Today, celebrate three songs that are significant to you. For your twist, write for fifteen minutes without stopping — and build a writing habit.
Today’s twist: You’ll commit to a writing practice. The frequency and the amount of time you choose to spend today — and moving forward — are up to you, but we recommend a minimum of fifteen uninterrupted minutes per day.
Well, this is a compromise, then – I did edit out some of the spelling mistakes after I finished, and added some paragraphs … but I wrote without stopping MUCH longer than fifteen minutes. 😉 And I haven’t deleted or changed anything, except some of the more ugly typos. And added the music. Here goes …
Today’s assignment is to celebrate the three most important songs in my life. THE three. OMG. My life has been all about songs, music has been my companion ever since I can remember and I am supposed to narrow it down to THE three most importantsongs? How the f’** am I going to do that? I would have to sit down and think for hours … what songs have influenced my life? what songs do I keep coming back to even avter 30 years ore more? What songs move me most deeply? There are so many that it feels overwhelming just to think about it.
One song that comes to mind is Iggy Pop*s “The Passenger”. In this song he celebrates Berlin, where he spent a few years, the years he made records with David Bowie. Berlin, where I have spent more than half of my life. I moved here after I finished school, I couldn’t wait to get away from the small town where I grew up. It felt too narrow, too confining, and Berlin at that time was the capital of punk rock. There were squats, there were dilapidated houses, everything so run down, it was glorious. There also was the Berlin wall. But it was good to be on the western side of it. There was more freedom than anywhere. People came here because they were freaks or punks and this was the only place where they could life a life free of restraints. Then you could rent an apartment for 90 DM, which wuuld be the equivalent of 45 €. That gave you freedom because you didn’t have to think too much about how to pay your rent.
That has all changed now. Ever since Berlin became the capital of Germany, investors have been crowding into the city trying to turn every bit of ground into a real estate venture. *yuck* so Iggy’s song reminds me of the 80s, when it was still “West Berlin”, a special insular place in the middle of Communist East Germany, that you could only reach by a “transit” route where East German police would try to waylay you whenever you violated the rules of traffic, because then they would have the right to charge you for penalty and receive West German money – which was more valuable then their own currency.
Now I havent really written about the song … I danced to it for ages (it seems), he sings about “the city’s ripped backsides” and I think about Berlin, seen from the backside, when you go by Tube in the places where it’s overground and you can see the buildings from the backside. It reminds me of ruined places where punks gathered, the toilet was always broken and this music would be played. Today there is nothing left in that way. Everything has become really expensive. You cant go out dancing without paying 10€ admission. Back then it was always free or next to nothing.
Now for the next song … which one will come up? I have no idea. I think of The Damned … what a great band! Yes I think the song that starts playing in my ears is “Smash It Up.” One more punkrock song. Dont know what to write about it other than that I love it. Part One is just instrumental and very laid back, very melodic and harmonious. Then Part Two starts with the actual “song”, with dancable rhythm and vocals. Oh how I love Dave Vanian’s vocals … but actually I love the whole band, Rat Scabies and Captain Sensible, all of them. It would just not be the same crazy band if only one of them was missing. Don’t know what else to say than that I just love this song, and lots of others by them … History of the World, Plan 9 Channel 7, These Hands, and so many more. But I don’t want to pick two of their songs for the three most important ones, so I have to choose something else.
One of my favourite bands of all time are the Lords of the New Church. I’m pretty sure most people have never heard of them. When I saw the coverof their first album back in 1985 (or thereabouts) and they looked like pirates sitting in a desert, I just thought “Wow! These are my people … I love them.” And when I listened to the record, I loved them even more. The first notes and chords from that record, through to the very end, I just thought nothing else but WOW and YES and This is the music I’ve been waiting for, without knowing that I was waiting for this. I saw them three times live after that, and in 1990 unfortunately their singer, Stiv Bator, died from the effects of a car accident … so the three albums they made back then will forever remain the only ones. *sniff* So, which one of their sngs should I pick to write, about? I love them all. I*ll go for “Living on Living” though, it has this eerie drumsound and it talks about someone who prowls the streets at night and isn’t fully human, the way I’ve always felt. “The subterranean escapes the light to an empty space / I’ll do my time prowling in the streets behind a human face / And I*m living on living /Living on Living / Gotta Roam / Yeah I*m living on living / Nowhere to go leave me alone …
Well now that I have practically finished the assignment, so much more comes to mind … songs by the Cramps, Human Fly, Primitive and People Ain’t No Good. They all celebrate being yourself, being different, not being the average human or the person society expects you to be. “The things I do you*d never try / What I get free you have to buy / Primitive / Thats how I live / Primitive / I take what you give” oh I could go on forever writing about my favourite songs of the 80s and I haven’t even started writing about my favourite bands that came later, like Kyuss and Monster Magnet … anyone still interested in reading these ramblings? Okay … lol Monster Magnet is just CULT even if lots of people think theyre mainstream and boring – but he keeps writing songs about time machines, talking to planets, living on weird drugs, dropping from the sky as a Space Lord and stuff like that. I love it. Also it’s body music … the songs are always very simple but compelling and great to move to. Dave Wyndorf escaped death narrowly more than once and his health isn’t so good anymore but he still keeps on touring and making records, tha man is a HERO. Period. Kyuss is great when you feel like just letting your mind drift away into wide open spaces and not think anything … if I had to pick one song it would be Space Cadet. I*ll leave it at that because if I continue writing I*ll be sitting here next week … the more I write the more great music comes into my head. I will insert some youtube videos if I post this. And of course I will think of lots of great songs later on and think why didn’t I think of that for the assignment? But that*s the way it goes …
Zarahs Abenteuer im Hier & Jetzt 