I Must Keep Reminding Myself of This
And now, a discussion of my favorite band.
Oddly, it is actually rare that I go on a binge of listening to nothing but Tool, but I always instantly respond with them when asked about favorite bands. Others come and go, some NIN stuff I like and dislike, and I guess Tool's somewhat the same way, but where it comes to songs that strike me emotionally, in more than just a "hey, that lyric's neat" kinda way, Tool's usually hit. Generally, where I find quotable lyrics far more often in NIN and Linkin Park songs, Tool's music seems to generally just strike a chord inside me, both in the lyrics of certain songs, as well as the actual music behind it.
If I were to make a list of top 100 songs, however, the song linked above would, without a doubt, be number one. I am enough of a fan of it that it inspired me to quote it in the display message on my cell phone. To tell you the kind of guy I am, my desktops on all my computers are, 99% of the time, blue. Just blue. Flat blue. Oddly enough, I have had most people I know ask me why my cell phone says "Patience," and I never tell them "favorite Tool song." The song means more to me than that.
Anyway, I implore any person who has yet to hear said song to go Kazaa the thing as soon as possible. It's not a single from the album, so it's unlikely you've just "heard it," unless some radio DJ's on the same kick I am.
I linked the lyrics above, since there will be some discussion on my behalf about them, but the lyrics don't mean much without the music behind it, something that Tool is exceptional about. The amount of simple little stutters in the bridges in the song make it a song that is extremely difficult to sing along to, which only helps further the song's theme. I'm always a big fan of "hooks" in music, such as the slight guitar riff after the first chorus of A Perfect Circle's "Judith," or the extremely weird rhythm work in "Lateralus" off Tool's album of the same name, and The Patient is no different.
But, being the frustrated member of the grunge era that I am, this song seems to speak to me, and provide hope, something that very few outlets do anymore. One said at one point that the grunge era ended because people just got over being sad. Some of us have a harder time than others, and when I look at the havoc being wrought on the world by our government, complete strangers on a day to day basis, and even the pains we put ourselves through, I don't really understand where the happiness comes from. You'd think after 24 and a half years, I'd have figured that out.
But, I am, at heart, a problem solver. I do not necessarily solve the problems, but I am most happy when solving a problem. I am a total procrastinator, but the process involved in getting things done makes me happy. While I will sit for hours working through my finances to pay everything off, I will never actually do any of that, and end up in more debt than I began with. It's a vicious circle. More of a line, really, but, well, you get it.
There are always, however, problems which resolve themselves, something my acute ear pain of late has taught me very well. Sometimes, you just have to grit your teeth, bear down, and know that, eventually, it'll all end, and you can move on. And that's a concept that I have a very difficult time grasping, that sometimes the best action is no action.
One theme from the song down.
America, in general, is a nation devised on getting what we want, when we want it. We don't want to drive to a restaurant to eat, we want it delivered. Don't have a phone? No problem! The perfectly logical answer, of course, is that Pizza Hut will not deliver to your house if you call them on your cell phone, they require a land line. Which is when you dial up that website on your cell phone, and proceed to take an hour and a half to order a pizza you could have gone to a pay phone and ordered in half the time. Or, you know, driven to the restaurant itself.
We want to walk down the street with 300 hours of songs on our iPods, a cell phone, a wallet, a two-way, and a million other devices that ensure that anything we need is at our fingertips. Heck, we don't even want to walk down the street. Someone fetch me Segway, I'm too lazy to walk over there and get it.
While all of these little things are, well, little, there is a statement being made there. I cannot fathom why anyone would want 4 gigs of music at their fingertips at all times. You don't get the opportunity to make huge, drawn-out blog posts if you only hear a particular song once every 2 millenia. We, as Americans, are trained to go through life, to get to our destination, without taking the time to relish the trip itself. As part of your training, I have just written three paragraphs when I could have just said "stop and smell the roses." But if I had said that, you wouldn't have gotten that awesome Segway quip out of me.
Point two down.
Finally, there is a far more personal agenda in there, one which I don't think I'll get too much into, because I don't think there are many who'd even care. But, I think that people generally want things that they are simply unprepared for, or that are simply unavailable to them at the given time. It can be as basic as "damn, 3 hours left of work," or as complex as "damn, only med school, internship, a doctoral thesis, and I can finally start practicing!"
Life, from a certain point of view, is a test of patience, of being able to let things go until it matters. Dealing with the stress of everday life is horrifying, at some times. I spent the past two hours trying to figure out how to get into the house where I live, as I have no key, no means of getting one, and the doors were locked. But behind all of that stress, of simply trying to get past that asshole who spilled his beer on your new sweater, there is a deeper level of desire, things that you want out of life, the place you want to be, the mark you want to place on the world, or on people, or on person. Whereas it's easy to wash the sweater, it's not always easy to establish a set listing of what you need to do in order to accomplish your life's work.
In the end, we all go through the struggle with the promise of a better day ahead. But there is, truly, no promise, only hope. Tomorrow has every bit a chance of being worse than today as it has of being better, but you can't know that. All you know is that someday, it will get better. Things cannot progressively grow worse forever.
"And if there were no rewards to reap,
No loving embrace to see me through,
This tedious path I've chosen here,
I certainly would have walked away,
By now..."
Oddly, it is actually rare that I go on a binge of listening to nothing but Tool, but I always instantly respond with them when asked about favorite bands. Others come and go, some NIN stuff I like and dislike, and I guess Tool's somewhat the same way, but where it comes to songs that strike me emotionally, in more than just a "hey, that lyric's neat" kinda way, Tool's usually hit. Generally, where I find quotable lyrics far more often in NIN and Linkin Park songs, Tool's music seems to generally just strike a chord inside me, both in the lyrics of certain songs, as well as the actual music behind it.
If I were to make a list of top 100 songs, however, the song linked above would, without a doubt, be number one. I am enough of a fan of it that it inspired me to quote it in the display message on my cell phone. To tell you the kind of guy I am, my desktops on all my computers are, 99% of the time, blue. Just blue. Flat blue. Oddly enough, I have had most people I know ask me why my cell phone says "Patience," and I never tell them "favorite Tool song." The song means more to me than that.
Anyway, I implore any person who has yet to hear said song to go Kazaa the thing as soon as possible. It's not a single from the album, so it's unlikely you've just "heard it," unless some radio DJ's on the same kick I am.
I linked the lyrics above, since there will be some discussion on my behalf about them, but the lyrics don't mean much without the music behind it, something that Tool is exceptional about. The amount of simple little stutters in the bridges in the song make it a song that is extremely difficult to sing along to, which only helps further the song's theme. I'm always a big fan of "hooks" in music, such as the slight guitar riff after the first chorus of A Perfect Circle's "Judith," or the extremely weird rhythm work in "Lateralus" off Tool's album of the same name, and The Patient is no different.
But, being the frustrated member of the grunge era that I am, this song seems to speak to me, and provide hope, something that very few outlets do anymore. One said at one point that the grunge era ended because people just got over being sad. Some of us have a harder time than others, and when I look at the havoc being wrought on the world by our government, complete strangers on a day to day basis, and even the pains we put ourselves through, I don't really understand where the happiness comes from. You'd think after 24 and a half years, I'd have figured that out.
But, I am, at heart, a problem solver. I do not necessarily solve the problems, but I am most happy when solving a problem. I am a total procrastinator, but the process involved in getting things done makes me happy. While I will sit for hours working through my finances to pay everything off, I will never actually do any of that, and end up in more debt than I began with. It's a vicious circle. More of a line, really, but, well, you get it.
There are always, however, problems which resolve themselves, something my acute ear pain of late has taught me very well. Sometimes, you just have to grit your teeth, bear down, and know that, eventually, it'll all end, and you can move on. And that's a concept that I have a very difficult time grasping, that sometimes the best action is no action.
One theme from the song down.
America, in general, is a nation devised on getting what we want, when we want it. We don't want to drive to a restaurant to eat, we want it delivered. Don't have a phone? No problem! The perfectly logical answer, of course, is that Pizza Hut will not deliver to your house if you call them on your cell phone, they require a land line. Which is when you dial up that website on your cell phone, and proceed to take an hour and a half to order a pizza you could have gone to a pay phone and ordered in half the time. Or, you know, driven to the restaurant itself.
We want to walk down the street with 300 hours of songs on our iPods, a cell phone, a wallet, a two-way, and a million other devices that ensure that anything we need is at our fingertips. Heck, we don't even want to walk down the street. Someone fetch me Segway, I'm too lazy to walk over there and get it.
While all of these little things are, well, little, there is a statement being made there. I cannot fathom why anyone would want 4 gigs of music at their fingertips at all times. You don't get the opportunity to make huge, drawn-out blog posts if you only hear a particular song once every 2 millenia. We, as Americans, are trained to go through life, to get to our destination, without taking the time to relish the trip itself. As part of your training, I have just written three paragraphs when I could have just said "stop and smell the roses." But if I had said that, you wouldn't have gotten that awesome Segway quip out of me.
Point two down.
Finally, there is a far more personal agenda in there, one which I don't think I'll get too much into, because I don't think there are many who'd even care. But, I think that people generally want things that they are simply unprepared for, or that are simply unavailable to them at the given time. It can be as basic as "damn, 3 hours left of work," or as complex as "damn, only med school, internship, a doctoral thesis, and I can finally start practicing!"
Life, from a certain point of view, is a test of patience, of being able to let things go until it matters. Dealing with the stress of everday life is horrifying, at some times. I spent the past two hours trying to figure out how to get into the house where I live, as I have no key, no means of getting one, and the doors were locked. But behind all of that stress, of simply trying to get past that asshole who spilled his beer on your new sweater, there is a deeper level of desire, things that you want out of life, the place you want to be, the mark you want to place on the world, or on people, or on person. Whereas it's easy to wash the sweater, it's not always easy to establish a set listing of what you need to do in order to accomplish your life's work.
In the end, we all go through the struggle with the promise of a better day ahead. But there is, truly, no promise, only hope. Tomorrow has every bit a chance of being worse than today as it has of being better, but you can't know that. All you know is that someday, it will get better. Things cannot progressively grow worse forever.
"And if there were no rewards to reap,
No loving embrace to see me through,
This tedious path I've chosen here,
I certainly would have walked away,
By now..."
posted by Kindralas at 8:06 AM
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