Tuesday, September 29, 2009
My Apathy Medicine
The Pogues have everything I look for in a good band. They're full of energy, a love of music, life, and the idea that you should kick shit up while your youth is still in your bones. Shane McGowan was a fantastic songwriter, even if you can't understand him all the time. His voice may not be the most perfect but there's more life, joy, and agony in it than all the shit on the radio put together.
Can music really wash your soul clean? Can it save your life? Well, I know The Pouges do something to me. Their music lifts me up, gives me energy and makes me want to do something creative, anything. It makes me want to scream and shout and sing and dance. It makes a fool of me, and I love it.
It probably sounds stupid but it's the music that really does get me through. All the boring stupid shit I have to deal with everyday, It just all falls into the background and becomes meaningless.
"I'm just following the Irish tradition of songwriting, the Irish way of life, the human way of life. Cram as much pleasure into life, and rail against the pain you have to suffer as a result. Or scream and rant with the pain, and wait for it to be taken away with beautiful pleasure.
Irish music is guts, balls and feet music, yeah? It's frenetic dance music, yeah? Or it's impossibly sad like slow music, yeah?"
-Shane McGowan
Apathy is a disease. I'm glad I have something to help fight it. Something to inject my soul with a bit of life when all I want to do is lie down and stare at the ceiling.
So...what's your apathy medicine?
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3 comments:
Must fight urge to respond with "Pepto Bismol"....
When I'm feeling really lousy it's damn hard to find something to cheer me up. It changes. Sometimes it's stupid, moronic videos on Youtube, sometimes it's the brilliant recordings of William Burroughs or Szukalski (I have a record of him talking of his amazing, mad theories, and at the end, singing).
I am getting into Devo and it gives a certain good effect.
I can listen to old blues any time and it always has that great feel.
But, I usually just read some ancient (1890's-1940's) comic strips. Surprisingly, that seems to work best. It's weird, I know. Common sense tells me music would work best, but that's not always the case.
Word verification: "dertee".
Have you heard this piece?: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Pfd3OtPQoA
I love Devo. They were so goofy, but there was a lot of intelligence behind what they did.
And old blues are great too. Those guys knew what real suffering was. It makes all our modern day problems seem small by comparison.
If I'm really down I'll just watch this magnificent clip from 1408: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5B1Ywds4OOo
Gets me every time.
I hadn't heard that Burroughs piece. Thanks for showing it to me! Unfortunately I can't call myself a Kurt Cobain fan because I have heard very close to none of his work. I'll have to look more into it. What little of his music I've heard is very interesting.
The 1408 clip didn't work.
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