A few years ago, a good friend suggested a tactic that might help--writing a list of things that made me happy. ("And you can't say 'nothing,'" she said. She was always pretty good about seeing through my bullshit.)
I never did this, of course, because I was in one of my moods and being sad is easy. But I feel like I'm about ready now. With that in mind, here's the beginning of the list. (Not the most important, mind you, but it's a good place to start.)
I like music, which is a silly thing to say because everyone likes music. That said, it's always a special feeling when a song can elicit a really strong emotion. There are songs I like because they make me sad, like Elvis Costello's "God's Comic" and Tom Paxton's "Jimmy Newman." AC/DC's "Thunderstruck" is a great fire-up song. I even like some songs that make me angry (such as Everclear's "Wonderful.") But when it comes to songs that just elicit good feelings all around, there's a runaway winner.
Take it away, John Lennon.
I love this song so much. It starts out all light and soft and Lennon sings some kinda hippy stuff and it's all good. Then the instruments get a bit more involved and then there's some backup singers, as if John's trying to tell us that shit's gonna go down in a minute, just you wait. We get to the bridge and the third verse, and then George Harrison is all, "Don't mind me, I'm just going to do awesome guitar stuff in the background."
By the end of that, we get more drums from Paul (Ringo had briefly left the group at this time) which is a signal to let the rocking commence. John unleashes the full force of the glory of the universe and George decides "MY AWESOMENESS CAN'T BE CONTAINED" and it's amazing. Things calm down by the end, because we mere mortals can only take so much, and it closes with the same notes that opened the song. We're back where we started, only everything looks a little brighter now that John let us in on the secret.
The story of the song: John wrote it during one of their trips to India, where they'd study and meditate and hang out and jam and probably take ridiculous amounts of drugs. On one trip, there was a girl named Prudence Farrow (sister of actress Mia Farrow), who would lock herself in her room and meditate at every opportunity. People were worried about her, so John wrote this song to get her to come out and have fun with everyone else. It worked, and a grand time was had by all.
You might think the original message doesn't apply to you, because you don't live in a commune in India and spend all your time trying to achieve enlightenment. YOU FOOL. The song may have been written for one person, but there's a lesson for us all in there. Let's be honest--the world is full of bullshit, and it's easy to get caught up in it because it affects almost every part of our daily lives and there's just SO GODDAMN MUCH of it. But here's the secret: there's a lot of good stuff, too. We may have to dig through a lot of manure to find it, but it's there.
This song tries to tell us this. It can't hit us with the full glory of the universe (or of George's awesomeness) right away, of course; we'd go mad. So it builds up slowly--it tells us to calm down and take a step back. Forget about your shitty job and your asshole coworkers and your student loan debt and that guy ahead of you in line who is TAKING FUCKING FOREVER--just let all that shit go for a minute. Just come out, have a little fun, and socialize a bit with some of the rest of us who are also trying to be a little less lost.
So you get out there. Feel the grass between your toes, feel the sun, look at the clouds. Hey, that one looks like a turtle. Neat. That's when John blows your mind a little bit, when he tells you that you're part of this. Wave goodbye to the turtle cloud and dig on that for a moment.
"Look around," John says. And yeah, do that...but that doesn't just mean your immediate surroundings. Think about the world you know, and the life you've had. Realize that there's some things out there that absolutely fucking RULE, and focus on those. Remember that we live in a world with sunsets and jazz music and medium-rare steak and the Grand Canyon and penguins and George Harrison on guitar and people who are so smart and talented that they can put fucking robots on Mars. And you'll think, "Maybe life doesn't suck so much after all," and you'll smile a little, and that's exactly what the Beatles were going for.
The first verse is repeated as the last one, because maybe you weren't ready to accept it before but you've got another chance to get on board. There's the last part of the secret--the majesty of the universe will always be there, waiting for you to join in and make it just a little more majestic. You can be part of this big glorious thing whenever you want. And if you can scrape away enough of the bullshit, you'll realize that you are a part of life, and life is a part of everything, and EVERYTHING IS BEAUTIFUL.
And so are you.
You, my friend, are amazeballs. Don't ever stop being you.
ReplyDeleteRight back at you, chief.
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