Mantra for the Masses

Crazy ... that's how it goes
Millions of people
Living as foes
Maybe,
It's not too late
To learn how to love
And forget how to hate.




While I don't care for most rap, my issue with it lies primarily in calling it music. I am willing to concede that rap is 'art', but that art is poetry. In some (or even many) cases it might actually constitute 'high art'.
That being said, I feel that the same attitude is appropriate when considering forms of music that we generally agree are music, yet do not necessarily agree are pleasant or worthy of our time. Fundamentally, the role of art (excluding commercial art, of course) is not simply to be pretty or to make one feel comfortable. It is to challenge our fundamental assumptions about the nature of reality. Frankly it's purpose is to get us to ask ourselves: Are we deluded? Are we full of shit? Have we been lied to all of our lives?
That being said, I would ask - What better purpose could there be for anything in this life?
I have, for quite some time, considered modern jazz to be the music of the 'Kali Yuga'. It is for me. Yet, it seems this is not so for the masses. While the crude nature of rock and roll is quite apparent to those of us who need greater complexity in our music, the fact remains that it is music. It possesses the basic attributes that qualify it as such. The same cannot be said for much rap which lacks the requisite musical need for basic melodic and harmonic elements.
Lest I make this post merely a treatise in defense of rock and roll, allow me to say that the simplicity of form which characterizes much rock is, by no means, something unique to it. Many, many forms of music are quite basic and yet exert a powerful effect upon human beings. This is the great secret of the magic of music. A fine music teacher of mine once pointed out how repetition was a most effective means of establishing tonality. Tonality is no less than an audible Jungian Archetype. It's seductive abilities are due to it's coercing us into recognizing fundamental principles which are not only shared by all humans but are universal throughout all life. Rock and roll, like all music, has the ability to lift us up and inspire us. The simplicity of rock allows it to reach a wider audience, to tap into the primal nature of us all. Of course, this can be for better or worse. However, in the case of a piece such as 'Crazy Train', I think it is for the better. After all, when the music is so simple that anybody can understand it without having to think about it, where does the real meaning lie for the average bloke? In the words, of course. Here they are ...

"All aboard! Ha ha ha ha ha ha haaaa!

Ay, Ay, Ay, Ay, Ay, Ay, Ay

Crazy, but that's how it goes
Millions of people living as foes
Maybe it's not too late
To learn how to love
And forget how to hate

Mental wounds not healing
Life's a bitter shame
I'm going off the rails on a crazy train
I'm going off the rails on a crazy train

Let's Go!

I've listened to preachers
I've listened to fools
I've watched all the dropouts
Who make their own rules
One person conditioned to rule and control
The media sells it and you live the role

Mental wounds still screaming
Driving me insane
I'm going off the rails on a crazy train
I'm going off the rails on a crazy train

I know that things are going wrong for me
You gotta listen to my words
Yeah

Heirs of a cold war
That's what we've become
Inheriting troubles I'm mentally numb
Crazy, I just cannot bear
I'm living with something' that just isn't fair

Mental wounds not healing
Who and what's to blame
I'm going off the rails on a crazy train
I'm going off the rails on a crazy train "