game that has stayed with me. I know Joni Mitchell had a hit record with it but the movie had Buffy Sainte-Marie singing it. Her voice has the exact right tone and texture to make it both haunting and thought provoking.
The circle game. The merry go round. The seasons. Around and around. I think it was the part about being captive on the carousel of time that got me. We have no choice. The time goes. The hand has to be played out. It never stops until it stops. We are propelled forward. You could almost hear the carousel music playing as the day, the week, the month, the years spin away.
We are all part of the game. There is no exit. So we must choose to ride it knowing this reality. Take a listen to it. Let it settle in. Then the next time you see a carousel hop on one of the frozen horses and take a ride on the circle game.
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