The Monk Bought Lunch

can'tcha you see

Driving home from Massachusetts last weekend, I did my best to scan from classic rahk station to the next as I went, trying to provide myself with continuous head bobbin' to keep myself alert. I truly and unashamedly enjoy alot of this stuff, as anyone who's ever seen a solitary tear drip from my eye listening to Badfinger's Day After Day can confirm.

Granted, alot of it just flat out sucks a BC Rich (ugly Japanese guitar favored by some of the worst offenders in the lighters-held aloft arena). I didn't like Foreigner then, and I still don't. Journey makes me laugh even harder then they did in their heyday (Na na na na na na, na na na na na, na na na na na na, na na na na na...
(repeats) ).
But Boston (the band) is cool, in the way only something so uncool can be. When I profess my enthusiasm for Boston, my friends all think I'm kidding. Look, they are funny, I won't dispute that, but if you can listen to "More than a Feelin' " (Classic Rahk always apostrophises its gerunds) without strapping on an air Gibson and wailing away when he goes "I see my Marianne walkin' awayyy..HEYYYYY" and then its like his voice TURNS INTO a guitar, then you, my friend, are among the undead. Plus they preceded Husker Du in pioneering that soft verse-loud chorus thing, which every band that thought they were something new in th 90's did, so there.
I find it refreshing to listen to Boston in part because they're so lacking in distance and irony. There's no smirk when Boston expresses their sentiments, just pure unbridled enthusiasm for smokin', tokin', cookin', jumpin' and dancin'. And you know what? That's, as Stuart Smalley would say, O.K.!
I heard Boston's "Peace of Mind" twice on my journey (small j), and I found it a perfect example of that of which I speak. This ain't Leonard Cohen or Kurt Cobain, it's probably more akin to Rod McKuen, but as I listened to the words and rocked out with my cock out (except when a truck went by), I couldn't help but think "Exactly! Man, you said it Tom Scholz!". I also thought that the ideas expressed in this song, simple tho they may be, can remind us all not to get too caught up in the pettier aspects of life.
Let's look, shall we?

Peace of Mind

Now if you're feelin' kinda low 'bout the dues you've been payin'
Future's comin' much too slow
And you wanna run but somehow you just keep on stayin'
Can't decide on which way to go
Yeah, yeah, yeah

I understand about indecision
But I don't care if I get behind
People livin' in competition
All I want is to have my peace of mind.

Now you're climbin' to the top of the company ladder

Hope it doesn't take too long
Can'tcha you see there'll come a day when it won't matter
Come a day when you'll be gone

I understand about indecision
But I don't care if I get behind
People livin' in competition
All I want is to have my peace of mind.

Take a look ahead, take a look ahead, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah...

Now everybody's got advice they just keep on givin'
Doesn't mean too much to me
Lot's of people out to make-believe they're livin'
Can't decide who they should be.

I understand about indecision
But I don't care if I get behind
People livin' in competition
All I want is to have my peace of mind.

Take a look ahead, take a look ahead. Look ahead.

Posted by monk at 21.08.03 13:02