It’s The Singer Not The Song…

Posted by lucky13 on Apr 24, 2009 in Family Visits With Chi | 7 comments

“You see the same faces on the way up as you do on the way down.”

“Do onto others as you would have done on to you.”

“If you don’t have something nice to say, don’t say anything at all.”

“Loyalties don’t lead to royalties.”

You hear a lot of little sayings in life. Some are good rules to live by. Others, maybe just silly.

And before I go any further, let me say once and for all- I am not a perfect person. I make mistakes. I inadvertently hurt peoples feelings. Everyday I try and do the right things, sometimes falling well short of the mark. I won’t say “I’m only human”-that just seems like a silly cop-out.

Something I’ve been working on a lot lately is not giving in to feeding negativity (usually my own). I am trying the best I can to let people be people. I am trying to let the Karma Snake do it’s job (without my help).

In the last 5 months I have learned a great many things about people. Myself included. Thankfully this little website has reaffirmed what I always knew was true- People are generally good and want to live compassionate lives. The compassion and acts of kindness towards my brother by complete (to me anyway) strangers has been amazing. I realize that my brother is a special person. But as I read the stories about him, I realize that the impressions he has left on people are just alot of things that were just Dai being Dai. Most of these stories I’ve never heard, but I know are true. And if you read them, most of them are really just simple acts of compassion and kindness. Somehow this compounded with the fact that on some level Dai might be considered a “rock star” seem to have quite an effect on people. From what I gather this kind of behavior isn’t typical rock star demeanor. The reality is that these simple acts of compassion are really just how we all want to be treated. And now I see it coming back tenfold with all the love and support so many have given my family in this trying time. Always, it’s some stranger with a email or link or story- to help me to restore faith that everything will work out one way or another. Half the time it’s Gina. We’ve never even met- and now I feel like I have a sister in Texas. Again I can never thank you all enough for everything.

I don’t think I’m the sharpest tool in the box. Sometimes I don’t even feel like I’m in the box to be honest. I have read many times that a lot of artist realize that their songs are interpreted in so many different ways, that they tend not to want to get into what it meant to them. I was over 30 before I realized what the song with the line “I’ve spent all of my life watching trains go by” meant.

I have been around the “biz” long enough to realize that more than likely, I don’t want to meet my favorite songwriters or bands. I don’t want to find out that they might be a bunch pricks. I like the mystic and the myth more. So maybe I just learned what the old Stones song “It’s the singer, not the song” means to me.

As a kid me and Dai shared a lot of interests. And our heroes might have been of stage and screen, but now I find myself finding that my heroes are “regular people.” Single parents, working stiffs with jobs they hate (but doing for their family), people that have nothing yet give whatever they can and folks that just plain go the extra mile to do the right thing.

“If you choose not to decide you still have made a choice” (Rush- did I get the lyrics right?).

Since the accident I’ve seen a lot of peoples true colors. You think you know people until something like this happens. Then you see what you always knew was there, but didn’t really want to accept. But for every cold black heart I see the light and kindness in the next soul. Maybe we are all just living our dream of what we think this world is. Sometimes when I least expect it, I hear the 10,000 things. the stuttering I and I and I of the rastas. the oneness of everything. the chaos. And somehow the interconnectedness is in harmony.

But usually I just put one foot in front of the other and try and make the best of it. Cause I’ll be damned if this world, or me or both ain’t downright Crazy. But life is good. So cheers. -M.

p.s.- Gina and I are gonna be working on a different site. Hopefully geared toward real change. You and I are the hundredth monkey. I know. It’s hard to be your own heroes, but let’s be realistic. If we really want to make the world inhabitable for our children- it’s gonna be on us. And starting yesterday. You with me? Think about it. Or just keep watching your regularly scheduled programming. Cheerio.