Terrific Tune Tuesday – ‘Finally Moving’

Sometimes, it’s not about the content of the lyrics in a song that make it great for smoking pot.  Instead, the perfect song is about the ambience and the mood it sets for the listener.  The realm it takes them to, the disposition it sets.  Although there are thousands of classics that succeed at doing this, Pretty lights’s Finally Moving really sets the tone right.

The melodic echo of the vocals, “I got a feeling,” softly shuffles in at the beginning, stirring the listener into a passionate realm that instantly ensnares.  Soon after, the synth rolls in right before introducing the violin that revives the synths gentle roll into a riding wave.  The piano softly taps in, smoothing the songs current in the same way a haze of dabs will reduce a long stressful day into nothing.  But, it would be boring if the song stayed running so level-ly, and the perfectly laid discordant scratching adds just enough chaos to disrupt, while still maintaining elegance.

The track continues to massage its message of tranquility into listener, reminding them that first, special, blissful moment they experienced.  The repeating, “never never never had before,” induces the memory of that feeling had for the first time.  In doing so, it sucks you away from the turbulence of one’s everyday anxieties. 

By the time the song fades away, the listener has gently left behind a harsher mindset, in the same way that marijuana alleviates an ailment.  When enjoyed together, they create a perfect harmony for relaxation, enjoyment, and ultimately, happiness.  But, rather than creating the happiness anew, they help one remember.  They don’t numb, they don’t harm, they only heal.  And, they get you Finally Moving.

The Haze of a Nation

The Haze of a Nation

Puff Puff: smokers delight)
              sweet weed gets me high

from a low place where we reside 
[lost in the vortex of Yeat’s gyre…]
a reality struck, 
and, 
completely fucked with oxymorons 
and golden hair Buff Oons -whoooo 
wrongly emphasize 
lies. 
In such grandiloquence, 
we___
       fall 
under the sway of his Rohypnol;
placed in our glass, 
while we cheered his indiscrete acts. 

Smoke, smoke, smoke it away. 

A completely successful 
robbery witnessed on national t.v., 
enforced on the indigenous 
by sparkling chested heroes 
with small dicks and heavy belts. 
Salute them?
Those who have repressed time and again, 
and again will stop at nothing 
to blindly follow golden rules - 
no matter how much insanity 
they scream, 
the screams 
fall unheard as echoes muted 
in forgotten dreams 
            ___where the shadows rule. 
Yes, “get high,” I think I will…
even if it makes me a criminal. 

Terrific Tune Tuesday: Ben Harper – Burn One Down

One of the most rewarding things a person can do after a long, hard, stress filled day is to partake in a bit of ganja.  It slowly lifts you up and makes everything better, as it melts away anxieties, and transitions a frantic mind into a calmer state.  Making marijuana the perfect Yin to almost any Yang.

Ben Harper skillfully captures this transition in his classic song Burn One Down on his incredible ‘Fight For Your Mind’ album.  It begins with the sober, soft echo of hand drums steadily  building a beat until Harper’s guitar rings in notes reminiscent of Bob Marley’s Redemption Song.  The instruments stay there for a moment, setting a familiar worn out tone, which gives a low rise of anticipation for Harper’s conflicted voice. 

The quiet, restrained passion held captive in his vocals is one of the most magnetizing qualities the artist holds.  They smoothly float over, seeping into the listener, confiding in them a depth of emotion similar to being plunged into an icy ocean.  (The cold is too shocking to feel entirely while warmth is an animalistic instinct thrashing wildly, and hope floats dubiously in the illusion of either reality, or dreams.)  And this is exactly how he greets you in the first lines of Burn One Down, gently hitting high notes that are too soft to shock, but which captivate with an invitation to light one up and possibly make things better.

The song trudges on in this jaded manner until coming to the chorus for the first time, where Harper sings, “If you don’t like my fire / Then don’t come around / ‘Cause I’m gonna burn one down.”  A full drum set then swings into play, along with a back-up guitar that transforms the song from tired to elated with the lyrical rallying cry of individuality.  His lyrics only grow more meaningful in the first lines following the chorus, “My choice is what I choose to do / And if I’m causing no harm / It shouldn’t bother you.”  They express (what should be) a golden rule of life.  An interesting theory that heavily conflicts with modern religious and cultural values. 

Burn One Down continues to progress in a mellow, positive manner which harmoniously embodies the essence of cannabis culture, until slowly fading out to the soft strumming of guitar and padding of drums.  But before it does, the listener is privileged to one last bit of marijuana acumen when we’re told, “Herb the gift from the Earth / And what’s from the Earth / Is of the greatest worth.”  A warning that tells us to appreciate and recognize mother nature’s offerings as the source of positive energy they are.  An insurmountable task, still, for many. 

After nearly 25 years, the relevance of his lyrics stands testament to the timelessness of the song.  Showcasing it as an instant classic that epitomizes the cultural shift of the 60s, of love, of acceptance, and of peace.  That calms and soothes the listener.  This is why it was chosen as the first Terrific Tune Tuesday.  It’s a song to lay back and share a spliff with a friend.

A Special Seed

From a puny brown oval shell
shoots two, and two with carved edges. 
In anticipation of a higher 
day, given from mother nature. 

Twelve weeks past in culminating
redolence, verging to obnoxious, 
as sap oozes from cola pockets 
of sticky crystallized emeralds.    

Trichomes glint as light passes over
thick stalks ready to snap under 
dripping, bulbous flowers, staked 
upright to support our sanity. 

Moving amongst the woozy plants
is magic to another day, for kids 
who dreamed of mirages melted away. 
So we snip, hang, and burn in a cure, 
of fantasy’s lost in a haze.