Soon Everybody Will Ask

Since I had a moment I thought I´d take this lazy Sunday abroad to pop in with another batch of songs to update the masses (or the five of you who actually read this thing), as life has been sort of hectic lately. Plans have been made and scattered, compromises issued and dashed, but as always, I´ll let the songs do most of the explaining.

First up is a tune for the addled, those unhappy with their quixotic endeavors. It´s a song from the Bowerbirds, a little North Carolinian trio that melds uplifting pop sentiments with accordian-laced gypsy flair, as evidenced on this track from their 2007 release, Hymns for a Dark Horse. This one gets at the frustration and despondency I´ve felt at work, with the nagging self-doubt that maybe I´m being unreasonable and making mountains out of nothing. The realization I´ve had, though, is that I´m not, and unfortunately the disenchanted far outnumber the complacent, contented, and mediocre that make up the rest of the office. I sort of picture this one being sung to those of us in the former camp by that disembodied voice at the back of our minds, like the Universe is letting us know, "no, you´re not alone, you´re in our talons now and we´re never letting go," swooping us off to safety. Check out "In Our Talons" here: (and even if the song falls flat for you, who doesn´t love videos about mantis romance?)





The next song goes out to Big Toe, who´s had a crisis of being herself lately, trying to reconcile whether the things everyone else is telling her she should do are actually right, or whether she should trust her impulses and chase down a differing path. Should she stay at the safe, comfortable job or scrap it and go to grad school overseas? Should she scrap that when it feels wrong and chase down what really has been setting her heart alight? This song provides the response, an ode to following what you feel and our belated New Year´s resolution -- to no longer feel guilty about chasing that which makes us happy and telling everyone else (no matter how wise and well-intentioned their advice) to just cram it if they don´t agree.

It´s not meant as an "FU" to the rest of the world, it´s just a realization there´s no shame in listening to our hearts and charting our own course, no matter how illogical or hard to understand it seems to others. Whit was the first to realize it and pounced on her opportunity, and that´s given me the nudge I need to do the same, despite the chorus of naysayers and second-guessing that´s sure to come. Some opportunities present themselves to you and you have to be ready to grab them, like she did; others you can plot and scheme your way towards, following the societally-approved notion of waiting for the chickens you´ve hatched to come home to roost like I have and then pounce. Problem is, sometimes doing all the "right" things doesn´t pan out and you end up, five years later, no closer to what you wanted.

And that´s the beauty of what the last ten years have taught me -- a hard won, but deeply ingrained lesson from an oftentimes painful span: there is another way. It´s a simple, yet scary truth -- damn what everyone tells you about being patient and waiting to see what happens and take a chance; life´s too short to sit around waiting. Some opportunities present themselves, some require patience and a healthy gestation period, others need to be created. And so that´s what we´re doing -- we´re taking a flying leap off this skyscraper and making our own opportunity, hoping to the heavens we land on our feet again.

This case proves the exception to the old adage of age before beauty -- like I said before, Whit figured this stuff out first -- and this song´s a little homage to drowning out the doubters and listening to your instincts. The lyrics are spot on and hint at exactly why she´s so wonderful:

I know you're making, accidents and stars for everyone

You're amazing, half of them won't know until you're gone

And in this ritual you take command and lose control

And in this situation find an ocean, sell your soul

*

And when it's later, open up your window just in case

You're a radar built to scan the deeps of outer space

And if you recognize subtle patterns in the sky

Don't take it as a sign unless it eases your mind

Why don't you fly around my pretty little miss...

It´s a beautiful little ditty from those old favorites Built to Spill, "Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss." (I couldn´t find a version of the studio recording, so we´ll have to make due with this live version -- disculpa...)





Finally, we´ve got another track off Death Cab´s latest release, the ever solid Narrow Stairs, that echoes the refrains from above -- of not settling for someone else´s vision of how your life should be, of being brave (or stupid) enough to do that which others only pay lip service to, and to making the changes that will leave people saying the song´s chorus (and the end part of this post´s title). Check out "Cath..." here:



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We´ll actually throw one last thing in here before the buzzer, closing as we often do with one from the great Elliott Smith. It´s a song that´s all for/about me and sums up my sentiments of late perfectly, hitting at both the frustration and confusion and the furious refusal to accept things as they are. As always, Elliott says it best, so give the lyrics a listen here: (and enjoy the weirdest fan video for an Elliott video I´ve seen yet, which was too strange not to put up...)




Until next time, my friends... --RdS