I close my eyes, Only for a moment, And the moment's gone... All my dreams, Pass before my eyes, a curiosity. Dust in the wind, All they are is dust in the wind. Same old song, Just a drop of water, In an endless sea. All we do, Crumbles to the ground Though we refuse to see. Dust in the wind, All we are is dust in the wind... Now, don't hang on, Nothing lasts forever but the immense sky. It slips away, And all your money won't another minute buy. Dust in the wind, All we are is dust in the wind. Dust in the wind, Everything is dust in the wind. That song by the band Kansas always reminds me how fleeting our lives are. Always remember to tell the people you love that you love them, because you never know when the last time you see them will be. If you love someone, let them know it... not just through your words, but through your actions as well. Call them up to say hello, or stop by and take them to lunch. Treat people as you want yourself to be treated and you will get through life with few regrets in that regard, Because in the end, all we are IS dust in the wind.
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I believe I've spoken on this before, but recently I found a few new songs with this same... description. I find so many times, people listen to just the beat of a song and not the lyrics. This is not the case for me- lyrics are everything, so I look past the happy beat and hear what the song is actually saying. I'm trying to keep this post short.... but I'll leave the titles of a few songs below. The one in particular that I want you to listen to, I will leave the video for below. I'm also posting the lyrics. Listen to the beat of the song, but bare in mind the lyrics. I think you'll see what I mean. "Faded"
You were the shadow to my light Did you feel us? Another star You fade away Afraid our aim is out of sight Wanna see us Alive Where are you now? Where are you now? Where are you now? Was it all in my fantasy? Where are you now? Were you only imaginary? Where are you now? Atlantis Under the sea Under the sea Where are you now? Another dream The monster's running wild inside of me I'm faded I'm faded So lost, I'm faded I'm faded So lost, I'm faded These shallow waters never met what I needed I'm letting go a deeper dive Eternal silence of the sea. I'm breathing alive Where are you now? Where are you now? Under the bright but faded lights You've set my heart on fire Where are you now? Where are you now? Where are you now? Atlantis Under the sea Under the sea Where are you now? Another dream The monster's running wild inside of me I'm faded I'm faded So lost, I'm faded I'm faded So lost, I'm faded -------- Bullet - Hollywood Undead Colors - Halsey Kill Your Heroes - AWOLnation A Light That Never Comes - Linkin Park Fun - Troye Sivan Can't Sleep - K.Flay -- Maddie It's funny how the mind works. Every once in a while you'll hear an old song in a new light. It happened to me today. The song "Question" by the Moody Blues came on. I have known and liked this song for decades. I saw the Moody Blues in concert once back in the late '80's or early 90's (who can remember dates!). And yet, I saw the song in a whole new light today! For those of you who don't know it, the song is about the choices young men had to make during the Vietnam War. The writer, Justin Heyward, always said that the song was actually two songs he put together to make one. Well, when it came on the playlist today on my iPad there was one part that really made me feel a deep sense of loss. I'll quote it below and then give my thoughts on it afterward. If you don't know the song, I just posted it on my facebook page. Feel free to go listen to it there, or just look it up on youtube. "Between the silence of the mountains And the crashing of the sea, There lies a land I once lived in And she's waiting there for me. But in the grey of the morning My mind becomes confused, Between the dead and the sleeping, And the road that I must choose. I'm looking for Someone to change my life. I'm looking for A miracle in my life! And if you could see, What it's done to me To lose the love I knew, Could safely lead me to The land that I once knew... To learn as we grow old The secrets of our soul." To me, these are the words of someone who has suffered a great loss. They immediately made me think about my wife and how much I miss her. How sometimes upon waking in the morning I feel like she had been there resting with me, but that it is now time for me to return to the land of the living.
In the end, I think we are all looking for miracles. The one person who can bring happiness back into our lives. The only thing is, that that person is already here for all of us. There is no need to find them. We are it. Only you can control how you respond to life. You are the maker of your own reality. You can make it happy or sad.. Most of us let our reality bounce around so much that we don't realize the control we have over our own happiness. Still, life is better when its shared. Wanting someone new to enter your life is not a bad thing. As long as you don't make it the only thing. I chose the silence of the mountains, over the crashing of the sea... and that is part of how, I bring happiness to me. About ten days ago my daughter Madison wrote a post about the Pink Floyd song "Wish You Were Here" where she mentioned that she did not know what I thought it meant, but that for her the song was about living in shades of gray. For me the song always had three meanings. The first is the meaning that David Gilmour and Roger Waters gave it. They have both said publicly that they wrote the song as a tribute to Syd Barrett, a member of their band that did too much acid, and eventually had a mental breakdown and became a schizophrenic. The song, they say, was written for him. The other two meanings are just what I always got from the song. Overall, I think the song is about the certainty of youth, and that how over time a lot of what you were once certain about turns out to be totally false, or at least not how you pictured it. In fact, I have always felt that the song was about disillusionment with the Vietnam War. Admittedly, the first reason I will dive into was my first thoughts on the song, while my second meaning developed over time as I got older.I have pasted the lyrics below. Read them, think about them a bit and then read through my explanation. "Wish You Were Here" So, so you think you can tell Heaven from Hell, blue skies from pain. Can you tell a green field from a cold steel rail? A smile from a veil? Do you think you can tell? Did they get you to trade your heroes for ghosts? Hot ashes for trees? Hot air for a cool breeze? Cold comfort for change? Did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? How I wish, how I wish you were here. We're just two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl, year after year, Running over the same old ground. What have we found? The same old fears. Wish you were here. Okay, so in just looking at the first two stanzas I see a number of hints that the questions that start the song could be from either a friend or a lover to a man who is just about to sign up to go fight in the Vietnam War. Many signed up because they thought they were saving the world from communism. The friend asks: Do you think you can tell heaven from hell? Is what we have here truly better than what they have over there, when you have never been over there? Can you confidently say things are worse over there, or just different? How much can you really tell from what you have seen of the world? The second stanza asks questions of the soldier while he is in Vietnam. He has already seen action. He has seen friends and people he respects die (trade heroes for ghosts). He has watched Napalm turn green jungle into a burning hell and has felt the hot air from the explosions (Hot ashes for trees? Hot air for a cool breeze?) He realizes that he left his home for an ideal that doesn't exist and therefore refuses to fight any more and gets put in prison (Did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage?) The third stanza is his friend or lover lamenting the foolishness of it all and missing the friend who is in jail. To me, "Shine On You Crazy Diamond", is the tribute song to Barrett and "Wish You Were Here" is a tribute song to those disillusioned with their part in the failed Vietnam War. Remember, the album came out in 1975, after the U.S. ended their foray into Vietnam. U.S. goals were not achieved in Vietnam and many people were disillusioned afterward, and indeed during the conflict. Am I right? Who knows, but it was always what I thought the song was about. On a more personal level, things I was certain about in my youth, I am now certain I was wrong about. The meaning of life, what happiness is and isn't, and how I was going to live my life. What I thought I knew, what I think I know now and what I will think in the future is all so uncertain. Finally thinking back on my group of friends that I had growing up...we all thought we would be a close-knit group forever. It's funny how we are now spread out all over the map leading our own lives separately. I know people I consider good friends that I haven't spoken to in over a decade! Occasionally, I will see a post from one or the other of them on Facebook, but for the most part, we have very little contact. There is nothing wrong with that. We all went our separate ways. It reminds me of lines from the song Time from the Dark Side Of The Moon album: Tired of lying in the sunshine staying home to watch the rain. You are young and life is long and there is time to kill today. And then one day you find ten years have got behind you. No one told you when to run, you missed the starting gun. So you run and you run to catch up with the sun but it's sinking Racing around to come up behind you again. The sun is the same in a relative way but you're older, Shorter of breath and one day closer to death. No one told us when to run... we just did. We ran all over the United States. Only one or two stayed in New Jersey. The rest of us flew to points north, south east and west. Funny, after all these years, with little contact, I still consider most of those people friends. And, on some nights, when I am thinking about my younger days, I really still do wish they were here.
I have 4 blog posts to write tonight so... bare with me if a few seem a little odd. Today, I got to thinking about how everyone likes songs for different reasons. Some people like songs for their beats, and some people like songs for their lyrics or simply because they find the voice of the singer to be soothing. But with each of these differences; comes so many other differences... favorite instrument, and the varying meanings to songs. I'd like to give an example of a song with lyrics that have multiple meanings- not just to me but to others and just in general. That song was one given to me by my dad; and it is Wish You Were Here by Pink Floyd. Here are the lyrics - "Wish You Were Here" So, so you think you can tell Heaven from Hell, blue skies from pain. Can you tell a green field from a cold steel rail? A smile from a veil? Do you think you can tell? Did they get you to trade your heroes for ghosts? Hot ashes for trees? Hot air for a cool breeze? Cold comfort for change? Did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? How I wish, how I wish you were here. We're just two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl, year after year, Running over the same old ground. What have we found? The same old fears. Wish you were here. Now, I have NO idea what kind of message my dad gets from this song... to me; it is a song about confusion and living in a constant shade of grey. It isn't something I relate too much to. My life is either black or white, happy or sad, good or bad. There is never just grey. And I think the song is about getting stuck in the cycle of life to the extreme that you no longer distinguish between good and bad and just... exist; not live. I can only imagine that living in constant grey must be awful. For others; maybe the song is just a metaphor for missing someone so greatly that you lose yourself. Maybe people enjoy the haunting beat of the song; or the guitar-work. Maybe others still take the song as the title is. I have no idea... I can't read minds. All I can do is give my own opinion. And in my opinion; music that stays popular for many generations is popular because it can be related to so many different situations. People love relatable music; and I find it remarkable when a song can be so deep as to have 3 or more meanings. What is your opinion of Wish You Were Here? Do you have any other deep songs to talk about? By all means; leave me a comment. I'd love to read your thoughts. - maddie |
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