Music to My Ears

Where would we be without words? They have the power to make us laugh or cry. They can incite violence or bring peace. The old saying goes: “The pen is mightier than the sword.” All because of words.

I know. You’re thinking: Why is she writing about words? We all know what they do, but I think, like a lot of other things in life, people take words for granted.

As a child I was fascinated with words. I wondered who invented the first words and why? For instance, why is a cow called a cow? (The answer of cow’s origins are here)

With my love of words, grew a love of reading and spiraled into a love for writing. I always can appreciate a clever turn of phrase. I fall in love with certain musicians because of their word play.

For instance, a band I find phenomenal is VNV (Victory not Vengeance) Nation. Ronan Harris and Mark Jackson combine the ideals of Spirituality and Futurism in their lyrics. They are lyrics that make me think and lyrics that make me feel.

For instance, my favorite song from them is Carbon. A song I believe is about our sustainability versus our need for electricity.

Lyrics:

A million points of light ascending to the sky
Monuments in darkness standing watch until the sun will rise
Screaming to an emptiness of how we deified ourselves
With our hands over eyes, claiming all of creation.
What inspires in us this madness
That our existence should be defined
By a light that can’t be seen by anyone?
What inspires in us this madness
That our existence should be defined
By a light that we can’t see?

A million points of light ascending to the sky
Monuments in darkness standing watch until the sun will rise
I can’t see this all as progress
How did we come this far when we see ourselves as deities,
Claim nature for ourselves?
By our actions we betray the instincts in our race
By our blindness and stupidity
We kill everything, we kill everything.

Can someone see our self destruction?
Are we reminding ourselves that our existence is so delicate
That without this light we are no more?
That without this light we’ve made we are no more.

A million points of light ascending to the sky
Monuments in darkness standing watch until the sun will rise
We torch the earth until it bleeds, rain ashes from the sky
Just to make a light that no one can see
We cut the earth until it bleeds, rain ashes from the sky
Just to make a light that no one can see.
Just to make a light. Just to make a light
We kill everything
By our blindness and stupidity
We kill everything.

In a thousand years what will be our legacy a million lights that no one could see?

A million points of light.
Be it the lyrics of a song or the verse of a good book, words have always moved me. What about you? Are words just a part of life or do they hold a special place in your heart? What are your favorite words?