RECAP: Yesterday I woke way later than normal, but wanted to make sure I worked out. Good day.
ON PURPOSE: AMERICAN EULOGY by Green Day. I went straight to this song today. Because this still feels like a world too big and moving too fast for everyone to keep up.
"I don't wanna live in the modern world"
But I kinda gotta. The way Billie Joe Armstrong keeps bleating that lyric, I just want to gather up all my friends and tell them to relax. Let's have a drink and figure out our real priorities in life. How many cars does one family need? How many gaming systems? How many friends do I have to keep in touch with on Facebook? Next song please.
ON PURPOSE: NOT ENOUGH by 3 Doors Down. Why do so many people I know complain about how hard they work, and how little they are paid?
"Seven days underpaid gotta give it up, got no time for this life that I'm livin' up, shackled down, kicked around, now slave to the grind, id some time for myself."
Trust me when I say, I don't make much money. But I love doing what I'm doing. I figure there's a bunch of people searching for meaning. Listening [in] to various entertainment to further our individual and collective quest. What happens on our search is we get sideswiped with having to keep up. Moving all over this great earth keeping up. Keeping up with what? Keeping up with whom? Right now, I'm sick of it.
"Meet tomorrow today just to get ahead, jump the gun on the run, I'm the only one, who think that I'm fallin' behind?"
No, you're not the only one. We (men) don't like to admit this especially in a group, yet it's the elephant in the room. Is it because I'm supposed to be the provider? I want to be. I want the world knocking my door down. But at what cost? I interviewed Dave King/Flogging Molly recently, and you will be interested in what he says about "being a man's man" on their interview page.
"But there's not enough of me."
Hear some great conversation with Brad Arnold of 3 Door Down and myself (listen in here), we talk about this subject in various places.
ON PURPOSE: LOST! by Coldplay (with Jay-Z). Yep, there's plenty of times where it seems every message I get is, "You're a loser Frank."
"Just because I'm losing, doesn't mean I'm lost"
Am I the biggest loser? Weight-wise I wanna be. Attitude-wise I want to be a million miles from it. It's not easy in this competitive world. Artists have a great perspective on how we all try to get along in today's society. Thank God for songs like this, where Chris Martin reminds us that we're all the same. We all want it all.
"And the question is, 'Is to have had and lost, better than not having at all?' "
When I feel lost, I just want curl up like a snail and slime off to nowhere. I fight this fight with songs like Lost!
"Just because I'm losing, doesn't mean I'm lost"
ON PURPOSE: VERTIGO by U2. I'll take any mix or version of this song. And I will give the max amount of volume which my surroundings and my earbuds can handle.
"The jungle is your head, can't rule your heart"
Just like those first three songs I've listed today, my head can start caving in on my soul. I can't let it. I won't let it. Even typing that makes me feel stronger.
"It's everything I wish I didn't know, except you give me something I can feel, feeeeeeel"
I don't know or care if Bono's singing about God or a friend who can lift us out of the chaos. Either way, the desired result is met. I can handle most of what life has to throw at me, but when I get caught in an unanticipated whirlwind I need a hand to pull me out. I thank my wife and other friends who've used the long arm of love to help me stabilize. And I thank the long arm of bands like U2 dedicating their lives to touch other's lives with their music.
ON PURPOSE: SCHIZOPHRENIA by The Wedding. I guess if we're gonna go down the road with Vertigo we might as well experience this song, which brings me to the real issue: me.
"Because I am the one that they warned me about."
When I interviewed Trevor Sarver, he spoke about this song (listen in here). There is the point in each life (each day? each event?) when we have to make a choice of how we're gonna tackle something. With power and resolve? With courage and strength? I know I am a man who can reason each side of any issue...
"I curse and praise in the same breath, which man in the mirror is the one that's left?"
How do I find the truth? How do I know when voice inside of me is speaking through my heart? I'm dizzying myself up just thinking about.
"The only thing holding me back was my pride"
Right now I'm in this place of questioning everything in my mind, but not will to reach out. Oh, yea, pride definitely throws up road blocks in my path. I guess I need plenty of inertia and momentum to stay on track.
Music and messages like this are the fuel I need to keep motoring through life.