One word. Familiarity. It is what we crave whenever we watch a movie, read a book or listen to a song. Or really choosing what we want to do in life.
As I am trying to switch over to writing for the “public” to enhance and prepare for my future career, I have concocted a few lines from Bright Eyes songs, previously fronted by the ingenious Conor Oberst, notorious for his lyrical remedies and country indie he has added to the present day music scene. We are going to build a little found poem out of them, take them apart, and then piece them back together and see how close we are all actually alike. Isn’t this cool? Okay here goes. Read it one time, and then I will have you read it once more at the end of this article.
We must blend into the Choir
Sing as static with the whole
So we made love on the living room floor
With the noise in the background
Of a televised war
But I’d rather be working for a paycheck
Than waiting to win the lottery
I mean
Remember the time you drove all night
Just to meet me in the morning?
Think, just leave the novelist in his daydream tune
And leave the scientist in her Rubik’s cube
Honestly
I’m happy just because
I found out I am really no one
-Conor Oberst
1) We must blend into the Choir//Sing as static with the whole –"At the Bottom of Everything" (Bright Eyes).
Conformity. A recurring theme in Oberst’s lyrics, it elaborates on how conformed to society and how dependent you are towards other people. Oberst explains how individuals in society are merely trend followers, a mere product of society and a mere product of what defines comfort. You are too comfortable in your life, you are following other people because that is what feels right and that is what society tells us to do, right?
We are often blind to the most beautiful things in life, the simplest of gifts that people bear. And that is, human interaction. I mean, you go to a restaurant and you see a family completely engaged in their mobile devices with their headphones plugged in. They are gouging their eyes out on their retina-lit screened iPads instead of conversing and laughing and eliciting emotion. You see boredom and awkwardness merge into scrolling through your Twitter newsfeed for no apparent reason, just to make it look like you are less lonely. You are constantly being “harangued” with the phrases “how are you?” or “hello!” with people you barely even know, not because you even mean to create genuine conversation, but because of how you succumb to society's norms.
See, that is the normal, polite thing to do. Say hello. Wave. Be generous. Smile. Even when you are having such an awful day. It is not a bad thing, it just holds no genuine caliber half the time. Stop being mechanical drones? Reconcile with the feeling of face-to-face contact and intimate conversations? Those are left as questions, as society may be already too deep in the impending pool of quicksand, and it only gets worse from here.
Alluding to T.S Eliot’s “The Hollow Men,” how does the world end? With the whimper, never a bang. And we all know that. Little by little, technology and the norm consumes us. I am not saying the world is going to end, but the “meaning” of humanity might come to a schism if we do not acknowledge soon enough how important it is to pursue ourselves, emphasize the little gestures in life and to stop following the norm.
2) We made love on the living room floor/With the noise in the background of a televised war –"Landlocked Blues" (Bright Eyes).
Having sex with another person is such a pure form of expressing how you feel, and yes, it is getting degraded these days, but is there anything in the world more intimate than your bare body? Essentially, a new child is being conceived. (Oh, I guess if you’re straight). Sex is rebirth.
The background of a televised war…war is death, war is betrayal, war is love…possibly for one’s country, for one’s own self identity or confidence. Essentially, war is death. Two contradicting ideas regarding sex in modern society. Sound familiar?
3) I’d rather be working for a paycheck/Than waiting to win the lottery –"First Day of my Life" (Bright Eyes).
Nothing in the world resonates more beauty of love in this one phrase. How I see it, is that it is saying how you cannot be perfect, you have made mistakes, but please do not leave thinking you deserve better or thinking you will find better. Because you probably will. But please work with me, believe in me that no one will ever love you more. And we can work towards that goal of making things great one day.
The lottery and the paycheck are used as metaphorical implements to fuel the beauty of love. As opposed to the lottery (immediate satisfaction), something well earned that comes with time and hard work is always more worth it.
4) Remember the time you drove all night/Just to meet me in the morning? -"First Day of my Life" (Bright Eyes).
This is the one tattoo I want. It is about something I can look forward to for the rest of my life. Self-improvement. "Remember you drove all night/Just to meet me in the morning" represents to me how you should always go the extra mile (pun intended) for the ones you care about most.
It is like how all the little things in life add up to the big picture, how remembering little details about someone like what they were wearing that day or what flavor ice cream was their favorite or what weird habit they have with their toes. Also, the fact that you should never have the mentality of "oh, there is always next time" or "oh, it's just a little thing, it does not matter." It matters! Life is too short to delay things for another opportunity that you don't even know you will get. Simply like that.
5) Just leave the novelist in his daydream tune/And leave the scientist in her Rubik’s cube –"I Must Belong Somewhere" (Bright Eyes).
Everyone has a place in society. Stop trying to change others. In fact, stop trying to judge others for how they are supposed to be, or how they are supposed to behave in society. The world needs its balance. The world needs the good people and the bad people, the rich people and the poor people, the lucky people and the unfortunate people. Acceptance rather than change is sometimes a good thing.
6) I’m happy just because I found out I am really no one. –"At the Bottom of Everything" (Bright Eyes).
This last verse elaborates on a somewhat cynical or pessimistic perspective, however you view it, but at the end of the day, death is inevitable. It will find you, and have you for dinner. You are a fraction of a pixel of a greater picture that makes up this world. You can contribute to society and make a mark, you can better yourself, but you are only one person. And sometimes you find comfort in that. Why? Because you realize you are just like everyone else. You crave familiarity, and you fit right into the puzzle that is greater society.
We must blend into the Choir
Sing as static with the whole
So we made love on the living room floor
With the noise in the background
Of a televised war
But I’d rather be working for a paycheck
Than waiting to win the lottery
I mean
Remember the time you drove all night
Just to meet me in the morning?
Think, just leave the novelist in his daydream tune
And leave the scientist in her Rubik’s cube
Honestly
I’m happy just because
I found out I am really no one
-Conor Oberst
Whew, okay. So we took a little adventure. At the beginning, we were conforming to society, then we segued into how we found ourselves, and then, by the end of our lives, we still found ourselves conforming to society, this time without a choice. Consumerism along with leveling a job within society, to family and love–it all eats us up until the day we die. That is when we ultimately conform into what an individual perceives as greatness, but is actually nothingness in a world of seven billion and growing. This is why Conor Obersts’ music has so much power. One thought, with each provoking line segueing into another…it creates familiarity, it elicits raw emotion, but most of all it elicits realization. We come to terms with ourselves.
So, the individual choices we make in life contribute to how others view us, yet we always circle back to what we find comfort in. Familiarity. Do you think it is universal? Or is it relative to a person's own experiences?
A thinker.
Now, this is my own interpretations on the song. I absolutely respect you if you carve a different view from these lyrics, but this is how I found myself connecting one link to another.
Until next time.
