My Muse ~ Movies, Music & Books

Jethro Tull’s Journeyman ~ Kick back and enjoy the ride

Patrick — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 21:35:32 +0000

I’m not sure a more fascinating and inventive song — both lyrically and musically — has ever been created about the simple act of commuting home on the train. What I really love most about Jethro Tull’s Journeyman (Heavy Horses, 1978), is the way the bass drives both the melody and cadence, right from the [...]

Uncomfortably numb ~ David Gilmour and I can’t put our finger on it

Patrick — Sun, 21 Aug 2011 14:00:35 +0000

I’m going to tell you a story about someone who became a part of my life in a way few other people ever experience. Well, I wonder about that. I wonder how many other people go about their day-to-day lives only vaguely aware that there’s something unusual going on in their life, but just can’t [...]

Letting go, moving on, going forward ~ Camel and Ice

Patrick — Sat, 02 Oct 2010 10:57:03 +0000

Camel’s lilting, melancholic and epic instrumental, Ice is among my favourite pieces of music. Discovered on a late-night college radio station in 1979 in Rochester, New York, it stands out on the album I Can See Your House From Here (despite the DJ’s touting of Remote Romance as, “Best on the album”) I suppose its [...]

Trundling across Terra Incognita ~ Gondwanaland

Patrick — Sun, 19 Sep 2010 09:43:02 +0000

In 1994 I criss-crossed Australia, much of it across the expansive aridity of the so-called Red Centre, and all of that was sharing a ’79 Holden Gemini with my travel partner. A Gemini is a sub-compact sedan. This one had no air-con, and so we trundled across the expanse with the windows rolled down, and [...]

Tumare Darshan ~ The essence of Noosa

Patrick — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 12:27:32 +0000

OK… something to end this very loooong, but very productive day. A song that I will always associate with a beautiful beach in a faraway land and a short strip of magical bistros and restaurants barely more than a stone’s throw from the beach. There were sacred sunrises, and uncanny encounters, bliss and sorrow, beauty [...]

Explore Within ~ Chances are Sheryl Crow can take you there

Patrick — Sun, 15 Aug 2010 23:01:25 +0000

Aside from being among the most beautiful songs in Sheryl Crow’s very large catalogue of extraordinary, Chances Are lyrically reaches deep down inside and churns about, exploring within. The lyrics seem to be about trying to make a difficult relationship work, but I enjoy reading it as a light on the pathway of spiritual living, [...]

Before and After ~ Stephen Mitchell’s Second Book of the Dao

Patrick — Sun, 15 Aug 2010 02:27:42 +0000

I was digging into Stephen Mitchell’s The Second Book of the Dao one day back in January (over a lovely Red Snapper Soup @ Granville Island) when a passage in the second chapter inspired the following poem. Before and After Before sorrow, longing Before longing, anger Before anger, pain Before pain, injury Before injury, fear [...]

Matches and the eternal sunshine of the spotless soul ~ Lawrence of Arabia

Patrick — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 18:02:05 +0000

Metaphor. I love metaphor. Matches. I just posted one about matches. Matches and pain. This one isn’t about pain. Not at all. It’s about perfection. This one is about the fire that burns inside each of us. Well, maybe there’s a little pain. It’s the pain you feel in your eyes as the sun rises [...]

Dog & Butterfly ~ The beauty and bliss of reaching higher than you can grasp

Patrick — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 19:43:53 +0000

Heart’s Dog & Butterfly has been on my mind and in my ears a lot the last few days, both the album and the title song from it. I love the song for the mirthful image of a dog futilely leaping after a fluttering butterfly, and for its wisdom in directing us in our moments [...]

The trick … is not minding that it hurts ~ Lawrence of Arabia

Patrick — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 02:15:38 +0000

I’ve always loved this scene introducing Peter O’Toole in David Lean’s Lawrence of Arabia. In a film rife with extraordinary storytelling and wisdom, it remains my favourite. In hindsight perhaps it’s the spiritual undertone of Lawrence’s statement that’s always intrigued me most because, of course, Lawrence isn’t only talking about physical pain here. There’s plenty [...]