Every Fall for the past five years, I've made a mix CD for myself. It's become kind of a tradition to put together a reflective mix with themes like The Wayward Wind ('03), The Chill of an Early Fall ('04), The Killing Moon ('05), The Day That You Tarry ('06), and The Autumn Wind Is a Raider ('07) that really capture the season. As Northern Exposure's Chris-in-the-Morning once said: if Winter is death, and Spring is rebirth, and Summer is life, then Fall rounds out to be a time of reflection. It's time to scratch up those acorns for the tough times ahead.
But towards the end of last August and the beginning of last September, I was craving a mix to set a different mood. It wasn't yet time for full reflection. Summer was on the lam, but it hadn't been caught quite yet. The theme for that mix was Beyond the White Breakers, from a song called "Beautiful World" by Colin Hay.
Just because Men at Work sang about Vegemite sandwiches and Belgian men 6'4" and full muscles, that doesn't mean they didn't party like the '80s rock stars they were. So what happens 20 years later when an aging rock star is trying to "make sense of it all"? Well, you end up with a gem like Men at Work lead singer Colin Hay's Beautiful World.
What's easy to appreciate about this songs is how simple it is, how Hay rejoices in the smaller things in life that people -- certainly rock stars -- take for granted. And I love how he just slips in certain phrases like "with a little bit of Lapsang souchong" and "a woman if you are one." But the best lines are when you can tell that he is reveling in the fact that the prime of a rock star's life has passed him by, and he doesn't have to convince himself that he's alright with it. In fact, life is so much richer now that he's stopped to drink in the small things that life has to offer:
Not just swimming in the sea, but going beyond the white breakers.Maybe he's right. Once you've reached a certain age and racked up a little too much life experience, maybe this is as good as it gets. And maybe that's a whole better than you think. . . .
Not just drinking tea, but making your own Irish tea -- with a little Lapsang souchong for the final touch.
Not just driving in the car, but heading on a daytrip quite far -- with the top down.
Not just learning to quit drinking and smoking, but the hard-learned self-peace to leave a party with no regrets.
Not just watching the sun rise every day, but also watching it as it sets.
Not just a mysterious beautiful woman, but a beautiful woman who loves your company.
I'm still learning to leave the party early -- at least with no regrets -- but I can see the white breakers on the horizon. Is it time to get back to the basics? It's awfully hard to stop and smell the roses, to taste the moment, when you're a besotted mess. I'll finish up the Rotoworld news shift tomorrow afternoon around one o'clock, and maybe it's time I went across the street to the beach and tried to get beyond those white breakers for awhile.
Somehow, though, happiness remains a frosty mug at Huc-a-Poos with Coach Watson manning the music for a few sweet hours . . . I'm still working on the self-peace, but I'm not there quite yet.
What did Warren Zevon say, "enjoy every sandwich"?
[This is what happens when you can't sleep, and you decide to hammer away at the keyboard for an hour or so at 3:00 in the A.M.]
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2 comments:
Everyone remembers "Down Under" and "Who Can It Be Now?" from Men at Work (and they were great songs), but those first two albums from them were fantastic from beginning to end. "Overkill", "Down By The Sea", "It's A Mistake", "Blue For You"...great, great songs. They were very talented multi-instrumentalists that were not afraid to use them on "rock" records.They combined their quirky Australian humor with fantastic melodies to create one of the truly unique bands of the time.
Kudos for a great entry mentioning one of the great bands of my era!
--August 15, 2008, 9:54 AM
awesome post man.
--August 15, 2008, 1:26 PM
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