Power of Song

It seems that over the last week or two I catch the same song on the radio.  It is Airplanes from B.O.B. and given that this is a rather popular song over the last year or so it isn’t a big surprise, but what is a surprise is it isn’t like I listen to the same station all the time, I scan constantly looking for a better song.  So I’ve been hearing this song a fair amount, enough to allow me to hear a verse that has caught my attention as I think it holds some really good insight.

I always liked the song, but these verses, the sentiment within it…..  Well, I was moved by it.

Take the concept of wishing on airplanes like they are shooting stars…  Or wishing on a shooting star in the first place…. I had to check in with myself to try and remember the last time I saw a shooting star, or was willing to believe enough to make a wish on one. 

While I was reflecting on this I realized that the only time wishing on a shooting star is real in my life is when looking at the sky with our children.  We don’t get to see the stars very often because they are often in bed before the stars are out.  But when it comes to wishes on shooting stars I recognize that this will only be something that we teach them is possible.  Meaning we will encourage our children to wish on shooting stars, because anything is possible and can come true.  But as adults do we believe that ourselves?  This caught me by surprise because the cynic in me knows that while it may be romantic to wish on a shooting star, I probably won’t be star gazing anytime soon. 

Why not wish on shooting stars and airplanes???? Anything is possible in life, right?  I realized that this was an important point for me to stay connected with, the innocence that it could be possible, and in that why not believe… I hope to do a better job with myself to keep this spirit alive, the innocence, the imagination, and the belief that anything can come true.

Now this was just my initial thought, the real substance came in the lines below.  I heard B.O.B. rap about going back to the days before this was a job, before I ever got paid, before it ever mattered what I had in my bank… Back when he was rapping for the hell of it… 

The first time I heard this after scanning through the radio channels, I thought, damn that was pretty good.  The next time I heard it, I stopped and thought about it a little more.

It amazed me that some things in my life that I once enjoyed because I was passionate about them, had become more like responsibilities and didn’t as closely connect as passion any more.  In some ways I recognized that things I once did for the joy of it, I had started doing because I should.  In that I realized that a key element of the activity needed to be reconnected to the action, more doing it for the passion and less doing it because it is a responsibility.  In many ways it is still about doing the same things, but from a different approach.

Initially this thought was connected to my work, but then I realized that elements of this show up all over my life.  As I inspected this idea, I realized that I had let myself come to this point and I could just as easily lift the veil and make it about the fun, about the passion again.

Ultimately it all came back to the same idea, being willing to be innocent enough to believe that anything is possible and connecting actions to passions and not responsibilities, to help anything become possible.

“Yeah, somebody take me back to the days

Before this was a job, before I got paid

Before it ever mattered what I had in my bank

Yeah, back when I was tryin' to get a tip at subway”

“And back when I was rappin' for the hell of it

But nowadays we rappin' to stay relevant

I'm guessin' that if we can make some wishes out of airplanes

Then maybe, oh, maybe I'll go back to the days”

“Before the politics that we call the rap game

And back when ain't nobody listened to my mix tape

And back before I tried to cover up my slang

But this is for the hater, what's up, Bobby Ray”

“So can I get a wish to end the politics?

And get back to the music that started this shit

So here I stand, and then again I say

I'm hopin' we can make some wishes out of airplanes”