When your hearing music for the very first time it is really unavoidable that you are going to trip across a song that has been out in general circulation forever but is really something very new and special just for you. This happens to me a lot as I find my understanding and breadth of musical catalogue expanding. A classic example of this very situation happened to me last night.
I was sitting at the computer watching some stuff on Youtube and this song came on the radio. It started with some of the most beautiful, what I think was native Indian, chanting that I have ever heard. I had to listen to the whole thing. The song then changed and broke into a more modern sound and the singer began to sing the lyrics. I took a stab at the title by listening to the song and found it was called, “Return To Innocence” by a group called Enigma. I googled the lyrics and found the video on Youtube.
After watching it three or four times I decided it was going to be one of my favourite songs. The lyrics are simple, the sound is deliciously complex weaving chanting with more modern sound. A few of the lyrics in the song really struck me as powerful, they conveyed a message to me that really felt universal. Here is one of them:
Dont be afraid to be weak
Dont be too proud to be strong
Just look into your heart my friend
That will be the return to yourself
The return to innocence
To me, this is a very poweful message. Don’t be afraid to be weak, don’t be proud to be strong. How badly do we all long to return to a state of total innocence in this world. We now live in a world where war, killing, and death are the stories that grab the headlines and our interest. If only we could return to a state of innocence.
The song continued and another set of lyrics struck me, and I showed them to Caleb because to me, they spoke directly to what it is he is going through with his recovery from addiction. They were:
If you want, then start to laugh
If you must, then start to cry
Be yourself dont hide
Just believe in destiny
Dont care what people say
Just follow your own way
Dont give up and use the chance
To return to innocence
Again, how powerful these words are and when you hear them sung with the emotion that I can not convey in this blog, you really do begin to understand just how very moving this song really is.
I have been accused of being oversensitive to these things and perhaps relying far to much on music to tell the story. I disagree. Music is just another form of art and art imitates life. I am not sure what year this song was produced but I do know that its meaning still holds water today. When I was given the chance to survive Cancer and live to tell, I was essentially given the chance to return to a heightened state of grace…I was given the chance to return to innocence. Can you do the same?
LiveSTRONG!
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2 comments:
Derry, don't let anyone bother you about the music you listen to. The vast majority of us are consumers of music. We pick it up as fast as we discard it and call it old or lame. Music is one of the few artforms that is consumed. Our attention span is really short when it comes to music and we are constantly moving forward to the next new sound.
The way YOU judge music comes from a much more pure place. You judge it on lyrical, compositional and sonic merit. You're not tainted (yet) by society's need to put something down because it is old. Just because a song is old, doesn't mean it ceases to be a good song.
Of course, a lot of it has to do with the way music has been delivered to the masses for the longest time. There is nothing more corrupt than the way music radio stations are run. It used to be that DJs broke new bands. That doesn't happen any more. Now it is the record companies that force the radio stations to play their music over and over until people like the song and then eventually hate the song making way for the next song.
I could on and on about this topic, so I should stop now.
Hey Al
Good to see you again, hope the family is doing well!
Thanks a lot! I try not to make judgements on music based on what the charts or the masses are saying. Sound is beautiful and it needs to be enjoyed like a fine wine or a good scotch. One must listen and savour every sound...every note as though it was meant just for you.
I guess that sounds kind of weird but your right, I listen to something on several levels and I refuse to be bought and sold by the record companies. If it sounds good, I will listen to it, and if it sounds bad, I will still listen to it...just maybe not as often.
I like hearing what you have to say about music, you bring a very interesting slant to all of this and your views on the subject interest me a lot more than you know!
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