Music Part 2

Trouble
Cat Stevens
Album: Mona Bone Jakon
Year: 1970

Trouble
Oh trouble set me free
I have seen your face
And it's too much too much for me

Trouble
Oh trouble can't you see
You're eating my heart away
And there's nothing much left of me

I've drunk your wine
You have made your world mine
So won't you be fair
So won't you be fair

I don't want no more of you
So won't you be kind to me
Just let me go where
I'll have to go there

Trouble
Oh trouble move away
I have seen your face
and it's too much for me today

Trouble
Oh trouble can't you see
You have made me a wreck
Now won't you leave me in my misery

I've seen your eyes
and I can see death's disguise
Hangin' on me
Hangin' on me

I'm beat, I'm torn
Shattered and tossed and worn
Too shocking to see
Too shocking to see

Trouble
Oh trouble move from me
I have paid my debt
Now won't you leave me in my misery

Trouble
Oh trouble please be kind
I don't want no fight
And I haven't got a lot of time

Big Yellow Taxi
Joni Mitchell
Album: Ladies of the Canyon
Year: 1970

They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot
With a pink hotel, a boutique
And a swinging hot spot
Don’t it always seem to go
That you don’t know what you’ve got
Till it’s gone
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot

They took all the trees
Put ’em in a tree museum
And they charged the people
A dollar and a half just to see ’em
Don’t it always seem to go
That you don’t know what you’ve got
Till it’s gone
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot

Hey farmer farmer
Put away that d.d.t. now
Give me spots on my apples
But leave me the birds and the bees
Please!Don’t it always seem to go
That you don’t know what you’ve got
Till it’s gone
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot

Late last nightI heard the screen door slam
And a big yellow taxi
Took away my old man
Don’t it always seem to go
That you don’t know what you’ve got
Till it’s gone
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot

Fruit Tree
Nick Drake
Album: Five Leaves Left
Year: 1969

Fame is but a fruit tree
So very unsound.
It can never flourish
Till it’s stalk is in the ground.

So men of fame
Can never find a way
Till time has flownFar from their dying day.

Forgotten while you’re here
Remembered for a while
A much updated ruinFrom a much outdated style.

Life is but a memory
Happened long ago.
Theatre full of sadness
For a long forgotten show.

Seems so easy
Just to let it go on by
Till you stop and wonder
Why you never wondered why.

Safe in the womb
Of an everlasting night
You find the darkness can
Give the brightest light.

Safe in your place deep in the earth
That’s when they’ll know what you were really worth.
Forgotten while you’re here
Remembered for a while
A much updated ruin
From a much outdated style.

Fame is but a fruit tree
So very unsound.
It can never flourish
Till it’s stalk is in the ground.

So men of fame
Can never find a way
Till time has flown
Far from their dying day.

Fruit tree, fruit tree
No-one knows you but the rain and the air.
Don’t you worry
They’ll stand and stare when you’re gone.

Fruit tree, fruit tree
Open your eyes to another year.
They’ll all know
That you were here when you’re gone.

Music Part 1 : The Pink Floyd Edition

I love music. I try to have music playing wherever I am. I'm constantly amazed at how music can affect me. It can make me happy or sad, angry or loving. Music is able to not only reach our minds but also our souls.

I thought I would share some songs that touch me.

Time
Pink Floyd
Album: Dark Side of the Moon
Year: 1973

Ticking away the moments that make up a dull day
You fritter and waste the hours in an off-hand way
Kicking around on a piece of ground in your home town
Waiting for someone or something to show you the way
Tired of lying in the sunshine staying home to watch the rain
You are young and life is long and there is time to kill today
And then the one day you find ten years have got behind you
No one told you when to run, you missed the starting gun
And you run and you run to catch up with the sun, but it's sinking
And racing around to come up behind you again
The sun is the same in the relative way, but you're older
And shorter of breath and one day closer to death
Every year is getting shorter, never seem to find the time
Plans that either come to naught or half a page of scribbled lines
Hanging on in quiet desparation is the English way
The time is gone the song is over, thought I'd something more to say

Home, home againI like to be here when I can
When I come home cold and tired
It's good to warm my bones beside the fire
Far away, across the field, tolling on the iron bell
Calls the faithful to their knees
And hear the softly spoken magic spell

Wish You Were Here
Pink Floyd
Album: Wish You Were Here
Year: 1975

So, so you think you can tell
Heaven from Hell,blue skies from pain.
Can you tell a green field from a cold steel rail?
A smile from a veil?Do you think you can tell?
And did they get you to trade your heroes for ghosts?
Hot ashes for trees?
Hot air for a cool breeze?
Cold comfort for change?
And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage?
How I wish, how I wish you were here.
We're just two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl, year after year,
Running over the same old ground.
What have we found?
The same old fears.
Wish you were here.

On The Turning Away
Pink Floyd
Album: A Momentary Lapse of Reason
Year: 1987

On the turning away
From the pale and downtrodden
And the words they say
Which we won't understand
"Don't accept that what's happeningIs just a case of others' suffering
Or you'll find that you're joining inThe turning away"
It's a sin that somehow
Light is changing to shadow
And casting it's shroud
Over all we have known
Unaware how the ranks have grown
Driven on by a heart of stone
We could find that we're all aloneIn the dream of the proud
On the wings of the night
As the daytime is stirring
Where the speechless unite
In a silent accordUsing words you will find are strange
And mesmerised as they light the flame
Feel the new wind of change
On the wings of the night
No more turning away
From the weak and the weary
No more turning away
From the coldness inside
Just a world that we all must share
It's not enough just to stand and stare
Is it only a dream that there'll be
No more turning away?

Winter Wonderland

I find that as I grow older I look forward to Christmas more and more each year. My friend thought I was nuts when I was playing Christmas carols in the car in early November. I'm not too sure that I can explain it other than a growing sense of family. So imagine my delight when I went out this afternoon and found this ...

No, not the bridge, but falling snow. It was the first snow fall of the year and as soon as I saw it a smile came to my face. I quickly grabbed my coat and went for a walk.

There is nothing quite like going for a walk while it is snowing out, especially in a city. Everything looks a little cleaner. Everything seems a little quieter. I like the way the snow looks on the trees and as it falls through the lights.

Winter is finally here and with it comes snow and Christmas.
I love it.

Why

When I was 19, I spent a lot of time travelling by myself to and from school. At the time I felt very lost. I had no idea who I was or who I was meant to be. I remember constantly thinking that if I belonged to some ethnic group that I could take from it some sense of identity, some sense of who or what I was. Of course I'm white Canadian male and as such I can think of no distinct cultural identity within which I fit. So I continued to despair and search but found nothing on earth which could / would answer my questions.

It was then that God began to speak to me. I learned that I was God's creation and called to by him to be his child. I began to read the bible and ask questions of my uncle who was a Christian. I had gone to church as a child but stopped going when I was 12. I had been open somewhat to God, but had never opened myself to him truly. As I continued to read, things began to make sense. As I continued to ask questions, I began to get answers. It was a beautiful spring day in May 1993 that I too became a Christian and finally ackowledged within my heart and mind who and what I was. I was a child of God, created by him so that I might know him and be loved by him.

Over the years since I have discussed God with many people. People who believed as I did and those who did not. I found I enjoyed discussing my faith and God with non-believers because it challenged me to confront areas of my faith that I may not have chosen to by myself. I have as of yet to encounter anything that has shaken my faith in God. Perhaps the lowest point I've had was when my wife left. It was then that I felt most keenly the presence of God.

Recently I was reading some online forums and read a post by a gentleman that stated that he used to be a Christian but was one no longer and was now definetly sure that there was no God as he had prayed for years, received no answer and as such had proven the non-existence of God. This got me thinking. How did this person 'prove' that God did not exist? He of course did not, but rather embraced and confirmed his own personal unbelief. I read tonight a person's confession that the death of their child proved that God did not exist. The simple fact of the matter is that one cannot 'prove' the existence or non-existence of God.

The most common proofs for the non-existence of God is 1) bad things happen and 2) "I've never experienced him". I find that these two arguments are rather week. First the simple notion that bad things happen proves nothing. The same people that claim this don't want God to stop everything 'bad' from happening. What they want is for certain 'bad' things to stop happening not all of them. Because in the end 'if' God exists his definition of 'bad' is vastly different from the world view of 'bad' that if he stopped all 'bad' thing from happening these people would be unhappy that they no longer had personal freedom to do 'bad' things. In reality this is a personal excuse or reason for unbelief and that is fine, but it does not prove that there is no God. The second claim for proof is also a personal reason for unbelief and poor philosophy. I've never experienced Brad Pitt's parent's therefore they don't exist. Its poor logic. I can't prove that Brad Pitt's don't exist through this reasoning but it may be enough for me to not believe in them. That of course is up to the individual.

However, what proves to me that God does exist is the fact that I have experienced him. Of course in turn this is my excuse or reason for belief. And that of course is what faith is all about. When I was 20 I was baptized and as was the tradition in my church people would give their testimony, how one came to be a Christian. I did not. Instead I related to those in attendance the reality of my experience with God. That is why I believe.

The Creation of Adam - Michaelangelo