Swing The Cellar Door

OK, I’m getting pretty excited for the Hey Rosetta show on Wednesday (confused as to why they are opening for Hot Hot Heat… I’ll be skipping them).  So I had to post some Hey Rosetta.

wait-wait-wait-
before you go i want you to know
all that you were and the sound that you made when you moved

before you leave i need you to see
all that you mean, you would hardly believe it

sitting in the kitchen wondering how it is i’ll tell you this
when the phone rings, so i start right in then:
we are shells or instruments, inside there’s sound that speaks to us
if you listen, and i’ve been listening

and i’m sorry to reduce you to this useless imagistic bullshit
but maybe that’s all i’ve got
maybe that’s all i’ve got

sorry to confuse you with some foolish thing that misses truth
but maybe that’s all we are
around a brightly dying star

these spiralled shells, so sexual, could out-reveal the texts we dwell upon,
or maybe not, but certainly
a sound that’s free can open me and easily
just rip my heart out, and start me shouting:
this is how i feel… listen

i’m sorry to reduce you to this useless imagistic bullshit
but maybe that’s all i’ve got
maybe that’s all i’ve got

sorry to abuse you with this ruthlessly sadistic music
but maybe that’s all i want
(i’m just a really pretentious guy)

but wait! wait! wait! wait! wait! wait!
before you go, i want you to know
all that you were, and the sound that you made when you moved

before you leave, i need you to see
all that you mean, you would hardly believe it
you would hardly believe it…
if i could just speak it…
but this is how i feel…

Swing the Cellar Door  ~ Hey Rosetta!

The beauty of this song is it’s simplicity.  A song about the failure of words, and how they can’t express true meaning. Choosing to simply let the music tell the story (and far more accurately than words could).  “This is how I feel…. Listen” and on to violin solo………BRILLIANT!

Sumsongs

1. All The Wine – The National

2. Good Day – Jukebox The Ghost

3. Les Chemins De Verre – Karkwa

4. Mausoleum – Wintersleep

5. The Crown – I Am The Dot

6. This Crowded Room – Freedom Or Death

7. I’ll Be There – Welcome Back Sailors

8. Heart Medley – Nice Purse

9. Soup – Tunng

10. Animals – Gem Club

Sometimes it’s already said.

Sometimes the words already exist.  Already perfectly phrased.  And usually, for me, paired to music.  Somehow the combo is more than what just the words say.

Poke by Frightened Rabbit

Poke at my iris, why can’t I cry about this?
Maybe there is something that you know that I don’t?

We adopt a brand new language, communicate through pursed lips,
You try not to put on any sexy clothes or graces.

I might never catch a mouse and present it in my mouth
To make you feel you’re with someone who deserves to be with you.

But there’s one thing we’ve got going and it’s the only thing worth knowing.
It’s got lots to do with magnets and the pull of the moon.

Why won’t our love keel over as it chokes on a bone?
We can mourn its passing and then bury it in snow.

Or should we kick its cunt in and watch as it dies from bleeding.
If you don’t want to be with me just say and I will go.

Well we can change our partners this is a progressive dance,
But remember it was me who dragged you up to the sweaty floor.

Well this has been a reel
I’ve got shin-splints and a stitch from weed
But like a drunken night it’s the best bits that are coloured in

Should look through some old photos I adored you in every one of those.
If someone took a picture of us now they’d need to be told that we had ever clung and tied a navy knot with arms at night
I’d say she was his sister but she doesn’t have his nose.

And now we’re unrelated and rid of all the shit we hated,
But I hate when I feel like this and I never hated you.

The World is Flat

The atlas of our world is constantly re written.  It changes daily, and with every moment.  The world is flat, your world is flat.  Take it off the map, out of the page and see what you have created.  We step cautiously through unknown territories.  Yet if we had adequate self awareness, all the obstacles would be avoidable;  We placed them.

Fate; you are your own fate.  You will respond a certain way in certain situations.

“I don’t believe in predestination or things ‘happening for a reason’.  I believe we coast, and in retrospect, we react consistently.  In the moment we are frequently too unaware of the fact that we rarely use our free will.

I also believe that with a sophisticated enough algorithm, one could accurately predict the outcome of nearly every human interaction.  We set our history.  We repeat our history.  We don’t act out of character.  However, with sufficient self awareness, we could change that.”

Awareness.  Take control of your fate.

We fault others for our misguided actions.  When in truth they are but mere weather; distractions.  We give up the control, in an attempt to divert responsibility.  We lock up, protect and hide our prized possessions, placing a higher value on our TVs, computers and cars, than our lives.

We are surrounded by a world we created.  We have the power to change our environment, and our future.  Stop coasting, and become aware.

Blindsided

What makes a moment the gap?  The times that stand still, where the only truth, the only reality, is that moment.  It’s not merely the quality, but the lead up.  The awareness and discovery of the moment.  The sudden realization that you are there… in the gap.  Preparation and seeking never combine to create these spaces in time.  They happen to you, not by you.  Stop looking.  Start living.  Discover the gap.

Back down… down to the downtown
Down to the lockdown… boards, nails lie around

I crouch like a crow
Contrasting the snow
For the agony, I’d rather know

‘Cause blinded I am blindsided

Peek in… into the peer in
I’m not really like this… I’m probably plightless

I cup the window
I’m crippled and slow
For the agony, I’d rather know

‘Cause blinded I am blindsided

Would you really rush out for me now?

Taut line… down to the shoreline
The end of a blood line… the moon is a cold light

There’s a pull to the flow
My feet melt the snow
For the irony, I’d rather know

‘Cause blinded I was blindsided
‘Cause blinded I was blindsided
‘Cause blinded I was blindsided

~Blindsided  -  Bon Iver

Adaptation

The test of a dogs intelligence is done by throwing a blanket over the dog, and timing how quickly they get out.  How quick they adapt to the dark, the sudden loss of sensory input.  Jack Russell’s are the fastest (or so I hear). 

What happens when the lights are turned off in our lives?  When we lose all sense of direction; feel cut off from the world.  How long does it take us to get out from under that blanket?  I think the, ever annoying, Jack Russell would put us to shame. 

The problem is we don’t adapt.  We think we do, but we don’t;  not really.  We pride ourselves on our ability to bounce back from obstacles, find a new job after being laid off, build a new life in a new city.  But do we really adapt?  We just do the same things we always do.  Routine.  Fall back on what we know and make it work in the new situation.  Sure, you could use the word adapt, but we don’t change ourselves.  We don’t change our habits.  What happens when what we always do, doesn’t work?  Typically we crumble.  We are at the very best, slow to adapt. 

Take the one thing you dislike about yourself the most.  It’s probably not the fat gut, skinny arms or big nose. That one thing you don’t often admit to yourself.  And never to anyone else.  How long have you wanted to change that?  How long have you been trying to adapt?

I think, we humans, continuously fail the blanket test.  We are the equivalent of a dog that just lays down & accepts it.  We live in the dark, and don’t even know how to fight for the light.  In fact, we may have grown so comfortable in the dark that the light is the new test.  How quickly do we retreat back under the blanket?  I’m certain, we’d beat the Jack Russell on that one.

Perspective & The Bedroom

Perspective is sight.  You can only see what you are looking at.  Everything else is out of focus.  The problem with this understanding, and application is to change your focus you lose perspective.  Leading to a closed, one sided, or shifting perspective.  Both make the being a passenger on a ride, thrown into corners with no ability to change direction.

Shifting perspective.  Lost perspective.  Like the words to describe it, perspective is moving; a journey and must be thought of as such.  More than one image, it is the journey.  Perspective is work.  Close your eyes can you see your bedroom.  Do you see it as a whole or in pieces?  The bed, the dresser, the pile of clothes…..  Perspective is sight.  But more than the sum of what’s in front of you.  Focus and see it as a whole or risk losing it.

I’m up in the woods
I’m down on my mind
I’m building a still
to slow down the time.

~Bon Iver

In Honor

I just discovered Hey Rosetta is playing while I’m in Calgary… So here’s a little Hey Rosetta!

And I thought this was cool.

Still Life

Perceive the inevitable.  Life will change but you will stay the same.  A memory that doesn’t grow. Nor evolve.  A moment trapped in time, manipulated by the mind.  Into a perfectly impossible moment.  Blessing or curse; depends on the day.  Driving life forward or living in the past.  Memories stop progression.  If there is anything that is impossible, it’s to recapture, relive, or change our history.  Moving forward is the meaning to moment.

With the Benefit of Hindsight  (We Were Promised Jetpacks)

Away…………..

“One’s philosophy is not best expressed in words;  it is expressed in the choices one makes … and the choices we make are ultimately our responsibility”

~Eleanor Roosevelt

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Away is good for me.

I brush my teeth, work out, go for a walk, talk to people, write, masturbate, shower, and read every day.

Away is bad for me.

I contemplate change, act single, smoke a lot, drink a lot, masturbate, barely eat, and eat crap every day.

.

A glimpse at what could be.

Do I remove the ring, play it out.

No testing of the water,

Allow myself to dive in.

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From the fence the grass is green,

In the grass, you see the weeds.

But you have to cross the fence.

.

Instead I sit on it,

My home, away from home.

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Indecision; my balance & instability,

Decide by not deciding,

Say enough to hint

Allow others to complete the thought.

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21 days creates a habit.

This is my reset switch.