First of all, how I came to think about this: I was working on the lyrics I promised to write, with a deadline of 2 days. I've been drinking some whiskey and trying to get the words appear on the screen in a right order. At some point I posted on Facebook, saying something along the lines of "I'm not a poet, but thankfully there's whiskey". Later I started thinking that my mother is going to see that when she wakes up, her son was drunk at 03:30am on a monday night, drinking whiskey... She'll probably be proud... But here's the thing:
I really don't think anyone who has never had to try and write something, to create something out of nothing, can understand this fully. When I'm a bit intoxicated my mind works in a different way. I write most -probably all- of the music I write totally sober. I don't need any help with that, I hear the things in my head and that's it. But when it's time to write some lyrics it's a different story all together. I'm really not a poet nor a writer, although I have a decent command of the language (well, languages, both English and Finnish). I can get some ideas down sober as well, but to really let things flow and to let your mind associate things in a manner that is not that "natural" to you, it really helps to numb your brain down a bit with a substance of your choice, which in my case is alcohol. I don't really fully understand why it works, but it does, and I KNOW that I'm not the only one. You guys really think Samuel Coleridge was sober when he wrote "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" or "Kubla Khan"? Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to compare myself to him or any other well known author, just trying to make a point here.
But why the fuck do I bother actually. Bill said it all already and better than I could:
Indeed, you're not alone. And I guess it has to do with perspectives and subjectivism - a whole new world unfolds when we change our point of view. Our body works throughout chemistly, it reacts to chemistry and synthetizes it in the whole spectrum of our feelings, emotions, understandings and thoughts that leads our atitudes. The chemistry can make us more sensitive, and thats when magic happens: we can loose the weight of unimportant things, get through self criticism, to focus or wide our consciousness - and sometimes get rid of common sense in order to connect to infinite possibilities. Creativity is a kind of craziness.
ReplyDeleteYou're doing fine. Mom will be proud, indeed.
Whatever you do will be fine. Don't worry so much.
ReplyDeleteSome painters need methamphetamine, some poets need opium and maybe some musicians without poetic inspiration need ethanol :)
ReplyDeleteAlcohol kills bad cholesterol LDL.
You've got a nice job and hold on to it :)
Alcohol shuts down your thinking and worrying brain and let's your soul speak. Maybe that's what it needs to finish the lyrics...
ReplyDeleteNever really tried to write a song and never will, cause I fail already with poems. But I do write stories sometimes and when it comes to some tricky parts where I feel I'm not good at, I noticed that it IS easier with alcohol. (Makes it more difficult to type though :D)
Kind of logical. I mean I also SAY things when I'm drunk, that I wouldn't say sober.... (One reason why I don't like to get drunk with people I don't know well - makes you kind of vulnerable...)
hello! is the sydänpuu dead/end?
ReplyDeleteDo you think you would ever sing your own songs live or for a new album?
ReplyDeleteJust asking because I think you definitely have the voice for that...
I second that!
DeleteWell I read in a Aldous Huxley essay (BNW Revisited) that alcohol is a (quoting by heart..) "protoplasmatic poison that assumed in little doses can positively depress the nervous system" - which means let the overfed rational part of our awaken consciousness have a snap, and reveal our unconscious potential and let it flows.
ReplyDelete(add): honestly I don't think Coleridge needed any kind of drugs to write (though it's evident he DID make use of them), he simply was a visionary like Blake and others, and many thigs in his poems also deal with hidden symbolism :)
Delete*Nerd moment*
ReplyDeleteBiologically speaking ... high concentrations of alcohol on blood blocks limbic system (it's on the brain) functions. Limbic system controls emotions preventing you do stupid things. When you're drunk that control does not exist. And then, you can write/compose better so because there is no repression of the rational part of your brain.
xD