Chris Martin of Coldplay, Sting, David Gray, Jack Johnson, Dave Matthews - yes they are very different artists, but I guess all their music will always remind me of Ned. I think it is because he was so passionate about the meaning in songs and would always choose to play songs for people that held some kind of significance for him, often in their words. In their songs, these artists explore life's quest for meaning and significance, struggles with love and loss, injustice and just struggle. And, these guys just happen also to all be white dudes like Ned :) and perhaps grew up with things relatively good for them.
This song "What If" seems to capture the kind of simple wistful ballad that echoes my own melancholy back to me. I think the line where he is wondering, "What if you decide that you don't want me there in your life," adds just the melodramatic touch that makes me not take the song too seriously.
But, its about the quandary between hope and despair, faith and hopelessness and the self-doubt that comes from being in that quagmire. I come out of the uncertainty and turmoil of these times of crisis - both the personal tragedy and hardship (no work for months on end) and the larger political and economic crisis that is affecting communities in the U.S. across the globe. With all that, I have incredible hope for profound change in the world because I see a movement on the rise.
Vicki took Aaren and Jasmine to Mervyn's on Saturday, which is closing down its stores after 50 years, and treated them to early Christmas clothes. This morning Aaren asked me, "Why is everything closing down?" I answered with hopefully a good second grade response by saying that lots of stores were closing down because a big change was coming in the world and that these stores were part of the old system. We also talked about how things were closing down but as things were closing, people were opening up to make changes.
Later on Aaren spontaneously changed the words to Tupac's song "Changes" to reflect a vision of hope through struggle. Tupac does call for change towards the end of the song, but then he is very ambivalent about it. I think there will be a lot of struggle in this lifetime for things to change for the better. If Tupac had lived longer (dying in his twenties like too many young Africans), he would have seen it and been excited about it. Tupac and Ned both.
