BONUS EPISODE! OBLIQUE STRATEGIES: 3 SONGS BY BILL MESNIK, CREATED IN RESPONSE TO BRIAN ENO’S DECK OF CARDS.

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12d ago 8:15

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To spur my songwriting juices, I got this deck of "Oblique Strategies" cards, created by Brian Eno, designed to prompt creativity. Here are a few examples.

INSIDE / OUTSIDE

(Oblique Strategy: “THINK - Inside the work, outside the work”)

Inside - outside: it’s hard to reconcile

Inside is terrified, though outside may beguile

If I stay inside I just might hide from tribulations and the trial

Of outside’s obligations to display the latest style.

Inside is a cozy place, my home made out of bricks

Outside is an endless space, with hucksters full of tricks

Who wait around each corner to deliver blows and kicks

Or, subtler art to break your heart no medicine can fix

INSIDE - IT’S WARM

OUTSIDE MAY DO ME HARM

OUTSIDE - IT’S COLD

INSIDE I’M GROWING OLD.

It might agoraphobia, this reluctance that I feel

Or, maybe something nobler, some grace for me to heal

It might be something sinister, a cage of the mind too real

But, whatever the urge I need to emerge a person who can feel.

Inside - outside: sings out of harmony

A discordant strain of grief and pain

An obvious forgery

Turn on the light, step into the night

And accept what’s meant to be

Wherever you go, at least you’ll know

What it feels like to be free.

REVERSE

(O.S.: Reverse)

I’m stuck in reverse, and way round the bacK

The brakes are all worn and the axle is cracked,

The steering is worthless, it’s totally whacked

I’m headed for trouble and everything’s black (and everything’s black)

I’m up to my elbow in sulfurous muck

And as far as all I know I’m dead out of luck

But, if it’s not too late I’ll sell you my truck

Let fate steer the crate, and earn Satan a buck

Reverse ain’t the worst

If you face it with grace

It’s like running in place

Or, a pie in the face

Reverse is just relative

A black hole in space

It ain’t something you need to erase.

Perhaps I’ve been looking at my problem all wrong

Maybe Reverse is the point of my song

It could be “ass backwards” will make me last long

And, what doesn’t kill me might build me up strong.

FOOL’S GOLD

(O.S.: what are you really thinking about just now? Incorporate.)

HAVE A DESIRE TO CREATE, BUT NOT A SINGLE IDEA

WOULDN’T IT BE REALLY GREAT TO PULL AN “AVE MARIA”?

I’LL PRAY TO THE GOD OF ART

TO ASSIST ME AND OPEN MY HEART

OR AT LEAST TO MAKE A START

TOWARDS SOMETHING TRUTHFUL, SOMETHING BOLD, SOMETHING HONEST

THAT’S NOT FOOL’S GOLD.

IT’S NOT MY FINEST HOUR

BUT I WON’T LET MYSELF BE SOUR

I STILL HAVE HOPE FOR SUCCESS

AND THOUGH I SPEAK TO AUDIENCE OF ONE

WE’RE STILL HAVING FUN

SO FORWARD! AND DAMN ALL THE REST!

I SHOULDN’T COMPLAIN IF THERE’S NOTHING TO GAIN

BY YEARS OF WASTED TOIL

THE UNIVERSE HAS MADE IT PLAIN

WHY BURN REGRETFUL OIL?

I’LL PRAY TO THE GOD OF ART

TO ASSIST ME AND OPEN MY HEART

OR AT LEAST TO MAKE A START

TOWARDS SOMETHING TRUTHFUL, SOMETHING BOLD, SOMETHING HONEST

THAT’S NOT FOOL’S GOLD.

431 episodes

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