Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone,
Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone,
Silence the pianos and with muffled drum
Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come.

Let aeroplanes circle moaning overhead
Scribbling on the sky the message He is Dead.
Put crepe bows round the white necks of the public doves,
Let the traffic policemen wear black cotton gloves.

He was my North, my South, my East and West,
My working week and my Sunday rest,
My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song;
I thought that love would last forever: I was wrong.

The stars are not wanted now; put out every one,
Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun,
Pour away the ocean and sweep up the woods;
For nothing now can ever come to any good.

[If this poem sounds familiar to you, perhaps it is
because an actor reads it dramatically at a funeral
for the man he loves. W. H. Auden also
likely wrote it for a man he deeply loved.

I enjoy the following lines, "He was my North, my South,
my East and West,/ My working week and my Sunday rest."
These are the four cardinal directions.The beloved dominates
his sense of both space and time. This suggests he went
everywhere with him and spent every moment with him.

I hear echoes of a very ancient poem in this Auden piece.
The Roman poet Catullus wrote a love poem in Latin that
resembles this one.
(http://www.usu.edu/markdamen/Latin1000/Readings/1020B/25catullus2.pdf/ ) It almost seems
comical that he goes to such lengths to mourn a little bird,
but this was a pet that his beloved adored.

Not everyone can write a poem like this when someone dies.
Yet there is something about the feeling of the poem that
anyone who has lost a loved one will recognize.]

Swinging in the backyard
Pull up in your fast car
Whistling my name

Open up a beer
And you say get over here
And play a video game

I’m in his favorite sun dress
Watching me get undressed
Take that body downtown

I say you the bestest
Lean in for a big kiss
Put his favorite perfume on

Go play a video game
Refrain:  It’s you, it’s you, it’s all for you
Everything I do
I tell you all the time
Heaven is a place on earth where you
Tell me all the things you want to do
I heard that you like the bad girls
Honey, is that true?
It’s better than I ever even knew
They say that the world was built for two
Only worth living if somebody is loving you
Baby now you do

Singing in the old bars
Swinging with the old stars
Living for the fame

Kissing in the blue dark
Playing pool and wild darts
Video games

He holds me in his big arms
Drunk and I am seeing stars
This is all I think of

Watching all our friends fall
In and out of Old Paul’s
This is my idea of fun
Playing video games

Refrain – 2x

[Lana Del Rey is Elizabeth Grant, a singer-songwriter whose music is hard to classify. It's sort of indie rock/neo-disco. The song, especially the vocals, has an angelic, almost ethereal quality. The sad, somber tone of the vocals clashes with the lyrics that seem as if they should be much more upbeat.

The speaker in this song is a character reminiscent of the film "The Stepford Wives" (1974). She is submissive. She wears what her lover wants her to wear. She puts on the perfume he likes. She lets him play all the video games he wants. The titular "video games" create another kind of tension in the song - between old and new. The song sounds like it may have been written forty or fifty years ago, yet the references to "video games" thrust it into the present time, as it seems clear that the man is playing a home console, not arcade Pac-Man.

One part of the song that gets me every time is when the speaker seductively purrs, "I heard that you like the bad girls/ Honey is that true?" There is a bit of a paradox here. If he likes bad girls, should she pretend to be a bad girl because that is what he wants? Or does being a bad girl mean deliberately defying him and thus being something other than what he wants? This song has an unshakable melancholy and it comes from the idea that a good relationship cannot survive on pretense. She's pretending to be his fantasy, but that's not who she really is. She's asking him to love this fake version of herself. Ultimately, she will resent him and he will tire of her slavishness.]

Cause you’re about to get cut and get cut down
It’s all about the wordplay all about the sound in the tone of my voice
You gotta let me make my choice alone before my food gets cold
Better shut up or get shot down. It s all about the know how all just a matter of taste
Stop telling me the way I gotta play. Too much food on my plate.

Believe it or not I super-sized my sights on the surprise in the cereal box
My stomach’s smaller than my eyes
so I went to see the doctor and he said “turn your head and then cough”
I didn’t listen to what he said instead I couldn’t wait to get off
He said I can have this but I cant have that
That I should keep wishing I was living the life of a cat because
I ain’t the one whose gonna be missing the feast
Just like you ain’t the one who seems to be calming the beast

Now you’re about to get cut and get cut down
It’s all about the wordplay all about the sound in the tone of my voice
You gotta let me make my choice alone before my food gets cold
Better shut up or get shot down. It s all about the know how all just a matter of taste
Stop telling me the way I gotta play. Too much food on my plate.

Well if you are what you eat in my case I’ll be sweet so come and get some
I’m so over it.

Now you’re about to get cut and get cut down
It s all about the know how all just a matter of taste
Stop telling me the way I gotta play. Too much food on my plate.
(Get up and get some)
there’s too much food on my plate

[You can say that I'm one curly fry in the box of the regular
Messing with the flavor, oh the flavor that you savor
Saving me for last, but you better not eat me at all...

"Jason turns up the level of aggression just a tad here, bringing electric guitars to a more prominent position but still keeping things as bouncy and catchy as ever. This one's extremely Barenaked Ladies-inspired, what with all of the lines about food and wanting to be different. Wit just abounds as Jason describes himself in fast food terminology, once again dropping mad rhymes like there's no tomorrow. It's basically his way of telling the world that he can only handle so many people telling him what to do and who to be at the same time. His attitude here is much live that of Dave Matthews in the song "Tripping Billies" - I guess you could say Jason's philosophy is "Eat drink, and be wacky." "-David Martin, http://www.epinions.com/review/pr-Waiting_For_My_Rocket_To_Come_Jason_Mraz_Music/content_103233261188)

I'm sure that quite a few of Mraz's fans, like me, thought this was all about food. If you think it's about food, that's great, you can enjoy the song on that level. But look again at these lines,

"Now you're about to get cut and get cut down
It's all about the wordplay all about the sound in the tone of my voice
You gotta let me make my choice alone before my food gets cold
Better shut up or get shot down. It s all about the know how all just a matter of taste."

Is he really talking about food or is he talking about a studio trying to control his music? Some people really hate this quest for deeper meanings. If that's you, then as much as I want to increase my hits, this site probably isn't for you.

But unlike a lot of bloggers, I'm not trying to remake people in my image. This is just aesthetics which comes down to this - what is beauty and what is truth. The rest is up to you.]

Image: photostock / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

My love took a ride on a red-eye plane
Going home
And we’re never going to feel the same
Change this feeling under my feet
Change the sheets and then change me

["In the music business bigger is not necessarily better. In fact, I believe smaller is actually better" - Chuck Kaye, Dreamworks.

Kathleen Edwards works on a smaller scale than some of her contemporaries, but she delivers meaning and passion with her own brand of folk.

Look at how she begins this song, "My love took a ride on a red-eye plane." Introducing the man she loves simply as "my love" is elegant and mature. And so much is conveyed by the phrase "red-eye plane." We immediately know the hour of the day, the probable emotional state of the couple (Have you ever been happy about taking a red-eye flight?), even the class of the flier (He has enough money to fly but not enough to go in style.).

My love is a stockpile of broken wills
Like Santa Fe, margaritas and sleeping pills
I want to lie in the cracks of this lonely road
I can fill in the blanks every time you don't phone

[I love this line, "I can fill in the blanks every time you don't phone." Herein lies a tip for my friends who are in relationships - always call home. I know the feeling of being so embarrassed by the situation one is in to call home. Call home anyway. The scenario she's going to imagine in the wake of your silence is many, many times worse than the reality.]
Here is the truth, I swear it used to be fun
Go ahead run, run, run, run

Change this feeling under my feet
Change the sheets and then change me
Won’t you change this feeling under my feet?

[Changing sheets is so easy. You pull out a crisp set of linens and suddenly it's like you have a new bed. If only we could change our emotions so easily. ]

I want to lie in the cracks of this lonely road
I can fill in the blanks every time you don’t phone
Here is the truth, I swear it was fun
Go ahead run, run, run, run, run, run, run

[Wanting to lie in the cracks of the road means wanting to disappear, wanting to erase one's self from existence. Where is the source of this guilt? She says, "Here is the truth, I swear it was fun." I think she's admitting to cheating, and for no greater justification than it feeling good at the time. But she leaves with a parting shot. By saying "go ahead run," she's implying that her former love is a coward. He won't face up to the deep problems in the relationship. Instead he's flying home in the middle of the night.]

Change this feeling under my feet
Would you change the sheets and then change me
Change this feeling under my feet
‘Cause here is the truth, I swear it was fun
Go ahead run, run, run, run, run, run, ooh (2x)

Image: markuso / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Image: Salvatore Vuono / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

There’s a great, clever, funny post about Nickelback. It’s the post I wanted to write, but even better so I’m just putting the link here rather than try to re-invent the wheel.

http://www.yeahokthen.com/2011/11/in-defense-of-nickelback-or-applebees.html/

It comes down to this – Nickelback exploits a simple formula in their music. It’s simple, repetitive, full of hooks, and the lyrics are free from profanities. This means they don’t take chance or try to explore new territory. This is why people hate them. Yet these traits also make their music aesthetically pleasing, at least at a superficial level. This is why other people love them.

Also, Track 9 on Nickelback’s “Dark Horse,” is “S.E.X.” featuring the following “enlightened” lyrics:

(Yes) sex is always the answer, it’s never a question,

Cause the answer’s yes, oh the answer’s (Yes).

I don’t love you but I always will
I don’t love you but I always will
I don’t love you but I always will
I always will

I wish you’d hold me when I turn my back
The less I give the more I get back
Oh, your hands can heal
Your hands can bruise
I don’t have a choice but I’d still choose you

Oh, I don’t love you but I always will
Oh, I don’t love you but I always will
I don’t love you but I always will
Oh, I don’t love you but I always will

I don’t love you but I always will(3x)

“By the one who has my soul in His hand, you (the Ansar) are dearest to me of all people” he said this twice.”
[Muslim]

When Rasulullah صلى الله عليه وسلم (S) was preaching in Medina, he was concerned that the Muslims would need to fight for freedom and security. He was concerned that his supporters in Medina, whom he named “Al-Ansar,” (The Helpers) would abandon him if he asked them to fight.

Sa’ad bin Muadh  رضي الله عنه  said, “We have believed in you and we’ve testified to the truth of that which you have brought.  And we bear witness that that which you have come with is truth. And we’ve given you our oath that we will listen and we will obey. Perhaps, O Messenger of Allah, you fear that the Ansar will only defend you inside of their city. And I speak for all of the Ansar and I will respond on their behalf. Go wherever you choose, O Messenger of Allah; join relations with whomsoever you choose; and break relations with whomsoever you choose; make peace with whomsoever you choose; and make war with whomsoever you choose; take from our wealth whatever you choose, whatever you will, and that which you have taken from our wealth is more beloved to us than that which you have left. What you order us with, your order is our order. Go forth, O Messenger of Allah, wherever you choose to, we’re with you. I swear by the One Who Has Sent you with the truth, if you were to stand before this ocean and plunge into it, we will plunge into this ocean with you and not a single man of us would remain behind.”

Muslim often talk about the need for better leaders. I argue that we need better followers too. Read these words of the Ansar over and over again. When have you heard Muslims tell their leaders, “We believe in you”? In North America, where are the Muslims that go to their imam and say, “We will listen and we will obey”? I can tell you, with not an ounce of pessimism, that contemporary Muslims will not, under any circumstances, tell their leaders, “Take from our wealth whatever you choose.”

You can argue that our current leaders are so corrupt that if we promised them wealth, they would ask for more and more, never being satisfied. Without a doubt, there are Muslim leaders for whom that is true. But we need to start meeting our leaders in the middle. We need to recognize when our leaders do something good. We need to help with the good or at least clear the way for the people who are doing the good. We love to criticize what is wrong and that is a responsibility we need to take seriously. But when setting priorities between enjoining the good and forbidding the evil, enjoining the good is the more important task.

Bukhari narrated on the authority of Jabir (R) who said, “I heard the Prophet (S) say, ‘the heavens trembled at the death of Sa’ad bin Muadh.”

May Allah make us among those who lead well and those who follow well, those whose passing is mourned by people and angels and those who are welcomed into heaven by people, by angels, and most importantly, by Allah Himself.

Shakir, Imam Zaid. Reflections on the Inaugural Address of Abu Bakr. Rumi Publications, Disc 8 of 16, Track 1, 2001.

http://www.khilafah.com/index.php/concepts/islamic-culture/11007-who-were-the-ansar

http://awaremuslim.blogspot.com/2009/01/let-us-remember-al-ansar.html/

[Cake released this song in 1993. CDs were still relatively new and a big CD collection would have been pretty impressive then.  Moto Guzzi is a brand of motorcycle. Income tax brackets are indicators of social class. The speaker is suggesting that the character he is sketching is not a self-made man, but rather a prodigal son wasting the wealth of his mom and dad.]

Now tickets to concerts and drinking at clubs,
Sometimes for music that you haven’t even heard of.
And how much did you pay for your rock’n'roll t-shirt
That proves you were there,
That you heard of them first?

[This is an indictment of rock culture. Rock culture create clubs of elites who brag about the status their money affords them. Such elites incur several costs - concert tickets, cover charges, drinks, t-shirts, CDs, and memorabilia. And most of these things are useless. How usefel is a $30 t-shirt? The main purpose of these things is to show off to others how “cool” (read:rich) one is.]

How do you afford your rock’n'roll lifestyle? (3x)

Ah, tell me.

How much did you pay for the chunk of his guitar,
The one he ruthlessly smashed at the end of the show?
And how much will he pay for a brand new guitar,
One which he’ll ruthlessly smash at the end of another show?

And how long will the workers keep building him new ones?
As long as their soda cans are red, white, and blue ones.(2x)

[Some people think this is an allusion to Pepsi, as their cans are red, white, and blue. I think it applies to many corporations, especially Coca Cola, but also Anheuser-Busch, Apple, Wal-Mart, etc. The problem isn’t one ruthless soda company, it’s a host of corporations closely connected to the most wealthy and powerful people in the nation. Corporations portray themselves as the most American of American institutions but in reality, they are betraying the values of egalitarianism and self-sacrifice that make this country great.]

Aging black leather and hospital bills,
Tattoo removal and dozens of pills.
Your liver pays dearly now for youthful magic moments,
But rock on completely with some brand new components.

[What is the endgame of the rock n’ roll lifestyle? It’s not pretty. Overconsumption of alcohol, exposure to loud music, and tattoos from tainted needles all can pose health hazards. Implicit here is the idea that the character destroys his liver and gets a transplant. Yet he only needs a new liver because he squandered the healthy liver with which he was blessed.]

How do you afford your rock’n'roll lifestyle? (3x)

Excess ain’t rebellion.
You’re drinking what they’re selling.
Your self-destruction doesn’t hurt them.
Your chaos won’t convert them.
They’re so happy to rebuild it.
You’ll never really kill it.
Yeah, excess ain’t rebellion.
You’re drinking what they’re selling.
Excess ain’t rebellion.
You’re drinking,
You’re drinking,
You’re drinking what they’re selling.

[“Excess ain’t rebellion” is a wise, pithy saying. The character thinks he’s a rebel because of his lifestyle and the music he likes. But everything he does actually serves the interests of corporations and the state. He adds to spending with his consumption and he inspires others to consume more as well. If he really wanted to make a difference, he would live simply, help others, and inspire others to seek meaning in things that don’t cost money.]