Urban Grind

Ok, so they lost me after the black album but Metallica is one of my favourite bands of all time. I have recently been listening to all the old (first 5) albums again and trying to get into the newer ones (no luck). I am Listening to Ride the Lightning now and I must say that it is by far my favourite.

But why the Metallica post? Metallica helped my through my teenage years. When my parents weren’t able to explore with me my feelings and frustrations Metallica was. Looking back I wonder how interesting it would have been for my parents to have listened to Metallica with me and talked with me about the lyrics. I have always been someone the listens quite deeply to lyrics and allow my self to be influenced by them. A lot of Metallica’s older stuff was quite deep. Some of it I could relate to, some of it I contemplated as they were new ideas being introduced to me and some of it I rejected. It gave me strength and often inspiration.

I have also thought that it would be great to study the lyrics of bands like Metallica in poetry class. I hated english at high school - it bored the crap out of me. But my teachers could have had my full attention had they said, “Today for poetry we are going to study Metallica and we are going to start with the lyrics to the song Dyers Eve (lyrics below).” If you read the lyrics below imagine that I am 14 years old always at odds with my parents and tell me that I could not have had a very interesting class discussion about this song. Consider that I was feeling these things and might have also benefited from the opportunity to process these concepts/feelings/ideas.

I have always said that I will listen with my children to the music they choose to listen to. I am nervous about this as I am not a fan of pop stuff. But maybe if I listen to this music with my children they may be able to show me the meaning they get from something that I thought was so shallow. Or maybe I will be able to teach them something. Either way it seems like a good way to engage with your kids and maybe talk about bigger things. I could be wrong, but if my parents were to ask me if there was something they could have done differently this would be my answer. Listen with me to the music that i was deliberately using to create a picture of who I was and who I wanted to be. I always had questions that could have been answered by an adult but instead I had to wait years before I could fully understand some of these things, and it should be noted that I understood a whole lot more than I was being given credit for.

Please do not mistake that last bit for unresolved anger. The human race faces it’s biggest crisis ever and we need to be able to work together, Father and Son, etc to solve it. The older generation is in need of fresh thinking and the younger generation will need the wisdom of those that have come before us. Both will need the humility to be wrong in the face of the other. They will need to be able to communicate. Personally I think that it is the duty of the adults to take responsibility for this interaction.

DYERS EVE

Dear Mother
Dear Father
What is this hell you have put me through?
Believer
Deceiver
Day in, day out, live my life through you
Pushed onto me what’s wrong or right
Hidden from this thing that they call “life”

Dear Mother
Dear Father
Every thought I’d think you’d disapprove
Curator
Dictator
Always censoring my every move
Children are seen but are not heard
Tear out everything inspired

Innocence
Torn from me without your shelter
Barred reality
I’m living blindly

Dear Mother
Dear Father
Time has frozen still what’s left to be
Hear nothing
Say nothing
Cannot face the fact I think for me
No guarantee, it’s life as-is
But damn you for not giving me my chance

Dear Mother
Dear Father
You’ve clipped my wings before
I learned to fly
Unspoiled
Unspoken
I’ve outgrown that fucking lullaby
Same thing I’ve always heard from you,
“Do as I say, not as I do”

Innocence
Torn from me without your shelter
Barred reality
I’m living blindly

I’m in hell without you
Cannot cope without you two
Shocked at the world that I see
Innocent victim, please rescue me

Dear Mother
Dear Father
Hidden in your world you’ve made for me
I’m seething
I’m bleeding
Ripping wounds in me that never heal
Undying spite I feel for you
Living out this hell you always knew