Just a quick drive by to highlight my current overplayed song of the moment (thanks to Mr OD)... Florence & The Machine's Shake it Out. The lyrics are just amazing, from start to finish. I will admit that on first listen I didn't like the song but when I listened to the lyrics, it was love at second listen :)
All the words just really connect with me. If ever there was a song for this blog this would be it. For me it's about having had enough, letting go no matter what it takes, hoping, facing the future...love it!!!
Lyrics like - Tonight I'm gonna bury that horse in the ground...I am done with my graceless heart so tonight I'm gonna cut it out and then restart...And I'm ready to suffer and I'm ready to hope...It's always darkest before dawn...And it's hard to dance with a devil on your back so shake him off - I especially love that last line. Anyway here's a link, enjoy.
P.S - Someone recently noted that this blog makes me seem like I'm all about the music and not about the books. Unfortunately the only reason that I haven't highlighted any books is because it's been a while since I read a really great book. I think the last book I read that made me happy...weird word to use I know but good reads make me happy even if the book is not a happy book per se...anyway the last book was Jennifer Donnelly's The Wild Rose and that was in March/April. But though the book took me to my happy place it's not of universal appeal as it's a romance saga. Unfortunately I'm still searching for another White Tiger or Count of Monte Cristo, my all time top two. When I find it I'll be sure to share the joy. Until then, enjoy the music :)
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Wednesday, 30 November 2011
Thursday, 24 November 2011
Tales by Moonlight
There was this boy from my neighbourhood, he was training to become a medical doctor. Brilliant boy, from a good home, had everything going for him. 'Bright Star' they called people like him, lord knows we didn't have too many of them in the neighbourhood back then.
But what's that they say about bright stars? They burn out fast. You could say that happened to Dr J. That's what we called him, Dr J, on account of him wanting to be a doctor. Well Dr J burnt out, can't really say it was his fault, but then again can't really say it wasn't.
You see what had happened was Dr J got in with the fast crowd, the 'bright young things'. I'm sure you know some of them, everyone does. They are those young folks with too much money and not enough common sense. Oh don't get me wrong, quite a few of them are educated but what's education got to do with common sense? You either have it or you don't.
Well Dr J apparently had none. He ran with the bright young things, drinking, drugging, gambling...and the seven sins too. Then one day he got into a conflict with one of the other bright young things. Don't know the why's or the wherefore's but rumour says it was over a business deal gone wrong....business deal, ha!
So Dr J says Mr Bright Young Thing has stiffed him over a deal and he wants his money now. Well Mr Bright Young Thing disagrees. He disagrees so much, he sends some boys to teach Dr J a lesson. Not sure what kind of lesson you learn from being knifed to death but Dr J sure learnt that lesson well....and that right there was how my neighbourhoods bright star burnt out.
Such a damn shame. But that's young folks for you. They think they know it all, the world is a personal gift to them and they have all the time to enjoy it. Damn damn shame!!
For the non-Nigerians, the title 'Tales by Moonlight' refers to a sunday evening programme on national tv in Nigeria in the 1980s for children. Fictional stories were told by an adult to groups of children sitting around and each tale unfailingly had a moral lesson. Sunday evening was not complete for KK and I if we did not watch Tales by Moonlight. Amongst other lessons, we learnt (mostly from tales involving the tortoise) not to be greedy or disobedient, to be truthful always and to share....I believe the day the tale on sharing was told, KK was out playing footie....I kid I kid :)
The reason I titled this highly fictionalised story Tales by Moonlight is because it was inspired by a song Mama and Cuz S were singing this eve, the song was apparently taught to them by my Grandma and was based on real events that happened in the family's neighbourhood in Lagos, in Lafiaji, during my Grandma's time. The lyrics of the song are...
dokita to binu sinwo
dokita to binu sinwo
boyze won binu yo obe
ye
e wa wo eje ni Lafiaji...
Loosely and literally translated it means a doctor angrily asked for money he was owed, in return the boys he was asking angrily brought out knives and subsequently blood flowed in Lafiaji. According to Mama and Cuz S, my Grandma knew/knew of the doctor, he was from a prominent family and he was killed in the incident. Though either Grandma didn't give Mama and Cuz S the nitty gritty of the unfortunate incident or they just can't remember...I would make jokes about age and memory here but they can still kick my butt!!
For my Nigerian readers and Fela fans, the tune of the song is the same tune of 'Oni Dodo Oni Moin-Moin' , the lyrics of which end with 'e wa wo ija ni Lafiaji'. So food for thought, as I believe Fela would have been a young 'un at the time of the events in my Grandma's Lafiaji, would I be right in saying the eje came before the ija in Lafiaji :)
Hope you all enjoyed the fictional story and the little bit of my family folklore.
Oh and the Yoruba peeps, please kindly forgive my yoruba, I'm only half :)
But what's that they say about bright stars? They burn out fast. You could say that happened to Dr J. That's what we called him, Dr J, on account of him wanting to be a doctor. Well Dr J burnt out, can't really say it was his fault, but then again can't really say it wasn't.
You see what had happened was Dr J got in with the fast crowd, the 'bright young things'. I'm sure you know some of them, everyone does. They are those young folks with too much money and not enough common sense. Oh don't get me wrong, quite a few of them are educated but what's education got to do with common sense? You either have it or you don't.
Well Dr J apparently had none. He ran with the bright young things, drinking, drugging, gambling...and the seven sins too. Then one day he got into a conflict with one of the other bright young things. Don't know the why's or the wherefore's but rumour says it was over a business deal gone wrong....business deal, ha!
So Dr J says Mr Bright Young Thing has stiffed him over a deal and he wants his money now. Well Mr Bright Young Thing disagrees. He disagrees so much, he sends some boys to teach Dr J a lesson. Not sure what kind of lesson you learn from being knifed to death but Dr J sure learnt that lesson well....and that right there was how my neighbourhoods bright star burnt out.
Such a damn shame. But that's young folks for you. They think they know it all, the world is a personal gift to them and they have all the time to enjoy it. Damn damn shame!!
For the non-Nigerians, the title 'Tales by Moonlight' refers to a sunday evening programme on national tv in Nigeria in the 1980s for children. Fictional stories were told by an adult to groups of children sitting around and each tale unfailingly had a moral lesson. Sunday evening was not complete for KK and I if we did not watch Tales by Moonlight. Amongst other lessons, we learnt (mostly from tales involving the tortoise) not to be greedy or disobedient, to be truthful always and to share....I believe the day the tale on sharing was told, KK was out playing footie....I kid I kid :)
The reason I titled this highly fictionalised story Tales by Moonlight is because it was inspired by a song Mama and Cuz S were singing this eve, the song was apparently taught to them by my Grandma and was based on real events that happened in the family's neighbourhood in Lagos, in Lafiaji, during my Grandma's time. The lyrics of the song are...
dokita to binu sinwo
dokita to binu sinwo
boyze won binu yo obe
ye
e wa wo eje ni Lafiaji...
Loosely and literally translated it means a doctor angrily asked for money he was owed, in return the boys he was asking angrily brought out knives and subsequently blood flowed in Lafiaji. According to Mama and Cuz S, my Grandma knew/knew of the doctor, he was from a prominent family and he was killed in the incident. Though either Grandma didn't give Mama and Cuz S the nitty gritty of the unfortunate incident or they just can't remember...I would make jokes about age and memory here but they can still kick my butt!!
For my Nigerian readers and Fela fans, the tune of the song is the same tune of 'Oni Dodo Oni Moin-Moin' , the lyrics of which end with 'e wa wo ija ni Lafiaji'. So food for thought, as I believe Fela would have been a young 'un at the time of the events in my Grandma's Lafiaji, would I be right in saying the eje came before the ija in Lafiaji :)
Hope you all enjoyed the fictional story and the little bit of my family folklore.
Oh and the Yoruba peeps, please kindly forgive my yoruba, I'm only half :)
Sunday, 20 November 2011
I'll never grow up, never grow up, never grow up! Not me!
This morning, like the good Christian child I was raised to be (and I mostly am...YES I AM) I picked up the Word for Today to see what today's reading and devotional was about. Here's a quote from it, "we spend most of our twenties discovering all of the hundreds of things we can be. But as we mature into our thirties, we begin to discover all of the things we will never be. The challenge for us is to reach our forties and beyond and put it all together."
I promptly sent the quote to bffl via bb, because that's how we roll :-)
And to quote her, "what kind of hopeless message is this?" Lmao...But as someone like her in her early thirties, I feel her. So what? We've got a few years of disappointment as a grown up left??? There we were in our twenties thinking that by our thirties we'd have our sh*t together.
And there we were thinking we were doing a pretty good job of getting it together too. Forging ahead nicely as a grown up. Granted certain expectations not met yet...but why make the thirties sound so depressing?
Well...Time to get crackin' and find those things I'll never be.
P.S - title is quote from Peter Pan.
And before I go I thought I'd put a link to the song I am currently enamoured with...James Morrison's Better Man...enjoy (can you tell there's a romantic living somewhere in me with the lyrics of the songs I like)
I promptly sent the quote to bffl via bb, because that's how we roll :-)
And to quote her, "what kind of hopeless message is this?" Lmao...But as someone like her in her early thirties, I feel her. So what? We've got a few years of disappointment as a grown up left??? There we were in our twenties thinking that by our thirties we'd have our sh*t together.
And there we were thinking we were doing a pretty good job of getting it together too. Forging ahead nicely as a grown up. Granted certain expectations not met yet...but why make the thirties sound so depressing?
Well...Time to get crackin' and find those things I'll never be.
P.S - title is quote from Peter Pan.
And before I go I thought I'd put a link to the song I am currently enamoured with...James Morrison's Better Man...enjoy (can you tell there's a romantic living somewhere in me with the lyrics of the songs I like)
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