Posts written by Mr Omneo

Now and then

2nd April 2009 by Mr Omneo

When asked to name a track that defined ‘now’ I did what most people would do, I started to think of tracks that meant something to me, in some shape or form. That was my biggest mistake because I then spent every waking moment considering literally thousands of songs but I couldn’t pick one and say it defined ‘now’. But then again, what is ‘now’?

‘Now’ is a moment in time that is no sooner identified before it turns into ‘Then’. This is when I realised that no matter what song I thought of, it would never really define ‘now’ or at least not the ‘now’ of this moment; what it would define is the ‘now’ of ‘then’. I knew ‘now’ could not be defined by Bruce Springsteen’s Thunder Road, probably the first song that I heard where the lyrics spoke to me but that was the ‘now’ of 1984 which is where I return to whenever I hear it.

I also realised that Mano Negra’s Roget Cageot was not the track to define ‘now’ although it was certainly the ‘now’ of 1990 when I was backpacking through Europe, just the first few notes and I’m teleported back to Paris where I partied long and hard with Parisians who forgave me for butchering their language and didn’t mind speaking English, contrary to what everyone told me to expect.

As I considered and discarded song after song I thought I’d have to give up trying. Yes, I could think of hundreds of songs that took me back to a time when they were the epitome of ‘now’ but none of them could really define ‘now’ at this moment in time. Suddenly, from out of nowhere a song started in my head that not only transported me back, to 2002 to be exact, but it also seemed to scream, “This is NOW!” in my ear. The song was If I had it all by the Dave Matthews Band.

It perfectly defines ‘now’ for me. It is at once the ‘now’ of yesterday, the ‘now’ of tomorrow and more importantly the ‘now’ of the moment. This song is no ordinary love song, sure it has the makings of your typical boy meets girl, boy and girl fall in love and boy and girl live happily ever after love song but there’s something more, something special, especially when you hit the chorus and Dave sings,

And if I were a king, If I had everything

If I had you and I could give you your dreams

If I were giant-sized, on top of it all

Tell me what in the world would I go on for

If I had it all

How would we cope if we had it all? If the one we loved reciprocated. If we could do everything we desired for ourselves and for others. If we really could make dreams come true. Would life be any better if we didn’t have to work at it? I don’t think so and I don’t think Dave does either. This song reminds me never to stand still, it reminds me not to become Then; it reminds me not only to think of tomorrow but, like ‘now’, think of the moment.

This is ‘now’, live for it!

Mr Omneo
http://www.mr-omneo.co.uk/
http://www.lastfm.fr/user/omneo

tagged dave matthews band Music this is now