This morning, as I exercised with friends in an early morning spin class at the Borgess Health and Fitness Center, I heard an old song written and performed by the band Journey (sorry, can’t remember the lyrics or which song it was). I’ve always loved the feel of Journey’s 1980s hits. The particular track made me think about their song “Don’t Stop Believing” — a song used in the final scene of the Sopranos to bring an engaging story to a close. As with a couple of other songs I mentioned in a post in recent weeks, I think this song has some good ideas and feelings in it. I also like the dialog in the final scene of the sopranos: “Focus on the good times.” Indeed.
Over the years there have been a handful of songs that I loved from the first moment I heard them. I tend to catch on to a riff, melody, or rhythm in a song — a connection with the lyrics comes later. I wanted to share three songs that I have always found comforting, hopeful, and uplifting. I think each song contains a lot of good ideas and sentiments.
Semisonic - Closing Time
I love the tune, but one of the strongest statements for me is the lyric “Closing time - every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s end… “.
Phish - Back on the Train
Phish has always been capable of generating an amazing groove. They are a very talented band. This particular song is one that I can rock out to every day. I also really like the opening verse:
When I jumped off, I had a bucket full of thoughts
When I first jumped off, I held that bucket in my hand
Ideas that would take me all around the world
I stood and watched the smoke behind the mountain curl
It took me a long time to get back on the train
Bob Schneider - Cap’n Kirk
Bob is another very talented musician. He has produced several fun themed albums focusing on various music styles including swing, r&b, acoustic, etc. This particular song, aside from having really fun animation (note the song came out shortly after JibJab re-popularized this Monty Pythonish animation style), has a great theme throughout about getting the most out of life. The first two opening verses are:
I want to be like Captain Kirk
get up everyday and love to go to work
Don’t want to be like Mr. Spock
want to kick out the jams and rock the block
I just want to feel good
I don’t want to hurt nobody
I just want to get a good time out of my life
With everything going on in our complex lives (i.e., the economy, constant change, politics, work, and everything else) I marvel at the abundance of opportunity that stands before us. I have been lucky in my life — I have known (and know) many smart, creative, and wonderful people; I have had the chance to learn a lot in both safe and wild environments; the stream of life has brought me to some interesting ports and destinations.
I am thankful for my family and friends, meaningful work, and love for creativity and the arts.
My friends, we live in interesting times. The future is peeking at us from around the corner. I have a smile on my face and am ready for whatever the next adventure brings.
I was watching a podcast episode of the 1UP Show. The hosts were discussing the upcoming Little Big Planet game for PlayStation 3. Little Big Planet will ship with a powerful set of level creation tools — lots of folks are excited about the possibility of dabbling in or doing full level design. One of the hosts described the process of making a good stage by referencing a quote that made me think.
“Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep.”
- Scott Adams (yeah, the Dilbert guy)
This quote rang true to me. I was surprised I never heard it before. I think another part of creativity and art is finding partners to collaborate with. You really need folks who are not afraid to fail, can look at things from a lot of different angles, and actually have a well developed sense for seeing potential and understanding benefits and consequences of going down certain paths.
Creative and artistic people are comfortable with play and are able to play well with others. It is amazing what can happen when all these things come together at the same time.