This Week's Song Stuck in My Head

Music is such a powerful medium. Though music, there is no emotion that cannot be conveyed by the musician or be provoked in the listener. Different types of music make me feel sadness or joy, frenzied intensity or peace. There are times when music even makes me feel transcendent - I become oblivious to everything and everyone around me and past, present and future converge into timelessness. Perhaps one of the things that I missed most during my prolonged period of numbness was that music did not convey the strong emotions that it did before. Thankfully, that period has now passed.

As you'll remember from my previous post, I was feeling fairly lonely on Saturday night. As I flipped through my CD collection I stumbled upon the 1991 album Woodface by Crowded House. It was lovely to listen to, but the highlight was the very last song - "How Will You Go?" In particular, the lyrics in the bridge suddenly gave me a sense of hope:

And you know I'll be fine
Just don't ask me how I'm going
Give me time, give me time
'Cos I want you to see
Round the world, round the world
Is a tangled up necklace of pearls


Of course, the lyrics would not have had such a powerful effect on me without the melody, so here's a cover:



Just in case you're not sure, the part I'm talking about starts at 1:43. Truly beautiful.

As I listened to those lyrics, I had the vague sense that things would find a way to work themselves out. In particular, I loved the imagery of a tangled up necklace of pearls wrapped around the world. As I understand it, this line is suggesting that the world truly is a beautiful place, but we often miss it because we prefer to focus on the fact that things are tangled up. It is a call to step back and look at things with a sense of perspective.

This song and particularly the abovementioned lines have sustained me all week. Just to let you in on an embarrassing secret, I often sing to myself in public. Apparently this isn't normal behaviour, but I don't care - I find that it helps me to escape from the hustle and bustle of city life into a world of my own making.

Stay tuned for next week, when I let you know which new song I am singing to myself on the streets of Sydney ...