As I've mentioned in the past (see "You can't always get what you want..."), when I was in high school, I decided to post a "Quote of the Day" on a small dry erase board on the refrigerator in our family's kitchen. I planned to only use quotations borrowed from rock-n-roll lyrics. It worked great for about 3 days, then I quickly started losing momentum, gave up, and stopped. The first quote that I used was from a Rolling Stones song called, "You can't always get what you want". I've also wondered in the past whether Mick Jagger, the lead singer for the Rolling Stones was a Stoic philosopher (see "Was Mick Jagger a Stoic?")! It's not far-fetched at all - Mick Jagger once studied economics at the famous London School of Economics and Political Science, which boasts an acceptance rate of about 8 percent!
As it turns out, I've learned a lot from rock-n-roll lyrics over the years. One of my favorite rock-n-roll artists, Bruce Springsteen once said, "The best music is essentially there to provide you something to face the world with." With "The Boss" in mind, I decided to build upon my earlier posts and talk about some of the most important lessons that I've learned from listening to rock-n-roll:
1. "You can't always get what you want..." by the Rolling Stones: Let's start with the song I've already mentioned. There's a lyric in the song's chorus that goes: You can't always get what you want, but if you try sometime, you'll find, you get what you need. It's a pretty amazing sentiment, if you really think about it outside the context of a rock lyric. I think that you will find in life that you don't always get what you want. Things won't always go the way that you hoped. If you find yourself in that situation, take a pause and reconsider. Chances are that you will come to realize that things always happen for a reason. Even if you don't always get what you want, you will find that you will get exactly what you need. What Mick Jagger is singing is a particular brand of philosophical thinking that encourages us a a sense of acceptance and contentment with what life offers, rather than constantly chasing after unattainable goals.
2. "Against the Wind" by Bob Seger: I've always thought that this is an absolutely amazing song. There's an incredible lyric at the beginning of the song which may be the most poignant statement about life that I've ever heard in a rock-n-roll song: Wish I didn't know now what I didn't know then. Here, Seger is lamenting the fact that as we grow older (and wiser), we learn some hard lessons about life that we don't necessarily appreciate when we are younger. The lessons we learn as we grow older can be painful - the most important lessons in life usually are so. The Roman general Julius Caesar himself said that "Experience is the best teacher" (he technically said it in Latin, "Ut est rerum omnium magister usus"). It's also been said (by many) that "experience is the hardest teacher, because it gives the test first and the lesson afterward."
3. "Follow Your Heart" by Triumph: The Canadian rock band Triumph was one of my favorite bands growing up. They were known for their powerful guitar-driven rock songs with lyrics that always seemed to have an inspirational message as opposed to the "sex, drugs, and rock-n-roll" cliché - "Fight the Good Fight" (which was written for one of the band members' aunts who was suffering from cancer), "Lay It On the Line", and "Magic Power" to name just a few. There's a line in their song "Follow Your Heart" that goes: People say don't ever look behind, happiness is just a state of mind. The underlying message here is one that I've been posting a lot about recently - we can choose to be happy and optimistic, or we can choose to be unhappy and pessimistic. It's truly a choice. It all comes down to how we react to life's difficulties and experiences.
4. "The Grand Illusion" by Styx: I loved this entire album growing up! The theme for the entire album (Styx was big on concept albums) was that things aren't always what they seem and that it's a "grand illusion" that success will make you happy (see my post, "Success is not the key to happiness..."). Here's the key line from the title track: So if you think your life is complete confusion, 'cause your neighbors got it made. Just remember that it's a grand illusion, and deep inside, we're all the same. Here's another line that is just as powerful (and definitely still appropriate given the adverse impact of social media on trust and happiness in society today): Don't be fooled by the radio/the TV or the magazines/They'll show you photographs of how your life should be/But they're just someone else's fantasy...Just remember that it's all a Grand Illusion/And deep inside we're all the same.
5. "Stairway to Heaven" by Led Zeppelin: This song is one of the all-time classics and probably has one of the greatest guitar solos of all time (definitely when performed live, but even the studio version's solo is great)! There's a powerful line in the middle of the song that goes: Yes, there are two paths you can go by, but in the long run, there's still time to change the road you're on. In other words, throughout life we will be faced with choices. The important thing to remember is that if we make the wrong choice, it's never too late to correct course and choose the alternative route.
There are definitely more lessons from rock-n-roll that I've shared in the past (see in particular "And the world will live as one..." and "Give me something to believe in!"). And there are some that I hope to share in the future. Art is powerful in that regard. U2's guitarist, The Edge, said, "You see, rock and roll isn't a career or hobby - it's a life force. It's something very essential."