Soundtrack of My Life

"Inaudible Melodies" by Jack Johnson

"Inaudible Melodies" by Jack Johnson

Brushfire fairytales
Itsy bitsy diamond wells
Big fat hurricanes
Yellow bellied given names
Well shortcuts can slow you down
And in the end we're bound
To rebound off of we

Well dust off your thinking caps
Solar powered plastic plants
Pretty pictures of things we ate
We are only what we hate
But in the long run we have found
Silent films are full of sound
Inaudibly free

Slow down everyone
You're moving too fast
Frames can't catch you when
You're moving like that

Inaudible melodies
Serve narrational strategies
Unobtrusive tones
Help to notice nothing but the zone
Of visual relevancy
Frame-lines tell me what to see
Chopping like an axe
Or maybe Eisenstein should just relax

Slow down everyone
You're moving too fast
Frames can't catch you when
You're moving like that

Well Plato's cave is full of freaks
Demanding refunds for the things they've seen
I wish they could believe
In all the things that never made the screen

And just slow down everyone
You're moving too fast
Frames can't catch you when
You're moving like that

Slow down everyone
You're moving too fast
Frames can't catch you when
You're moving like that
Moving too...

In times of high stress and hectic schedules and failed experiments, like this past week, I turn to Jack Johnson. Even without the lyrics, the smooth tone of his voice alone with the laid-back island beat and effortless guitar riffs is so calming. I would love for Jack Johnson to sing me to sleep every night. The way the lyrics flow and rhyme feels like waves washing onto the shore. It's probably not surprising, then, that Jack is a big surfer born and raised in Hawaii who went to school in California. You can literally hear it in his music. He uses a lot of slack-key style guitar, typically found in Hawaiian music, which adds to the cool island feel. As a transplanted native Californian who hasn't seen the ocean in at least 4 years (probably longer), this is about as close as I can get right now.

While the lyrics may seem like fluff on the surface, if you stop to listen to the words they're actually quite clever and poignant. What other musician do you know references Plato's "Allegory of the Cave"   in their lyrics? In a song about the dangers of the hustle and noise of the modern world, referencing an allegory that says everything we experience is just an illusion, a distraction, a shadow of the real thing, is not a coincidence. People are "demanding refunds for the things they've seen" which, according to the allegory, aren't even real and thus don't matter. It's all very intentional, as are all the references to old silent films. Also, the irony of "solar powered plastic plants" is not lost on me. You probably also won't be shocked to hear that he's a major environmentalist. In fact, he and his wife have started several charity foundations to support that cause. What a stand-up guy.

This is your reminder to slow down, because you're moving too fast.

Anni