Sunday 4 September 2011

Optimism


Here's a question:  does a crappy world make for an unhappy culture, or does an unhappy culture make for a crappy world?

How come you have to go to church to hear a song with uplifting or life-affirming lyrics any more?  I mean, there are a lot of things out there to be ticked off about or afraid of, but come on.

Have we lost the ability to look at the bright side of things?  Is the present so bleak and the future only bleaker?  Has our sense of irony become so cynical that we can't juxtapose the positive and the negative in the same song?  Or have we become so artless?

Take Yesterday for example.  It's a sad song, right?  But the melody is heartbreakingly pretty, so the song is actually uplifting.  And even though he's hurting, Paul sings "I believe in yesterday."  He believes.  An affirmation.  A positive stand in the face of heartache.

Way to go, Paul.  Show us how to do more of that.  It beats "you piss me off" any day.

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