Blue Notes -- "The Eternal Now" (audio)

"And so many think, because ‘then’ happened, ‘now’ isn’t. But didn’t I mention? The ongoing WOW is happening right now.”

So begins “The Eternal Now,” the serious selection from the first trio of songs presented in the “Blue Notes” series on The Assimilated Negro.

The quote is taken from the movie Waking Life - a movie that comes highly recommended by this former philosophy major, the words key right in on the content of the song. It’s perfect.

This is my “live for today” song. I think I managed to come up with a creative and different approach to the old notion of “seizing the moment”.

When I try to personify “the past,” what comes to mind is a stalker. Someone who follows your every move. Knows everything about you. You can’t shake him (of course the past is a male) for the life of you. He means you no harm, but still he haunts you. Because of what he knows. You. We run from the past. We run from ourselves. Old versions of the application ME that have had the bugs identified. And we’re still working on getting all the glitches ironed out before our next release date, so the last thing we want to see is some old version. No, goshdarnit, look at me now!!

But we don’t really mean now. We mean the future. Look at me soon. Look at what lies in front of me. Look at what I will become. It’s certain to be better than that, or this. Perfection lies right down the road, past the mountains, and over the horizon.

But what about now? The now that is you and I right now. Now. I mean NOW.

When I try to personify the future, she (of course the future is a female) also deals in the “now”. Your now. Your cash. Your currency.

The past stalks you, and takes your every moment. Your every now. It knows how to do nothing else.

The future doles out moments. She gives you now. But can never be a part of them. She can never step from behind the horizon. She is a posthumous dream.

The structure of the song plays a role as well, with the first verse representing “the past”, the second verse representing “the future” and the “eternal now” chorus as the go-between. Which I like because a I think a chorus sort of represents the “now” part of a song.

So anyways, if you’re still awake, you should listen to it now, now … I mean now.





I also need new music for it... *sigh*