Reaching There

.......his LIFE! Now that I've your attention (or do I?) you'll have to read the next few lines too. If you don't read.......don't worry, nothing would happen that wasn't suppose to happen already. Lately I was a bit unnerved by a few events and was feeling low. Everything around me was suddenly looming over me with imminent risk lurking in the shadows (I know that's too much of imagery).  The essence of the above feeling can simply be summed up as - feeling like s$%t. We all have suffered through a time like this in our lives. And I hate it (.....duh)! And music of The Parlotones came to rescue me. I started to hum their song "Life Design". This is our story, this is our life design.  We'll face demons despite our verve,   Fear is our greatest curse. (More lyrics here) I was like "OMG". This is my life and I'm the star of my life. I'm the Jackie Chan of my life story. I'll kick and  weave through all this s$%t flying...

I don't know whether you've heard of Johannesburg based rock band, The Parlotones . They have some of the best songs I have heard in a while. Their 2009 album "A World Next Door to Yours" is worth a listen each time I play it. Anyways, I was listening to a song "I'll Be There". It has a beautiful melody but the lines that kind of got stuck within the corners of my brain go like this: Another love song A silly love song But it's our song And it's forever A simple set of lines but with a strong sense of intimacy and naivety. Intimacy, of course, because it's "our" song. Naivety, not in the sense the world (or dictionary defines it) looks at it, but in a way the emotions of intimacy (and simplicity) washes through any prejudices or worldliness. It was nice breath of fresh air. You can listen to the acoustic version here . This doesn't end here. I had this urge to define something that's my own. My own "love...

Elliott Smith was probably one of the songwriter/singer who was bestowed with divine gift of music. He is popular among the masses for his Academy Award nominated song " Miss Misery " which is part of the soundtrack for the movie " Good Will Hunting ". Although he died young but his music has endured the waves of time. This post is inspired by his interview posted on youtube . In the interview he is asked general questions about his music and song writing tips for budding musicians. Although his answers sound rather simple but they do carry a certain hidden weight within them.  The first question is about his method to write & compose music for a song. He simply states that there isn't any methodical approach he uses. In his own words " It's just the divine force, and if you don't block it up it'll come out and surprise you ". So does it mean we all have the ability to surprise ourselves if we just allow ourselves to be free? The...