One of those songs that just grabs you out of the blue · 10:53pm Apr 8th, 2014
It came up on my playlist, and for the first time I really listened to the lyrics.
Apart from being a summary of the esence of Pink Floyd, it... well actually that's all there is to say.
It's making me think. All of my friends from school and university are gone from my life. I don't think I stayed in contact with any of them for more than a few years. The only true friends I have are on the other end of the internet - we meet up once a year (or more in the case of one, who has been the truest friend I have ever had, and who I hope sees me the same way), eat food we can't really afford, drink too much, watch stupid shit and just hang out together.
Most of the time it's just me and the wife.
I ask myself occasionally if I'd have it any other way. By the definition of my parents' generation I'm alone and isolated. I do display a lot of the quirks of that sort of existence - odd hours and so on - but at the same time I'm never alone.
There has been and still is a lamentation toward the death of human interaction, the idea that to be fully human we must have friends we physically meet on a regular basis. My generation is the last to have known life before this total interconnection, and that grants something of a unique perspective - I can see and understand the fear that drives this belief, that we are incomplete without regular physical contact. Certainly, it makes "socialisation" more difficult, as so much emotional and behavioural context is stripped out in text. At the same time, I interact with people all over the world on a regular basis. I have friends on every continent, from every walk of life, from the super-rich to the poorest of the poor.
I met my wife because of a fanfic I wrote. I met most of my friends because of art I drew and posted on the internet. I feel closer to people in Australia and California than I do to people in the flat below mine.
There was a revolution some time in the last 20 years. I think we might have missed what it really was.
Anyway, the song was pretty good. You should listen to it.
(also I originally linked the radio edit of this track. The full-length version is better.)
My mum and dad don't have many friends either. They just love spending time with one another and don't really need anyone else except for a couple of really close friends.
Nice blog. Made me think a little bit about the fact that I have very few IRL friends in comparison to random people around the world.
That's a good track. Thanks for sharing.
I had to pull up the lyrics, but yeah, they kind of hit me. Good song. I'll listen to more of them if this is how they approach their lyrics, which are critical to me in my music. The music and voice I can probably get used to, like so many other bands and genres.
I think there's a lot to be said for your point of view on the world being a more open place where friends can be found in every corner of it. It's an idea that I really appreciate. Even if context is naturally stripped from personal interactions at the keyboard, hopefully there's a bit of heightened tolerance and acceptance to go along with it that likely compensates, at least partially. So many 'ifs', but then true friends are a rare thing no matter where they come from.
For myself, as much as I want and would love to have friends here and in other places on the internet, it seems that I'm not terribly cut out for it, with perhaps one exception. The people I count right now as my real friends are the ones who I know in person, who seem to not want to give up on me, and bang their heads on my wall to get my attention once in a while despite my serious attempts at remaining an introvert. I count a brother and sister (out of 4) on that list of friends, as well as an ex and a college friend, and perhaps one or two others. It's a very short list of very good friends.
It's true that "you can't choose your family, but you can choose your friends", but that choice leaves a lot of room for near misses because they can choose you or not, too. Any way you meet them, hold on to them.
Modern songs have lyrics? Who knew.
Damn. My Feels, have them.
Oh. Nice song. cool.