MINDLESS MUSINGS

This thread is pretty self-explanatory. Like most people, I have an endless soundtrack running in my head. All the songs I have heard throughout my life are in there and can be triggered at any moment by something obviously attached to it, or maybe some bizarre connection I will never figure out.

A lot of it is melodies and music I just find myself whistling or humming. Just as much is lyrics; songs I have heard so many times I know them word for word. Or at least I think I do. If I find that I have imprinted the wrong word in my version of the lyrics, it can be very fucken difficult to rectify. Even when it is obvious that the word I was using was ridiculous and the correct word makes much more sense, that sucker is just burned into my mental hard drive.

Bit of trivia for you: You know how humans used poems and songs to pass stories along through generations? Did it hit you? I only heard about it less than a year ago myself! We all know hundreds of songs word for word (mostly); but more than that, we also remember the melody, the tempo, the lot. Almost as reliable as having it written down!

Anyway, this thread will be for those lyrics that I need to say a little something about. Some can be slotted into another post and speak for themselves. The lyrics just fit so well with what I was trying to say. Others never seem to fit properly, or I reckon will take me-too far-off track if I insert them. I like to keep the posts brief and even then, I can waffle on. I don’t need any more temptation.

Which leads me to the first post for this thread. I couldn’t add these lyrics and simply leave them there. I love the double meaning but explaining it in the other post would have been a segway too far.

So here we go:

“There’s a rich man sleeping on a golden bed

There’s a skeleton choking on a crust of bread”

For most of my life I’ve loved the contrast between ridiculous wealth and devastating poverty in these two lines. It says so much with so little and until not long ago that was it. Every time I heard them, I had the image of the two extremes in my mind and felt awe at how a few words could convey an idea so well.

That was until a few years ago when I read about the King Midas connection. It fits just as perfectly and hits a different point just as brilliantly!

Everything King Midas touched turned to gold – wonderful! Until you have the horrific realisation that gold may be a valuable metal and having this ‘gift’ will obviously make you insanely rich, but EVERYTHING you touch turns to gold; you don’t get to choose.

That golden bed might look really flashy, but I don’t thing it would be very comfortable. The whole fucken bed too, remember; not just the frame. The mattress, the pillows and the blankets – that’s fucked!

Obviously, the line borrows a lot of its clout from the myth, but for anyone who catches on it offers such a vivid new concept and that’s just one line.

The next line is real kick in the guts. The skeleton is King Midas himself! The poor bastard cannot eat because food must touch his mouth for him to receive any nutrients. This guy is rich beyond all imagination, and the very source of that wealth is slowly starving him to death!

He’s choking on a fucken golden crust of bread!

Two lines from a song with two very different interpretations; both hitting their mark dead centre – Fucking awesome!