I saw one of those engagement-type questions on Facebook:
“What couldn't you live without?”
It was a no-brainer for me (in that moment, at least):
I can’t conceive of a world without music.
I’ve almost always got a song in my head.
I whistle, I hum, I tap, I click, I play, I sing, I listen. (I wind my housemates up a bit with this behaviour sometimes, sorry! 😬)
Music's been a constant companion in my life. A soundtrack, holding the most evocative of memories and feeling states inside those 3-10 minute parcels of sound.
Frequencies resonating with my very soul, in a way I can’t understand.
And then there's the lyrics.
I think that all art is a metaphor for life: it's all a creative expression of the energy of life. Form from the formless; referencing that process in some way, through its creation.
But sometimes, just sometimes, song lyrics more explicitly pointing to the mechanics of how we work as humans—the principles behind life—come along, and those tracks really stick with me.
I’ve professed my love of Howard Jones before. And the lyrics of Martin Gore (that’s Depeche Mode, to you).
But a current favourite, that’s really got under my skin is the opener from the latest Tears for Fears album, and it’s like they’re talking about my little stick man diagram and the two ways of being (💭 Thought Realisation vs. Innate Health ❤️), or the left vs right brain consciousness experiences, when they sing:
“Reason gonna blind you
Cripple and confine you
Listen as your poor heart breaks”
We’ve become such slaves to our thinking, we’ve become crippled and confined by it. Listen to what your heart is saying, people! This is your life!
I love it when a combination of music and lyric hits the spot with me like this.
How about you?
What's your favourite song lyric that points to the underlying human condition?
💟
Giles
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Related
There are many, many metaphors on this website—that’s all we have, to describe the ineffable!—so explore this Topic, and some of my favourite examples, to your heart’s content.