Wednesday, August 15, 2012

To The Heavens, Earth And Seas.


One crowded hour of glorious life
Is worth an age without a name.
 - Thomas Osbert Mordaunt

Yesterday morning I got into the car and started the engine. The engine is doing that again now, which is nice. I was in kind of a rush to beat the traffic, so I peeled out straightaway, figuring I'd decide on music once I was moving.

I was in a pretty damn good mood, probably the best mood one can be in when they're running slightly late for work on a Tuesday morning. But I still hadn't decided on music by the time I reached the East Brunswick Project. That was ok, I reasoned. Some song would pop into my head while I was waiting for coffee, and I'd put that song on when I got back into the car.

No song appeared. I crossed Lygon Street without a tune. It was kinda strange. I got in the car, pulled back out into traffic, held the iPod in my hand, scrolling through the list of artists. I'm a guy with eclectic tastes, and up until now I was certain that I had something, some genre of music, some song for every occasion or whim. Lygon turned into Holmes, which then turned into Nicholson. I got stuck behind a tram for a bit, turned right onto Bell, immediately left onto Elizabeth. Still no song. When it came time to head right on Murray Road I gave up and put the iPod back into the dashboard. All along Plenty Road, all the way into the Coles carpark, over to the Red Rooster opposite school, I drove in complete silence.

So today's Music Wednesday isn't about music, but rather the absence of it. I was pretty confused by my momentary inability to choose a song, but wasn't upset or annoyed. Like the other day when I couldn't find any words, I just figured there was stuff going on that I didn't understand, that was beyond my comprehension, that was bigger and more important than anything I could stick words or music to.

That kind of thing used to bug me, but for some reason, it doesn't now.

1 comment:

nexus said...

That's what SmoothFM is for! Those days you can't decide what to put on. Just flick the dial and sing along without a care to some daggy, 80's, white soul.

You're allowed to turn it off when Buble comes on though, which is regularly! Fucking Canadans! They generally aim for 'cool', but then come out with Buble and Dion?!