Monday 19 January 2015

Once in a lifetime (or Memories of a life and another life)

The son of my spare mother a few weeks ago asked me to send him any pictures I have of her.  That is when I realized that I only have about 20 of them.  Just think about that one for a second.  

Memories on the other hand are plentiful.  And one came up this morning. 

I was 15 years old. That was in 1980!  I was living with my spare mom at the time. Her house was right across the street from my school.  I was just another pimply, unhappy teenager with parental issues (That is easily written, easily read, but VERY difficult to live! But it does get better ;-).  And it was one of two reasons for skipping school quite frequently (hey, I'd be home in 2 minutes ;-).  So what was the other reason, or at least accompaniment?  It was a record (yes, in those days the CD had not been invented yet ;-)  And NO, there definitely was no internet.  And remember, one had to travel across town in those day to buy records.  This record was released in 1980.  And I was playing it ALL THE TIME while my spare mom was at work and I was supposed to be in school.  I had no idea why; my English wasn't really good enough in those days to figure out the details of the lyrics.

But I ran into some article about that album today.  And I just looked up the lyrics of my two favourite songs on that album 

Now here is a riddle.  Readers of this blog probably know the way I turned out. And trust me, neither of those traits could have been guessed at when I was 15 and listening to this record.   Now consider that my two favourite songs on this record are about a rebellious First Nations man and about People getting stuck in careers, commercialism and corporate culture. Now here is the QUESTION:
Did I have a deep subconscious feeling about what I DID/DIDN'T WOULD/WOULDN'T like in this world and therefore liked these two songs best OR did these two songs INFLUENCE my development? 











Anyhoo, here are the songs.  







No. 1: Choose your life wisely: I know quite a few people who have taken the wrong turn, volunteering as whores of industry and commerce. Waiting desperately for when they can retire at 65 and every day buying buying buying buying STUFF so that they don't have to listen to that voice in their heads that asks this question:   My God. What have I done?



Talking Heads : Once in a lifetime  (Click on italics for video)

And you may find yourself living in a shotgun shack 
And you may find yourself in another part of the world 
And you may find yourself behind the wheel of a large automobile 
And you may find yourself in a beautiful house, with a beautiful wife 
And you may ask yourself 
Well...How did I get here? 

Letting the days go by
Let the water hold me down 
Letting the days go by
Water flowing underground 
Into the blue again
After the money's gone 
Once in a lifetime
Water flowing underground 

And you may ask yourself 
How do I work this? 
And you may ask yourself 
Where is that large automobile? 
And you may tell yourself 
This is not my beautiful house 
And you may tell yourself 
This is not my beautiful wife 

Letting the days go by
Let the water hold me down 
Letting the days go by
Water flowing underground 
Into the blue again
After the money's gone 
Once in a lifetime
Water flowing underground 

Same as it ever was... 
Same as it ever was... 
Same as it ever was... 
Same as it ever was... 
Same as it ever was... 
Same as it ever was... 
Same as it ever was... 
Same as it ever was... 

Water dissolving...and water removing 
There is water at the bottom of the ocean 
Under the water, carry the water at the bottom of the ocean 
Remove the water at the bottom of the ocean 

Letting the days go by
Let the water hold me down 
Letting the days go by
Water flowing underground 
Into the blue again
Into the silent water 
Under the rocks and stones
There is water underground 

Letting the days go by
Let the water hold me down 
Letting the days go by
Water flowing underground 
Into the blue again
After the money's gone 
Once in a lifetime
Water flowing underground 

And you may ask yourself 
What is that beautiful house? 
And you may ask yourself 
Where does that highway go to? 
And you may ask yourself 
Am I right?...Am I wrong? 
And you may say to yourself yourself 
My God!...What have I done?! 

Letting the days go by
Let the water hold me down 
Letting the days go by
Water flowing underground 
Into the blue again
Into the silent water 
Under the rocks and stones
There is water underground 

Letting the days go by
Let the water hold me down 
Letting the days go by
Water flowing underground 
Into the blue again
After the money's gone 
Once in a lifetime
Water flowing underground 

Same as it ever was... 
Same as it ever was... 
Same as it ever was... 
Look where my hand was 
Time isn't holding up 
Time is an asterisk 
Same as it ever was... 
Same as it ever was... 
Same as it ever was... 
Same as it ever was... 
Same as it ever was... 
Same as it ever was... 
Same as it ever was... 
Yeah, the twister comes 
Here comes the twister 
Same as it ever was...


And here is the second one:  I probably hadn't heard this song in 30 years !!! It's not one of those play-on-the radio tunes.  And when it started playing on YouTube, I could not hold back the tears when I realized in an instant that this ONE song evoked memories of the two people who had the biggest positive influence on my life and who both died this year.

Talking Heads: Listening Wind (Again: click on italics on the left for video)
Mojique sees his village from a nearby hill
Mojique thinks of days before Americans came
He sees the foreigners in growing numbers
He sees the foreigners in fancy houses
He thinks of days that he can still remember...now.
Mojique holds a package in his quivering hands
Mojique sends the package to the American man
Softly he glides along the streets and alleys
Up comes the wind that makes them run for cover
He feels the time is surely now or never...more.
The wind in my heart
The wind in my heart
The dust in my head
The dust in my head
The wind in my heart
The wind in my heart
(Come to) 
Drive them away
Drive them away.
Mojique buys equipment in the market place
Mojique plants devices in the free trade zone
He feels the wind is lifting up his people
He calls the wind to guide him on his mission
He knows his friend the wind is always standing...by.
Mojique smells the wind that comes from far away
Mojique waits for news in a quiet place
He feels the presence of the wind around him
He feels the power of the past behind him
He has the knowledge of the wind to guide him...on.
The wind in my heart
The wind in my heart
The dust in my head
The dust in my head
The wind in my heart
The wind in my heart
(Come to) 
Drive them away
Drive them away.

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