Better Days. by The Goo Goo Dolls.

What did you just say?

Cause everyone is forgiven now
Cause tonight's the night the world begins again

That is what I thought you said, but I can't believe it. Really, it is hard to believe the completeness of forgiveness and the complete and whole break with everything past that it represents. There is no better way to think about forgiveness than as a new start. A new everything.

Not every line of this song is correct, but the new beginning of forgiveness is brilliant.

And, isn't every night when the world begins again?

Enjoy

Happy New Year. by Camera Obscura.

Happy New Year, you are my only vice

Marvelous thinking about love. It really makes little sense to feel affection for others. It violates all the self-interest that seems to be a hallmark of the modern mindset.  The Muse is right to point out this insanity. It is altogether proper blast right through the insanity and have at it for another year.

Enjoy

Christmas. By Darlene Love.

The song Christmas, as sung by Darlene Love, has been heard dozens of times by faithful watchers of the Letterman show. She performs it for his program every year on the last broadcast prior to December 25th.

The Muse takes us through the song's images and remind us that we long for love. But there is more. The sax riffs. The bells ring. The verbal images blur with the passion in her voice. The piano rattles at a furious pace with the violence of the very longing we feel as regular people in this bizarre world. The tambourine slams. And the Muse says there is more... more to this life...more solution than problem, more longing than could ever be made whole by what we see and feel. And yet we are comforted by this unmet longing. We are reminded and encouraged that we can't see more than ourselves with the Muse showing us that there IS more than ourselves.

So, dream big. Then dream bigger. Then repeat. See what the Muse can show you.

Enjoy.

 <--- 1993

2013 --->

Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas. by Cat Power.

The Muse is very active in Christmas/Holiday music. With reason.

There is a lot of meaning in this short song, but today the Muse opened up the very early part of the lyrics:

from now on, let your troubles be out of sight

The troubles are still there, the pain that they are causing can, will, and does return. For the moment, however, maybe it is too much all at once. Entertain your flesh a little, and ignore the strife. No drugs needed, just hope based in the reality of a better future.

Young people wonder how their professors of poetry can see so much meaning in a given poem, even suggesting that the poet didn't even know what it meant at the moment of writing. But the question remains:

• Can words mean something that the very author never intended them to mean? 

The answer can only be:

• Yes.

While I scoffed at such talk as a 25 year old, I now see it as the only possible way for the world to operate. Language is far too personal for it to be any other way.

Let the Muse speak.
Enjoy.

Silent Night. by The Piano Guys.

This time the Muse spoke directly to the artists:

Start with the second verse to make the old new again.

And they did.

Enjoy.

So This is Christmas. by John Lennon.

"So this is Christmas, and what have we done?"

This is the single worst line in any song associated with Christmas. Christmas is completely about Christ and nothing about us.

Still, the Muse convinced even God-neutral John Lennon to discuss Christ in this song. So, enjoy, but with the huge caveat of the entire lyric being based in the wrong place.

All Year Long. by Michael W. Smith

Like every song that, this one has some lyrical errors caused by the need to rhyme.

Still, this gem jumps out and turns the head toward truth:

May peace guard you hearts and make you strong

I have never before thought of peace and strength together, but the Muse saw it all along. I think that the world views strength leading to peace. It is really the other way around. Peace comes and that is what makes one strong.

Enjoy

I Celebrate the Day. Relient K

I still haven't even come to grips with this song. The Muse assures that that is OK. The only thing so far is: Heaven is so much an "other" place and time and existence that we have only seen a fleeting shadow of how perfection is to lived out forever.

Enjoy.