BLOG 222: The 13th Sense

"A friend, the only friend who whispers in your ear 

Just to say good luck and that is all you need to hear 

I wrap up cold so when I march on my bare heels 

Everything I lack in style's made up with how I feel 

 

I need us undivided, I want this thing to stop 

I've had the training to be overwhelmed but I'm not 

Empty soul of hate but this isn't my war 

Couldn't tell you how it started or where it is fought 

Oh no... "

From the album 'The Invitation': Songwriters: Brendon Arthur James, Thomas William Welham, Adam Michael Wilson, William David South.   

One of the best gifts a departing lover ever gave me was Thirteen Senses album "The Invitation". He said that the album is me set to music. My fault for dating a musoo - literary types often make the mistake of thinking that music makers and word smiths are natural partners. Not so much in reality though, musoos have the swell and ebbs of the tune in the background to convey what they feel and the lyrics are the underscore... we mere wordsmiths have just a blank page to fill. In short, we talk too much and they not enough. Coming together as a unit is like forcing similar but ill-fitting jigsaw pieces together. It's not a proper fit under close inspection  - hence why Jax and Lorenz did not go the distance. 

However. 

The gift that remains some 6+ years after the split found its way onto my CD player this morning.I do not know what happened to this band. I don't really follow musicians  and if stopped by a vox-popper and was asked to name what is no. 1 in the charts at the moment I genuinely would not have a clue. So if the band are still going... great. If not... they left a musical legacy behind them they can feel very proud of. 

Their vocalist, Will South, has to be one of my all time favourite voices in music.  His voice is (and forgive me for not knowing the correct musical term) a kind of countertenor with a massive range. It has so much depth and soul to it and has a remarkable ability to sound hopeful and dissolute at the same time. As for the music driving the emotion of the lyrics; the guitar and piano riffs that feature on this album are remarkably brilliant despite their simplicity. The main melody is sometimes played by the piano, and  other times the guitar drives it but it switches back and forth making you feel the fragility of the words being conveyed. The bass is used as punctuation... a barely noticeable but essential heartbeat. But like I said I am not a musoo... so forgive my paltry description. I am a writer though, so put in my terms, I would say the album is a recording of the emotion that is felt by those who probably think too much. 

Maybe Lorenz was right... it could be a representation of me set to music.. maybe. (Mind you the track he always harped on about was 'Thru The Glass'... so you can understand my apprehension)

Anyway...I quoted the lyrics to 'Undivided' at the start of this blog. 

Now THIS IS a situation I often find myself in. Other peoples wars. 

Fair enough conscientious objectors always are attacked. If it is not your war and you have no wish to die for someone else's, it is inevitable that those who do (subscribe to the issues fought over and for) WILL attack you.

It's even more difficult to not become involved with other people's wars when you have a strong personality. People tend to (and quite wrongly) attribute to you much more power than you actually have. They feel it is their duty to get you to subscribe to their cause and fear what will happen to their credibility if they do not have you on board. 

 

And so it was that I awoke this morning to find myself - yet again - under attack for not wishing to be conscript in a war I do not want to have anything to do with. 

I am worn out from  trying resist being sucked into a maelstrom created by my three ambitious and angry  adversaries.  Of course the attacks upon me have been thick and fast: First one of them declared I am beneath contempt, then another publicly attacked me till I wept, the other simply tells lies about me. This Campaign I can handle but I am tired, very tired of this . I shouldn't have to handle this, but my resistance to being sucked into their war means that of course I will be attacked.

  

But the change in the tide came yesterday when like the lyrics of the song I opened with.... my only ally is now reduced to whispering support in my ear. It has become dangerous for that person to be seen publicly allied to me. 

And so it is - because of that occurrence - that I feel obliged to write this blog. 

Fight your stupid war if you must. Because I will not support you does not mean I am the enemy. Being a conscientious objector means that I will not support your opponents either. I am exercising my right not to be involved - with either side. No more. No less. So please... stop the madness.

In the words of thirteen senses: 

I need us undivided, I want this thing to stop 

I've had the training to be overwhelmed but I'm not 

Empty soul of hate but this isn't my war 

Couldn't tell you how it started or where it is fought 

Thank you. 

So glad I couldn't find the i-pod and had to slam on a CD this morning. So glad I was given 'The Invitation' all those years ago.

Ahhhh...... I guess this is WELL overdue, but I know you follow the blog so here goes....   

YES Lorenz... you were right.... it's taken me a lot of years to actually listen to the album rather than sing along to it!... but yes...it is ME, set to music!  Take care. Jax 

The JaxWorld Blog can be followed on Twitter- @JaxWorldBlog     

Or you can join over 7000 fans of The JaxWorld Blog on Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/The.JaxWorld.Blog   

Thanks for continuing to vote for JaxWorld as the Best Blog about Stuff and for ALL your support that has made this blog such a huge success.