| Noah and the Whale – L.I.F.E.G.O.E.S.O.N. Lyrics | 11 years ago |
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I really admire the way that this song honours the humanity and dignity of marginalised people – those who mainstream UK/US society would write off as "losers" for not having earned enough "personal net worth", or for declining to adopt a conformist sensibility. Ah, but they've got more than money and sense, my friend, they've got heart, and they're going their own way. Since every universal phenomena is characterised by change, then as our life goes on, what we don't have now may well come back again, but more important than these transitory impermanences is the fact that we've got heart – expressing loving kindness and compassion on your journey through life is the sure fire heart-led route to having no regrets on your last night on earth, when you're done with your life. This song was aptly chosen to accompany trailers for 'Derek' on TV Channel 4 in the UK in 2014 (a comedy series by Ricky Gervais, set in an elderly care home), the subtext of which has great synergy with L.I.F.E.G.O.E.S.O.N. – living a heart-led life of kindness and compassion trumps being a so-called "winner" every time, and helps to expose the vapid hollowness of vulgar bourgeois hyperconsumption individualism. The video rendition of Lisa strongly reminded me of the 1984 Wim Wenders movie 'Paris, Texas', and the whole song brings to mind a more overtly anarchist anthem from 1991, 'One Way' by The Levellers: "There's only one way of life / And that's your own, your own, your own!" |
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| 10,000 Maniacs – These Are Days Lyrics | 12 years ago |
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What a joy to read of others' celebrations of this glorious song! I recall listening to the 'MTV Unplugged' (1993) version on headphones, while cycling along a country lane in Buckinghamshire, UK, during a three-day weekend rural music festival in the 1990s — and most especially enjoying the euphoric elation of a sunny summer day, during a hypomanic high [1]. So, for me, it's always an encapsulation of the ecstatic joy of living in the moment, and indulging in the heady pleasures of a hypomanic bonding with a sunlit natural countryside environment (similar to my rural Cheshire upbringing), knowing that the sights and sounds I'm perceiving are speaking to me personally of the supreme existential joy of being a fully interconnected human consciousness. [1] A hypomanic high — I have type II bipolar affective disorder, where the misery of clinical depression is occasionally balanced by the euphoric elation of short-lived episodes of 'little'-mania. More info: see 'Hypomania', by Wikipedians » http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypomania |
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