Site Home

[Bossman]

The Song of Life

Why does music soothe the savage beast? Is this nothing but a metaphor with no substance? In other words, is it untrue? What am I talking about here? One minute I'm going on about the music of life in a purely metaphysical manner, whereas now I'm considering music in the physical sense. Why? Not quite sure to be honest with you, but to draw a correlation between the two, I surely have to consider both as being somehow linked. Think about it. What if it was possible to feel your way through the assault course of life with an inbuilt advantage, an antenna attuned to only the cordial, steering you away from danger. What an advantage it would be. I sure as hell wish I had one inside my brain-box. Is there a way to acquire one? Sign me up on the spot if there is. Maybe, just maybe, we can construct one of our own making with the right psychological tools to hand. You never know what you can achieve unless you try.

Okay, if we become somehow 'different' when listening to a particular form of music, should we then all walk around with headphones on and with mood-enhancing music blasting into our lugholes? I might well have to change my opinion about all the joggers I have seen strapped up in such a manner if that is the case. Maybe the increased chance of being run over is worth the risk? I feel I am missing the point here, drifting off on another one of my convoluted, meandering ideas which has little to do with the subject at hand: possibly I am suffering from a stuck mental record somewhere, one that needs changing the sooner, the better by all accounts. I need to get back on track.

The 'Song of Life' isn't one likely to end up in the charts being ethereal in nature. It is an attempt to portray our existence as something primordial, where to live life to the full, we have to learn to feel its call through the very soles of our feet, through all that is around us; because the signals must be there; it is just we have lost our ability to connect with the nature of things. Did we ever have such an ability? I should think we did at one time. Where is our own Pied Piper, he who shows the way ahead, always spouting tunes of happiness and tranquility when you need him? There are plenty of people very unhappy with how we live these days. But I transgress. What signals am I making vague references too?

Let's consider language, the English language in my case, where we have anonyms (opposites) to nearly every descriptive word going. People can be placed in various behavioural camps, where their make-up is apparently one or the other: introverted or extroverted being just one set of differences, though there are many others. One person can be in their element in company whilst another can be reduced to a shaking wallflower and yet both are experiencing the same circumstance. What then is going on? Why is it one person floating along in an air of positivity and the other drowning in a sea of negativity? I have stated both are receiving the same information, but one is obviously deciphering the complex code of social interaction in a manner totally at variance with his or her physical counterpoint. Obviously, their deciphering abilities are completely different. Why? Is one in the wrong? If so, which one?

As this whole piece is about being happy with your lot, then we have to consider the 'wallflower' as being 'out of tune', but no, I think this assumption would be very wrong. Isn't it just that the event was out of tune with the wallflower! They should simply never have crossed paths. If the wallflower was true to his or her nature and was cognisant of it and had the balls to back it up, then he or she would never have stepped foot in the place in the first instance. Or, should a person learn a different set of rules to match their lifestyle, effectively living a lie so as not to stand out, whist being thrown out of sync as a result? This is becoming complicated. There is more to this than meets the eye.

Whoa - heavy stuff. Time to lighten the load. I'm listening to wondrous music. Unique music, not much like any other music I am familiar with, though it does remind me of a harpsichord, yet it is a piece written and performed by Ewan Dobson - Best Friend, and is acoustic finger-picking. As writing music is very creative, it requires a person to be in touch with a part of their makeup which has its roots in human behaviour since time immemorial, so let's shake off the stifling effects of life in the 21st century, or at least life in the technologically advanced West, and head out into the country miles from anywhere, back to our roots in effect.

So what do we have here ? A tribe of savages living the dream? Plenty of us think so. But I think there is only so much to learn from considering how ancient tribes lived. By shedding our materialistically inclined skins, we would no-doubt live a much less stressful life, but only up to a point. Lacking the bare necessities of life can be stressful too. All we would be doing is swapping one set of stresses for another. Anyway, the point I'm touching on is to do with intellect and understanding, a great deal of understanding, and returning to a primitive lifestyle ain't gonna cut it, it being devoid of all the great works of our forebears for one thing. Somewhere in among the literature and psychobiological knowledge we now hold has to be the key. The enigma machine was a modern-day invention, as is the computer, and both excel at working their way through vast amounts of data, yet both were man-made, hence I consider we are well equipped to figure out the conundrum this little story is setting, but there are lessons to be learned from the past for sure.

The more I think about this the more I can see how I will end up contradicting myself. You see, 'signals' are nothing more than simple everyday movements, even mannerisms in a lot of cases. ALL creatures have the ability to see and interpret them. They are the flick of the wrist, hair, smile, wink, smell, the air we breathe, the heat and cold we feel, being the very basics of life itself, those informing us of everything, all that is good for us or bad. The trick is how do we use this skill set to carve a road out of the bedrock of modern day life, where space is of paramount concern and overlapping is bound to occur, one where the bad can be avoided or contained?

And then we have the other side of the coin, those of us who are too sensitive to these signals, who are overwhelmed by them. What path can a person carve out for themselves then? Let's get back to the storyline, otherwise I will go on and on and on and on, zzzzzz, about myself once again.

One thing is clear here, and that is, I haven't solved the puzzle. I state I KNOW what the signals are. Well, if that is the case, how come I am not in touch with the other half of the equation. I have a head start on most don't I? Why the stumbling block then? Why the lack of a breakthrough? Let me turn the music back on as it will help me to figure this out. Ah - better.

'Just because you can't see something doesn't mean it isn't there', is a saying by someone or other which is maybe pertinent at this point. I can feel something IS there, but I can't quite get a handle on it. Reminds me of a famous savant, Daniel T, who sees the world differently from others, being made up of numbers attached to shapes and colours. A man who is able to remember number sequences in the 10s to 1000s, being able to see their shape in his mind's eye as he works his way through complex mathematical formulae. I am no savant (genius), but it would be reassuring to think there could be a yellow brick road to happiness should there be a way of sign-posting it in some way, so you stay on the straight and narrow at all times.

'If music be the food of love, play on': William Shakespeare. Well, there we are. Shakespeare sure knew a thing or two about human nature. Could this be interpreted as the complexities of life can only be assuaged by travelling along with a balanced viewpoint, when your yin is in close proximity to your opposing yang? If you think about it, just look how many songs there are about this very pairing! Could the darkness in many be lifted only with the acquirement of love in some form? Wait, is the answer to give rather than to receive? Is that what it is? Could this be the catalyst which starts the ball rolling and the bells to start ringing? Is self-sacrifice the generator needed to light the way and to start the band playing? If it is, that might account for why I haven't been able to set foot on the right path, as I am a very selfish person.

Maybe, maybe not. In the meantime, music affords me a great deal. I feel better when I listen to it. I have a nagging suspicion I might have hit a raw nerve with the previous paragraph though. I am not a giver by any stretch of the imagination, but a taker, quite a merciless one at that. If thinking of others before yourself is the only real way to 'trip the light fantastic', then I will never learn the skills needed to dance to life's elegant tune, unless I change my ways, that is. Deaf I will remain to the real meaning of life until my dying day if the above is in any way, shape, or form correct.

I have something going for me though in that at least I am seeking, searching for something better, being willing to alter course should it be necessary. I will keep my eyes, ears and mind open to all around me, forcing receptivity to the max, and maybe one day I will merge the two, the physical with the metaphysical, to be able to feel, shape and swim through the emotional soup of my own making, where I will eventually break free to land on some distant shore, where a song is playing, and I will know once and for all I am on the right road. There surely is a road there for all of us, and for those who share a similar outlook there will be plenty of company along the way, with everyone singing happily from the same song sheet.