Here is the song.

There are many ways to say the thing you’re trying to say. And for the twelve different ways Westall says some variation of “You think you know but you don’t have a clue what I’m talking about”, a surprisingly new complexity is conveyed. There is something about the simple monosyllabic words are put together that lead you into a false sense of security of understanding. When you add to that the combination of the mellowness of Westall’s voice and Brown’s virtuosity on the sax, something magical happens. It’s almost as if the lyrics speak to the conscious, and the saxophone translates word for word (or sentiment for sentiment) into the subconscious. The sentiment here is the duality between knowing and not knowing. Lovely harmony on the outside containing dark unknowns on the inside. Bittersweet-ness indeed.

For even on a bright summer’s day in your mind, without a cloud in the sky, or a breeze in the trees, there can still be an ignorant bliss between you and the thoughts of another person. Whether that person is a stranger or a friend, a parent or a child, or of course, a ‘romantic partner’. I thought the song was about the latter until about 04:14 when I realised that the closer I was getting to ‘understanding’ the meaning of the song, the further I was getting away from the song’s meaning. I must admit, I don’t actually know what the song is about, but the song does describe the scenario of thinking you know some insightful explanation for what’s happening, but not actually knowing. And I was falling into this same trap by thinking I knew what the song was ‘really’ about. All thoughts I had of truly understanding the actual meaning of song were lost on me by 04:32. A switch had taken place; vocals replace saxophone, saxophone replaces vocals, they had crossed over in a sweet gesture, but I knew they were not going to let me in on their secret in their own bitter way. It would remain a mystery.

This song makes you reflect on the things in life that remain unanswered. Like the saxophone, is my partner laughing or crying? Or like the singer, when my friend said what they said, were they harbouring Resentment? Indifference? Acceptance? Maybe all three. Maybe something else entirely.

Here is the song.

That man dressed in the slick evening suit at the swanky bar is sitting down swirling his cocktail around in a glass, staring into it in deep thought. He came there thinking he was going to be the debonair sophisticate that he was born to be (as if any kid grows up wanting to be that), but instead he has caught some feelings. There is a battle going on in his mind, a pull between wanting everything the world has to offer, and something else drawing him beyond where he is now, towards some other place  in the sky.

If you drown out the party music, and pay close attention to his innermost thoughts, you will notice something. FKJ certainly noticed something, and he made a song about it, this song. Just admire the way the disparate thoughts are portrayed – the pauses between lyrics of the verse, that’s how we think when we’re in this state. It speaks to the poetic nature of our thoughts, the musicality of our subconscious, the meandering ridges of our brains. Just beautiful.

The keys of the chorus are also unforgettable. They are like the soul of this man trying to jump to reach the skyline. As the song progresses, they go up the scale, and by 3:01 he is getting closer, trying harder, reaching further away from where he started towards a place that will supposedly give him inner peace. Of course, like all humans do, he runs out of steam, panting for breath, ready to curse the sky in sour-grapes fashion.

Then at the end of the striving and the neurotic introspection and self-centred searching for self-actualisation, another voice speaks, not his own, the voice of an angel descending from that same sky to tell him;

“you see a skyline inside”

Next time you see a man like this at the bar, don’t pity him. At least he is in the ring. Of course he will lose the battle, and also the war, but what a glorious loss it will be. Like Abraham of the scriptures, he will earn his blessing. Yet there is another more important reason why you shouldn’t pity him – in a sense, that man is both you and me.

Here is the song.

The sound of insight – that pause that happens when a great idea comes. Then gone like a flash. For some reason, human beings find it very hard to live in a state of truth. Sometimes we walk right into it and we do not notice, sometimes we seek it and do not find it, sometimes we follow it along for a while then lose it along the way, distracted by the cheap imitations of the city lights. On some occasions the truth crosses our exact path, and that encounter is enough to change us forever, even after the essence of the truth has zoomed off into the forest.

I once had a conversation with a great friend about the nature of truth (as you do). He used the analogy and language of trying to ‘grasp’ the truth with his hands (a well-conceived analogy). But then a response came from somewhere inside me; I retorted by saying that, “but shouldn’t the truth float freely in the air?” When I said this, something like this song was playing in the background of the atmosphere – like just after Pharoahe Monch says “…let it live, let it reverberate” around 1:08. Truth had slowed down right in front of me and that statement was my response. Then the chorus horns were like the skid marks of the proverbial car zooming away into the distance. That statement remains to this day one of the most profound things I have ever said, and now here it is floating freely in cyberspace.

The truth is not boring, don’t believe the lie. The truth is as dynamic as the bass counterpointing the keys. As stable as the track’s basic rhythm, yet as unique as the trumpet freestyle throughout the song – the truth is a paradox and it is floating freely in the air, look up!

This is the song.

There is hope in darkness. This song is like a steaming geyser of comfort on an icy winter’s night. Like the bare sun beating down on you on a frosty morning. There is a familiarity with the darkness in the song, an appreciation of the how deep the tunnel of despair can get for some people. Yet like the title suggests, the promise of the sun rising is enough to stave off depression for one more day, enough to keep the plants growing, the birds chirping and the world turning.

And if the night brings its deep, brooding atmospheric demeanour, Emmavie’s vocals are like the opening of the window that brings in the fresh air which disintegrates the odours of the teenage boy’s bedroom. Everything opens up when the chorus arrives, you feel your chest expanding, your face loosening, having that feeling of dancing around the puddles in the road, not because you don’t want to get wet, more because you’re in a state of playfulness.

The stubborn note that Alfa Mist plays throughout the chorus is truly transformational and courageous. It anchors the entire meaning of the song – just as your pillow is always there at night, and the sun is always there at daybreak, so I will always be there for you as a friend when you need me. There is a lot dignity in that note, a candour that acts as a disinfectant against the torments of the world.

I leave you with the profound line from the song that deserves to be on the front of a gift card.

“Blessed hearts feel like pillows”

Here is the song

First Verse Lyrics

Why can’t I kiss the sun

For a dedicated love every day

May I ride a shooting star

So I can taste the Milky Way

Woooow. I mean I could stop here. The artistry in this verse. The sheer majesty of the imagery. The rhythmic genius. This combination of words is lyrical mastery.

And then when the chorus hits it is impossible to sit still. You have to get up and move, you have to shake a leg, you are left asking yourself the question – ‘why do I want things that I can’t have’ and then echoing back to yourself saying ‘I can’t have’.

Funk galore, deep bass, high vocals. But the lyrics. The energy behind this song is immense. It is actually from another world where energy is limitless. And that is exactly what the song is describing – the limitless search for the things we can’t have. It’s a paradox, it is posing the question – what will outlast the other, man’s search to go beyond nature’s boundaries or nature’s wisdom to always have the upper hand. The songs raw energy is a clash between those two forces – which is why it is so loud!

Every musician is going at 100% in this performance. The vocalist is going at 200% and that is what makes this particular audiotree performance so special. It has to be one of the best live performances on video ever. It is a rare occasion of a collective group of musicians performance actually adding to the meaning of the song – the passion is real.

Here is the song

Listen to this song with good headphones please! The bass is insane yo! Good God!

There is something about the lack of an actual melody that seeps into the subconscious. If silence had a theme song, this would be it. This is actually what my subconscious sounds like, coherent in an indirect silent way. It’s almost as if the message is so obscure so as to be clear. The song is moving backwards – towards what? What is in the dark forest? What is at the source of things? What are you not seeing right now? What can’t you hear playing in the background?

The majesty of Mvula’s vocals match the confidence of Davis’ vision of this song. Davis’ piano is like the ethereal primordial slime that is older than life itself, the bass is like the bubbles of the slime, Mvula’s words are like the ether that is rising from this slime. A ‘phenomenal’ song – conceived in sheer brilliance and executed with a level of mastery beyond the scope of most people’s dreams.

Here is the song

Perhaps the most charming song you have ever heard, this song is your favourite auntie and uncle bringing you a hot cross bun, baked and roasted, steaming fresh from the oven. The sheer joy of listening to this song, the familiarity, the simplicity, the easy-goingness, the freedom of expression, sheer genius.

Payton really manages to say exactly what he wants to with the instruments. He so finely executes this composition, somehow over-delivering on what the scope of the song is. It’s the way the drums, the bass and the background organ so perfectly set up the sound of the organ solo in the beginning. It’s the way the melody is repeated with that long emphasised note to repeat the first melody, and how once that trust is built with the easy going melody, the freestyle then rides the waves of the groove. And then how the organ solo gives way to the greatest introduction of a French horn solo in the history music (yeah I said it).

In fact, to what can I compare the introduction of the French horn solo, what is it like? It is like getting in a fight with two people, you’re all on your own, and then your friend shows up just in time. And then the freestyle at the end is like a fresh stream of warm jacuzzi bubbles on a winters day. I don’t know who Melvin Lastie is, but I’m pretty sure he was like my favourite auntie and uncle.

Here is the song.

A piano is an instrument of freedom. Yet the piano is ensnared in the beginning of the song. Stuck in a vicious cycle, stuttering, angry. The drums are almost brainwashing the piano here, making the piano march to it’s beat. Yet the process can be reversed. The piano’s note can be lifted on wings of violin strings. A virtuous cycle can replace the vicious one. Change is possible – the story can rewritten as Stevie Wonder proclaims.

Once change happens, freedom of expression sets in, notes played freely, open space, no constriction. This is envisioned transformation of black America is dramatized by the very instruments in the song. Its almost as if the instruments metamorphize from tools of hate into tools of heaven.

This song has a beautiful, miraculous range of sounds – the journey is beautiful, from volcanic inner city angst to the serenading open field. The full spectrum of powerful black responses to the hate they have received at the hands of white society is on full display – from the cogent argumentation of a Malcolm X to the glorious love of a Martin Luther King. Sometimes words are so powerfully phrased they need to be said again and again and again. We are rewriting the Black American Story.