present tense

I recently made a trip to San Francisco to visit an old friend and see Pearl Jam in concert. Needless to say, the show was an incredible experience, as expected. What moved me the most was the touching performance of a song called Present Tense. The song was originally recorded on the oft-forgotten, ten year old album 'No Code' which was wedged between the opus 'Vitalogy' and the artistic renewal that was 'Yield.'

I find the album 'No Code' to be the bands greatest reflection on the inner workings of the soul. While Present Tense is one of the albums lesser known tracks, it demonstrates a fundamental characteristic of humanity and has always meant a great deal to me personally. With that in mind, I give you the masterpiece that is,

Present Tense, by Pearl Jam

Do you see the way that tree bends? does it inspire?

Leaning out to catch the sun's rays, a lesson to be applied

Are you getting something out of this all encompassing trip?

You can spend your time alone, redigesting past regrets, oh, or you can come to terms and realize you're the only one who can't forgive yourself, oh

Makes much more sense, to live...in the present tense.

Have you ideas on how this life ends? checked your hands and studied the lines.

Have you the belief that the road ahead ascends off into the light?

Seems that needlessly it's getting harder, to find an approach and a way to live

Are we getting something out of this all-encompassing trip?

You can spend your time alone re-digesting past regrets, oh, or you can come to terms and realize you're the only one who cannot forgive yourself, oh

Makes much more sense, to live in the present tense.

Genesis

I've been a big fan of Genesis ever since the release of their 1980 album, Duke. Although I found all of their previous albums to be too artsy, too intellectual, I was able to embrace Duke, mainly because the music became more modern, the drum machine became more prevalent and the lyrics started getting less mystical, more specific. Complex, ambiguous studies of loss became, instead, first-rate pop songs.

A classic example of this is "Misunderstanding", which not only was the group's first big hit of the Eighties, but also seemed to set the tone for the rest of the decade.

Duke was followed almost immediately by ABACAB, yet another weapon in an increasingly impressive musical arsenal. Once again the songs reflect dark emotions, focusing on people who feel lost or are in conflict.

Sound depressing? Hardly. The production and sound, courtesy of producer Hugh Padgham, are gleaming and upbeat. One of my favorite songs, "Who Dunnit?" profoundly expresses the theme of confusion over a funky groove and what makes this song so exciting is that it ends with its narrator never finding anything out at all--

estuans interius

Estuans interius Burning inside
ira vehementi with violent anger,
in amaritudine bitterly
loquor mee menti: I speak to my heart:
factus de materia, created from matter,
cinis elementi of the ashes of the elements,
similis sum folio, I am like a leaf
de quo ludunt venti. played with by the winds.

Cum sit enim proprium If it is the way
viro sapienti of the wise man
supra petram ponere to build
sedem fundamenti, foundations on stone,
stultus ego comparor the I am a fool, like
fluvio labenti, a flowing stream,
sub eodem tramite which in its course
nunquam permanenti. never changes.

Feror ego veluti I am carried along
sine nauta navis, like a ship without a steersman,
ut per vias aeris and in the paths of the air
vaga fertur avis; like a light, hovering bird;
non me tenent vincula, chains cannot hold me,
non me tenet clavis, keys cannot imprison me,
quero mihi similes I look for people like me
et adiungor pravis. and join the wretches.

Mihi cordis gravitas The heaviness of my heart
res videtur gravis; seems like a burden to me;
iocis est amabilis it is pleasant to joke
dulciorque favis; and sweeter than honeycomb;
quicquid Venus imperat, whatever Venus commands
labor est suavis, is a sweet duty,
que nunquam in cordibus she never dwells
habitat ignavis. in a lazy heart.

Via lata gradior
more iuventutis,
inplicor et vitiis,
immemor virtutis,
voluptatis avidus
magis quam salutis,
mortuus in anima,
curam gero cutis.

shopping

. . . pens and photo albums, pairs of bookends and lightweight luggage, electric shoe polishers and heated towel stands and silver-plated insulated carafes and portable palm-sized color TVs with earphones, birdhouses and candleholders, place mats, picnic hampers and ice buckets, lace-trimmed oversize linen napkins and umbrellas and sterling silver monogrammed golf tees and charcoal-filter smoke trappers and desk lamps and perfume bottles, jewelry boxes and sweaters and baskets to hold magazines in and storage boxes, office tote bags, desk accessories, scarves, file holders, address books, agendas for handbags. . .

. . . paisley ties and crystal water pitchers, tumbler sets and office clocks that measure temperature and humidity and barometric pressure, electric calling card address books and margarita glasses, valet stands and sets of dessert plates, correspondence cards and mirrors and shower clocks and aprons and sweaters and gym bags and bottles of champagne and porcelain cachepots and monogrammed bath sheets and foreign-currency-exchange minicalculators and silver-plated address books and paperweights with fish and boxes of fine stationery and bottle openers and compact discs and customized tennis balls and pedometers and coffee mugs . . .

. . . vases and felt fedoras with feather headbands and alligator toiletry cases with gilt-silver bottles and brushes and shoehorns that cost two hundred dollars and candlesticks and pillow covers and gloves and slippers and powder puffs and hand-knitted cotton snowflake sweaters and leather skates and Porsche-design ski goggles and antique apothecary bottles and diamond earrings and boots and vodka glasses and card cases and camera and mahogany servers and scarves and aftershaves and photo albums and salt and pepper shakers and ceramic-toaster cookie jars and two-hundred-dollar shoehorns and backpacks and aluminum lunch pails and pillow covers . . .