haunted by a dream...

i had never in my life believed that i could be a songwriter...until a few days ago...my poem catcher in the rye was made into a song by us but i wrote it as a poem to which my friend shravan gave the sound of music...but a couple of days ago we were jamming and i started singing whatever came into my mind...some of it was lyrics of songs i knew sung to a different tune and some of it was made up impromptu...what lies beneath is a refined and more complete version of the impromptu parts...i call it 'dreams of pink and white'...

puff the magic dragon and I
once went into his lair...
we chanced to talk of was and when
and also then and there...

we walked through times bygone and new
and saw their fools and kings...
this world is such a cruel place
just full of stupid things...

dreams of pink and white, and
smoke rising through the night...

puff the magic dragon and I
into the skies we soared...
we floated on the cloudy turf
and then we talked some more...

but,hark the birds of pleasure sang
in words of white and gold...
their secrets were then hidden deep
never to be retold...

dreams of pink and white, and
smoke rising through the night...

but the dream was broken
what could i do?
idiots ruled in heaven
nothing was true!
they came for me and took away
everything i wanted
i was left feeling hollow
but still i was haunted ...
haunted...
haunted...

pain, misery, abomination,
hunger, death, discrimination,
false prophets, prevarication,
they don't like you, extermination...

haunted...haunted...haunted...

living a lie of happiness
blinded by what they feed you
you think everything is fine
get out i don't need you

haunted...haunted...haunted...

puff the magic dragon and I
have looked beyond their lies
let them mock and rule today
for one day we shall rise...

dreams of pink and white, and
smoke rising through the night
dreams of pink and white, and
smoke rising through the night...

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Imagine

"Imagine there's no Heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today

Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace

You may say that I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one

Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world

You may say that I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will live as one "

-John Lennon, 'Imagine'

when she's gone...

Ain't no sunshine when she's gone
It's not warm when she's away
Ain't no sunshine when she's gone
and she's always gone too long
Anytime she goes away

Wonder this time where she's gone
Wonder if she's gonna stay
Ain't no sunshine when she's gone
and this house just ain't no home
anytime she goes away

And I know, I know...

Ain't no sunshine when she's gone
Ain't no sunshine when she's gone
Only darkness everyday
Ain't no sunshine when she's gone
and this house just ain't no home
anytime she goes away...

losing my religion...

Life is bigger
It's bigger than you
And you are not me
The lengths that I will go to
The distance in your eyes
Oh no I've said too much
I set it up

That's me in the corner
That's me in the spotlight
Losing my religion
Trying to keep up with you
And I don't know if I can do it
Oh no I've said too much
I haven't said enough
I thought that I heard you laughing
I thought that I heard you sing
I think I thought I saw you try

Every whisper
Of every waking hour I'm
Choosing my confessions
Trying to keep an eye on you
Like a hurt lost and blinded fool
Oh no I've said too much
I set it up

Consider this
The hint of the century
Consider this
The slip that brought me
To my knees failed
What if all these fantasies
Come flailing around
Now I've said too much
I thought that I heard you laughing
I thought that I heard you sing
I think I thought I saw you try

But that was just a dream
That was just a dream

mama i'm coming home...

after a long time of enduring mess food and getting frustrated in this village called kharagpur, i'm going home!...yes,today i've gone all the way from...
"there's a feeling i get,when i look to the west
and my spirit is crying for leaving..."
to...
"mama now i'm coming home,i'm not all you wished me be
mother's love for her son,spoken,help me be...
yeah,i took your love for granted and all the things you said to me
i need your love to comfort me"

on another note,doing 2 plays at the same time is not an easy job...especially if you play the lead role in both and write and direct one of them...phew!!!...it ends today...i'll be playing ebenezer scrooge in a production of 'christmas carol' today...yesterday i was satan in a self-written play titled 'murder at the station'...let's hope the play goes well and we win something in the competition...

will be back in 10 days...happy durga puja,vijaydashmi or whatever you wish to celebrate...

"Times have changed and times are strange
Here I come, but I ain’t the same
Mama, I’m coming home"
"I could be right, I could be wrong
Hurts so bad, it’s been so long
Mama, I’m coming home"
"I don’t care about the sunshine, yeah
’cause mama, mama, I’m coming home
I’m coming home"...

yet another song...

if french is the language of love...german is the language of anger...
consequently, german is the perfect language for metal!!!
listened to a lot of rammstein this morning...and this song keeps playing over and over in my head...it's one of my favorite rammstein numbers because of the lyrics...it's called "Asche zu asche"...

"Warmer körper,heißes kreuz
Falsches urteil,kaltes grab
Auf dem kreuze lieg ich hier
Sie schlagen mir die nägel ein
Das feuer wäscht die seele rein
Und übrig bleibt ein mundvoll asche

Asche zu asche

Ich komm wieder,in zehn tagen
Als dein schatten,und werd dich jagen
Heimlich werd ich auferstehen
Und du wirst um gnade flehen
Dann knie ich mich in dein gesicht
Und steck den finger in die asche

Asche zu asche
Und staub zu staub"

for those who don't know deutsche(german for those who don't know deutsche),like myself, here's the translation...

Warm body, hot cross,
False judgment,
Cold grave
On the cross i'm lying now,
They pound the nails into me
The fire cleanses my soul and a mouthful of ashes remains

Ashes to ashes

I shall chase you
Secretly i shall resurrect and you will beg for mercy
Then i'll kneel in your face an put my finger into the ashes

Ashes to ashes
and dust to dust...

white rabbit...

recently heard a great song by a band called jefferson airplane...the song is called white rabbit...its a good song with great lyrics...my friend told me that the band wrote this song on lsd and i found that quite probable when i read the lyrics...its all about "alice in wonderland" and "through the looking glass"...i liked those books a lot when i read them but i never realised that they could very naturally be taken as full of drug references...will not insult you by giving an interpretation of the lyrics...just take a look and be surprised...

"One pill makes you larger
And one pill makes you small
And the ones that mother gives you
Don't do anything at all
Go ask Alice
When she's ten feet tall

And if you go chasing rabbits
And you know you're going to fall
Tell 'em a hookah smoking caterpillar
Has given you the call
To call Alice
When she was just small

When the men on the chessboard
Get up and tell you where to go
And you've just had some kind of mushroom
And your mind is moving low
Go ask Alice
I think she'll know

When logic and proportion
Have fallen slowly dead
And the White Knight is talking backwards
And the Red Queen's off with her head
Remember what the dormouse said:
"Feed your Head
Feed your Head!""

mind blowing...isn't it?

mission kashmir...

coming back from the hospital after a long time...the dreaded chicken pox struck me without any warnings...nobody around me had it and it seems i gave it to no one at all...really feels bad not to have given anyone else the chance to give up their freedom for a few days...
now coming to the point...for a long time now i have been interested in song meanings and interpretations and led zep has been my greatest challenge...finally i think i have made some sense out of the song kashmir which incidentally is credited to all 4 members of the band...so here goes...
to give a little background...from my wanderings on the net i discovered that bonham was a great fan of tolkien and parts of this song are inspired by his "the simarillion"(forgive me if i got the spelling wrong)...the song is based on the bands travels through the deserts of morocco...now lets go on to the lyrics...

"Oh let the sun beat down upon my face, stars to fill my dream
I am a traveler of both time and space, to be where I have been
To sit with elders of the gentle race, this world has seldom seen
They talk of days for which they sit and wait and all will be revealed
Talk and song from tongues of lilting grace, whose sounds caress my ear
But not a word I heard could I relate, the story was quite clear
Oh, oh."
here they are obviously imagining morocco as the land of the elves who are called the gentle race...the elder elves(or moroccan tribesmen) discuss prophecies and sing songs about them in a language we don't understand but somehow understand the gist of what is said...probably this part has been written by bonham...

"Oh, I been flying... mama, there ain’t no denyin’
I’ve been flying, ain’t no denyin’, no denyin’"
this is an obvious drug reference...as they are flying high...in all probability this part is plant's(or maybe page's)...

"All I see turns to brown, as the sun burns the ground
And my eyes fill with sand, as I scan this wasted land
Trying to find, trying to find where I’ve been."
a rude awakening to reality...after the effects have worn off they see themselves in a desert land with no elves or prophecies...

"Oh, pilot of the storm who leaves no trace, like thoughts inside a dream
Heed the path that led me to that place, yellow desert stream
My shangri-la beneath the summer moon, I will return again
Sure as the dust that floats high and true, when movin’ through kashmir."
the promised land of the prophecies and elves is sought by them...they are sure that they will return to this shangri-la,this kashmir...the reference to kashmir must not be taken to refer to the disputed land but to the ideal of heaven on earth represented by it...

"Oh, father of the four winds, fill my sails, across the sea of years
With no provision but an open face, along the straits of fear
Ohh."
they ask god to give them courage for this journey of soul searching to reach that promised land(that ideal) through defeating their fears...

"When I’m on, when I’m on my way, yeah
When I see, when I see the way, you stay-yeah
Ooh, yeah-yeah, ooh, yeah-yeah, when I’m down...
Ooh, yeah-yeah, ooh, yeah-yeah, well I’m down, so down
Ooh, my baby, oooh, my baby, let me take you there
Let me take you there. let me take you there"
through this seeking the singer asks the beloved to stay with him so that they can reach this state of mind together...

this interpretation struck me suddenly while listening to the song one day with my friend handa...i started telling him and he said that this was the best interpretation that he had heard so far and coaxed me to put it on my blog...so here it is...it might well not be what the band intended but still its what i take it to mean...i'll end with a quote on kashmir in persian...
Gar Firdaus bar-ruye zamin ast
Hamin asto hamin asto hamin ast.
(if there is heaven on earth...it is here,it is here,it is here...)

the sound of music

music....food for the soul...sound arranged into notes and chords and god knows whatnot to make it sound pleasing to the ears and to our soul...good music never fails to touch me somewhere deep inside...and the genre really doesn't matter to me...i listen to all sort of stuff...western classical, indian classical, semi classical, folk, sufi, rock, ghazals, retro, pop, film music, trance, etcetera, etcetera...in short i listen to anything and everything as long as i like it!!! i especially like rock because i sort of like the ideas and thoughts behind it...freedom, justice, equality...rock sort of goes well with a youthful mind full of ideals and respect for the indomitable human spirit...i am a strict believer in the might of the individual human spirit to endure and endeavour towards a better world...and this is what rock is all about...here i would like to quote from one of my favourites "stairway to heaven" by led zeppelin..."and its whispered that soon,if we all call the tune...then the piper will lead us to reason..."!!!apt if you can understand what it means...another genre which i love is sufi music, especially the great nusrat fateh ali khan...i used to be a big beleiver in mysticism but thats changed now due to reasons which might be discussed elsewhere...anyways i still believe in the eternal nature of love which is preached in sufism...love...not for the beloved but for the holy which means the spark of life we all carry in us because god is a concept created by this spark of life which has reached its pinnacle in our intellect...love for the values which make us what we are...love for the ideals which we cherish and live by...too much idealism for today's practical materialist world for now...so i'll conclude with another quote this time from metallica..."nothing else matters!!!"