Rock and Roll Lullaby
Life can be considered a journey. From the first flicker of self awareness to the palpable confidence at the height of physical and intellectual powers; then to the inexorable decline of passing years, –the precarity of ones life is the enduring subtext. It’s the consistent back-beat of a bass drum anchoring the melody and the harmony of the one life that each of us composes. Vulnerability is front and center when one is very young, incapable of mobility, verbal communication, or self care. Food, clothing, shelter all had to be provided. Mercifully we no longer remember how endangered we must have felt. With the onset of age, one’s finitude again takes center stage in one’s consciousness. There was a time when we were not, and there will be a time when the world will go on without us.
Recently our group decided to bring pieces of music to the table, as a resource for philosophical examination and reflection. We had not one, but two enjoyable, productive sessions of what ultimately became self examination. Did not the 7th century BC inscription at the shrine of Apollo at Delphi instruct the petitioner to “Know thyself?”
Indeed our work with the musical pieces demonstrated that meaning resides both in the lyric and the tune as well as in the individual who responds.
My pick was Rock N Roll Lullaby by B. J. Thomas.
The lyric is a story told in retrospect by an adult. The adult remembers the touch of his mothers voice, a lullaby sung. The presence of the voice is recalled without recollection of lyrics. That memory, embedded throughout the years of maturity into adulthood, has formed a substrate, a foundation of confidence for an adult life. Granted you may not get that upon listening to the tune. That’s ok. I am philosophizing. And that is how it seems to me.
Does not all philosophy arise one way or another from the earth, from our tactile rootedness in a time and in a place and above all in our mothers touch? I think so.
