“Again”

Do Piano

A wall
A road
A car
Alone
Again

A tree
A sky
A sun
Above, far off
A bird
A plane
A top, grade high required

A train
A girl
A boy
Inside
Outside
Make love again

Again
Again, again, again

A cloud
A dream
A wave, secret, silent
A fight
A life

A night
Nowhere
Elsewhere
A light
A phone

A new
Always
Something
A moon
A drink

A bed
Too late
Tonight
To make love again

Again
Again, again, again
Again, again, again

A star
A way
A land
Far away, lost

A street
A rain
A wind, cold, strong
A door
A room, close, dark

Your eyes
My lips, red, hot
To make love again

Again
Again, again, again

Again, again, again

Again, again, again

Make love again
Again, again

Source: Musixmatch

Songwriters: Terry Lewis / Janet Jackson / James Harris

Again lyrics © Kmr Music Royalties Ii Scsp

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Profile: Daphné Hendrickx, aka Do Piano, born in 1963, is a Swiss singer of synth pop and new wave music, known in France for her single “Again” in the 80s. She died in France in Clermont-Ferrand on February 06, 2020 at the age of 57.

Source:

https://www.discogs.com/artist/147695-Do-Piano#:~:text=Profile%3A,at%20the%20age%20of%2057.

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I am quite sure that many of you are wondering why I’ve chosen an obscure song from a barely known artist (at least to me personally) to write a blog on. You must be wondering what I could possibly state from its lyrics. I am enclosing a YouTube video of this superb song – I hope you like it as much as I do. In fact, I am listening to it right now!

The fact is that there are some invaluable life lessons to be learned from it. There may be other interpretations to the song, but this is what I feel is its immediately apparent message:

• There is a certain permanence, inevitability, and enduring quality to Life itself – whatever one does; wherever one goes: whenever each of  one of us awakes to a brand-new day, there will always be some certainties – the existence of the sky, the stars, the sun the trilling birds, the green, swaying trees, etc. The list goes on an on-till eternity and infinity itself – again, again and again.

• Life is all-enduring – as is mentioned rightly by Alfred Lord Tennyson in the famous poem, “The Brook” – this song of the brook states that despite the fact that men may come and men may go, the brook goes on forever. It gurgles, sparkles and sings as it flows ceaselessly on its onward journey towards the river, the sea or even the land – whichever comes first. The stream seeps its way into various cracks, crevices and crannies till it finds its rightful path of flowing. This fact implies largely that no one is indispensable on this Earth. We must be humble enough to accept this absolute truth. It’s the message of the Circle of life itself and it cannot be ignored.

Here’s the poem to enjoy in its full glory:

The Brook

I come from haunts of coot and hern,
I make a sudden sally,
And sparkle out among the fern,
To bicker down a valley.

By thirty hills I hurry down,
Or slip between the ridges,
By twenty thorps, a little town,
And half a hundred bridges.

Till last by Philip’s farm I flow
To join the brimming river,
For men may come and men may go,
But I go on forever.

I chatter over stony ways,
In little sharps and trebles,
I bubble into eddying bays,
I babble on the pebbles.

With many a curve my banks I fret
by many a field and fallow,
And many a fairy foreland set
With willow-weed and mallow.

I chatter, chatter, as I flow
To join the brimming river,
For men may come and men may go,
But I go on forever.

I wind about, and in and out,
with here a blossom sailing,
And here and there a lusty trout,
And here and there a grayling,

And here and there a foamy flake
Upon me, as I travel
With many a silver water-break
Above the golden gravel,

And draw them all along, and flow
To join the brimming river,
For men may come and men may go,
But I go on forever.

I steal by lawns and grassy plots,
I slide by hazel covers;
I move the sweet forget-me-nots
That grow for happy lovers.

I slip, I slide, I gloom, I glance,
Among my skimming swallows;
I make the netted sunbeam dance
Against my sandy shallows.

I murmur under moon and stars
In brambly wildernesses;
I linger by my shingly bars;
I loiter round my cresses;

And out again I curve and flow
To join the brimming river,
For men may come and men may go,
But I go on forever.

(Again, again and again)

Alfred, Lord Tennyson

• As we go about our day-to-day lives, there is so much that we take for granted – certain things are always there so we often fail to take good note of their existence, even if they are the simplest things – it could be a wall, a road, a car, a plane or anything else. We ought not to take things for granted – they provide ‘body’ to our lives – these are the things that provide the shape and form to our very existence – again, again and again, Don’t forget it!

• The lyrics of the song speak of “a fight; a life” – we are surrounded daily by unseemly news and horrific sights of  repeated and regular episodes of cruelty, wickedness, violence, abuse and heinous crimes like murder itself – we don’t stop to think twice about the taking of a life, as if it was the most mundane and commonplace thing in the world. Rape, murder, domestic violence, drunken fights, extreme poverty, starvation, rampant unemployment, thievery, drought, etc. have become the norm of the day – yet we barely notice these things. We feel that it’s happened to someone else so why should we bother or care? We have lost our sense of empathy, compassion, kindness, and the very essence of being humane towards other people less fortunate than ourselves. It is our very indifference, nonchalance and callousness that is making us pay heavily for our wages of sin – again, again, and yet again.

• Life can get monotonous, mundane, and boring. What of it? Some days might be horrid, but the good days will always come along – take comfort in that fact. The permanence and impermanence of life strike a delicate balance. Look around you – take note of other people’s circumstances and feelings. Life isn’t always what we might want – we must learn to look beyond the end of our nose – we must learn the art of consideration, tolerance, compromise and consideration for others.

• As the protagonist of the song returns home, she hopes to find the wonderful presence of her lover eagerly waiting for her there. She hopes that they will make love to each other – again, again and again – but just as there is a certain permanence to Life, there are fears and uncertainties too. We can’t run away from our woes – they have a bad habit of following us wherever we go. Face your problems and fears head-on – sometimes there might be a reasonable solution to both; sometimes not. Think of these things carefully – that’s the true essence of Life. Again, again and again.

• Never forget the repetitious nature of the Circle of Life, The Circle of Birth, Death, Rebirth and never underestimate the ever-powerful law of Karma. What we give forth to the world shall come back to us in some form or the other. What one sows, so shall one reap – do good and it will come back to you a thousandfold – again, again and again.

• Why? Simply because that is Life. The Wheel of Fortune and Justice keep grinding painfully and slowly, continuously moving – slow this wheel might be but it inevitably does its job – again, again and again.  

• Just live a good life – that’s all that really matters. No big regrets. Live well – harmoniously, respectfully, and peaceably. It’s what truly matters at the end of one’s life – let me not have to repeat this fact to you all – yet again, again and again.