I just had an interesting revelation… I was listening to some music tonight and put on one of my favorite songs… “Off he Goes” by Pearl Jam. It’s always been sort of an anthem to me… It’s about a guy who’s always too busy for his own good and stressing out about it .. the lyrics go:
One, two, one, two
Know a man his face seemed pulled and tense
Like he’s riding on a motorbike in the strongest winds
So I approach with tact
Suggest that he should relax
But he’s always movin’ much too fast
Said he’ll see me on the flip side
On this trip he’s taken for a ride
He’s been takin’ too much on
There he goes with his perfectly unkept clothes
There he goes
He’s yet to come back
But I’ve seen his picture
It doesn’t look the same up on the racks
We go way back
I wonder ’bout his insides
It’s like his thoughts are too big for his size
He’s been taken where, I don’t know?
Off he goes with his perfectly unkept hope
There he goes
And now I rub my eyes for he has returned
Seems my preconceptions are what should have been burned
For he still smiles and he’s still strong
Nothing’s changed, but the surrounding bullshit, that has grown
And now he’s home, and we’re laughing, like we always did
My same old, same old friend
Until a quarter-to-ten
I saw the strain creep in
He seems distracted and I know just what is gonna happen next
Before his first step, he is off again
You can hear it here
Strange thing was as I was listening to it and trying to pick it out on a guitar I realized I don’t identify with that song anymore I’m still trying to figure out what that means. Does it mean I’m not as stressed and overcommitted as I was? Is that Covid? Is it giving up? Is it reaching a point of deep satisfaction in my life..
Some of all of those ?
I’m voting for the satisfaction part… Stay tuned to find out
-jc
