Fiction

The house is old now,

Once it was quite new, 

As were we, so long ago

When our eyes had met,

For the very first time,

Then of course, there came the books,

Robin Cook was one of your favourites,

I was a Tolkien man myself,

But we both had a thing for stories,

And we'd write ours on paper

And scatter them about,

For the other to find,

And that's how it was, until today,

When I wrote the last story,

The one where I saw your ashes drift away

Drawn by the current,

And looking up, saw you smiling down on me.

The books that I keep by my bed,

Are full of our stories,

And in them, you still live,

And return, now and again,

To haunt me in my sweetest nightmares

The Bilge Master 

Of Words and Silences

This is a critical appreciation (or whatever it is that you call it), of my favourite song "The Sound of Silence" by Simon and Garfunkel. I memorized the said song back when i was 3 or 4. It's a very dear thing to me and I'll try to explain why it makes me very happy.

The song "The Sound of Silence" by Simon and Garfunkel is one of my favourite songs and back in the day I was hooked to it. Whenever I do something momentous, be it appearing for my Class X boards, joint entrances or just waking up on my birthday and smiling to myself, because another year has drifted past; I always make it a point to listen to this song. You can call it a sort of ritual. 

Here's the thing. The song is about a very lonely man who describes his evenings. Since he is alone, it seems that Darkness is his oldest friend. The song begins with the line "Hello Darkness, my old friend/I've come to talk with you again". This quality of the song haunts me. I found it fascinating that someone could actually stare into a seemingly endless void and greet it as a friend, that too an old friend. I suppose that's when I fell under this song's spell. 

The thing is, the song is about trying to fit in and about finding people who are into the same things as you are. The irony lies in the fact that when someone is lonely, they seem to think that they are the only ones and that there's no one out there who would be like them, share their common interests or read the same stuff that they do. 
I had this problem during my formative years. As luck would have it, some of my friends couldn't understand the references I made or the jokes I cracked. This little problem persists even today. What's changed? Like the protagonist of the song, I too have seen in a flash of neon light, ten thousand people, maybe more. Talking without speaking. Hearing without listening. I'm not the only one who likes manga. I'm not the only one who hates Justin Beiber. I'm not the only one who has family issues. And so on.

Funnily enough, at the age of 4 I realized that this song was about life. Think about it. Don't we sometimes want to sort things out by ourselves? Don't we sometimes feel alone and lonely? At those times, does our mind not scream out for someone to talk to? And when we find that said someone, do we not feel glad?

Everyone has their own crowd to mix with. Although there's an accepted saying that "opposites attract", it's more important to find someone you can talk to. The third verse of the song equates silence, between people with cancer. It is truly fatal if you lose communication with the people you love. 

In a nutshell, "The Sound of Silence" encourages the weirdness  in me. It tells me to think out of the box and in spite of having a mournful tune as well as lyrics to it, it cheers me up. The message being sent out is simple- You are not the only one out there kid!"

So, people who read this, please join me and let Darkness come and talk to you; within the sound of silence. 

The Bilge Master

Heart Burn

Word on the street is, you and me 
Have now become "We"
They've seen us, oh yes they have
Under that old oak tree
We've been there a lot lately haven't we?
The thing they don't seem to get
And, I'm saying this without a tinge of regret
Is that the "We" is actually "You" and "Me" now
Gossip you see, can often be inaccurate,
But in spite of this fallacy, it is 
A potent poison, a degenerative disease
One that will cause,among other things,
A severe case of heart burn,
Until, "You" and "Me", will unfortunately
Be left with the ashes,
Of that which was once, "We"

The Bilge Master

Top Ten Lists Part Four

So after having put up three parts and a master post on my blog since yesterday's decision to categorize the top ten songs by various artists/bands I have heard, here comes part 4.

The Who

1) Won't Get Fooled Again
2) Drowned
3) Baba O'Riley
4) The Quadrophenia Instrumental on disc one of Quadrophenia
5) Love Reign O'er Me
6) The album Tommy
7) My Generation
8) Boris the Spider
9) Who Are You
10) The Kids Are Alright

Uriah Heep

1) Come Away Melinda. This song freaks me out
2) Walking in Your Shadow
3) Gypsy
4) The Wizard
5) Return to Fantasy
6) The Magician's Birthday
7) Sweet Lorraine 
8) Footprints in the Snow
9) Can't Keep a Good Band Down
10) One More Night (Last Farewell)

The Rasmus

1) In The Shadows
2) Black Roses
3) Run to You
4) It's Your Night
5) Someone's Gonna Light You Up
6) Ghost of Love
7) Somewhere
8) Time to Burn
9) Funeral Song
10) Still Standing

Bryan Adams

This person was my everything at one point of time and one of the first artists I had heard :)

1) Here I Am/Please Forgive Me
2) Summer of '69. In spite of being covered in sexual innuendos
3) Cloud #9
4) East Side Story
5) Can't Stop This Thing We Started
6) Room Service
7) Heaven
8) Diana
9) I Will Always Return (from the film Spirit: Stallion of the Cimmarron) 
10) Here I Am (from the film Spirit: Stallion of the Cimmaron) 

The Birthday Massacre

I owe my cousin big time for recommending this creepy and haunting band. If you are into synthrock and creepy songs please have a listen

1) Happy Birthday
2) Looking Glass
3) Remember Me
4) Burn Away
5) Forever/Cover My Eyes
6) Lover's End
7) The Dream
8) Broken
9) Blue/Kill the Lights
10) Shiver

Nightwish

1) Bye Bye Beautiful
2) The Islander
3) For the Heart I Once Had
4) Whoever Brings the Night
5) Beauty and the Beast
6) Ghost Love Score 
7) The Phantom of the Opera (Andrew Lloyd Webber Cover)
8) Dead to the World
9) Nymphomaniac Fantasia (watch out for this one folks)
10) I Want My Tears Back

My Chemical Romance (top 5 here, since I do not have most of their songs. I will possibly update this, but these five are their very best.)

1) Welcome to the Black Parade
2) The Kids from Yesterday
3) Helena
4) Teenagers
5) Disenchanted 

Breaking Benjamin

1) The Diary of Jane
2) I Will Not Bow
3) Into the Nothing
4) Rain
5) So Cold
6) Blow Me Away
7) Evil Angel
8) Give Me a Sign
9) Anthem of the Angels
10) Unknown Soldier 

That concludes part four. Part five will I suppose be the last list. For now that is.

The Bilge Master

  

Top Ten Lists

So, in a moment born simultaneously of boredom and a sudden craving to categorize, I had decided to catalog the top ten songs from the bands/artists I have heard. Two posts of said categorization are already up. This is a sort of a master post with links to all subsequent posts as well as the ones I have already put up. Cheers people

Part One is here
Part Two is here
Part Three is here
Part Four is here 


Stay tuned for more!

The Bilge Master            

Top Ten Lists Part Three

OK so two parts in and I have also put up a master post with links to all the posts that have gone up and will go up. Let's move on to part three of the Top Ten List of Songs 

Slipknot (Top 5)

1) Killers are Quiet
2) Snuff
3) Dead Memories/Duality
4) Before I Forget
5) Vermillion Pt. 2/People=S**t (Discretion advised, esp if you are below 16 years of age)

Simon and Garfunkel

1) The Sound of Silence (This is MY song. I mean I can identfy with it, thus it will head the list)
2) The Boxer
3) I am a Rock
4) Scarborough Fair (Cantlice) 
5) Me & Julio Down By the Schoolyard
6) The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy)
7) Bookends
8) Mrs. Robinson
9) Cecilia 
10) For Emily, Wherever I May Find Her

Avenged Sevenfold

1) Warmness On the Soul
2) Nightmare/Afterlife (Nightmare is Rev's last bow)
3) Fiction
4) So Far Away
5) And All Things Will End/Gunslinger/Seize the Day
6) Blinded In Chains
7) Hail to the King
8) Shepherd of Fire
9) Sounding the 7th Trumpet
10) A Little Piece of Heaven (Discretion advised. Definitely above 16 here)

The Doors 

1) The End
2) Roadhouse Blues
3) Light My Fire/Love Her Madly
4) Riders on the Storm
5) People Are Strange
6) Hello, I Love You
7) Love Me Two Times
8) The Soft Parade
9) Break on Through
10) L.A. Woman

Linkin Park

In my humble opinion, LP's best albums were two. One was Meteora and the other was Minutes to Midnight. I have heard all their albums but these two stand out.

1) Leave Out All the Rest. (This is LP's zenith.)
2) Runaway
3) Numb
4) From the Inside/Shadow of the Day
5) Crawling
6) What I've Done/Burn It Down
7) In the End
8) Castle of Glass
9) New Divide
10) The Catalyst

Nickelback

1) Photograph
2) Holding On to Heaven
3) Rockstar
4) Burn It to the Ground
5) Far Away
6) Never Gonna Be Alone
7) Animals
8) Fight for All the Wrong Reasons
9) Hold Out Your Hand
10) Not Leavin' Yet

That's it for part three. All this listing is fun and also tiring. I will now retire. Please have a look and a listen to all these songs if you so feel inclined.

The Bilge Master            

Top Ten Lists Part Two

In continuing with the listing of bands/artists I have heard, here's the second part. The first part can be found here

ABBA

1) Eagle

2) Fernando

3) Thank You for the Music

4) Take a Chance on Me

5) The Winner Takes it All

6) Waterloo

7) Money, Money, Money

8) Super Trouper 

9) Gimme, Gimme, Gimme a Man After Midnight

10) Our Last Summer

U2

1) Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own

2) One

3) Where the Streets Have No Name

4) Window in the Skies/Stuck in a Moment

5) Magnificent/With or Without You

6) I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight

7) Sunday Bloody Sunday

8) Beautiful Day

9) Desire

10) Elevation/Vertigo

Pink Floyd (This was tough. Very tough)

1) Time/Brain Damage

2) Vera/Money/The Great Gig in the Sky/The Narrow Way

3) Comfortably Numb/Coming Back to Life

4) Wish You Were Here

5) The Trial

6) Mother/Hey You

7) Another Brick in the Wall Trilogy

8) Arnold Layne/One of My Turns

9) Waiting for the Worms/Let's Bring the Boys Back Home

10) Shine on You Crazy Diamond (all parts)/The Grand Vizier's Tea Party (all parts)

Nirvana (Ten songs. One tie. So top 9 again)

1) The Man Who Sold the World

2) Smells Like Teen Spirit

3) All Apologies

4) Polly/Rape Me

5) Heart Shaped Box

6) Where Did You Sleep Last Night?

7) Lithium

8) Come As You Are

9) Floyd the Barber

Metallica

1) Nothing Else Matters

2) Fade to Black

3) Enter Sandman

4) The Unforgiven Pt. 2

5) The Unforgiven Pt. 1

6) Master of Puppets/Of Wolf and Man

7) The Day That Never Comes

8) The Unforgiven Pt. 3

9) Seek and Destroy

10) Fuel

Iron Maiden

1) Hallowed Be Thy Name

2) Fear of the Dark

3) Afraid to Shoot Strangers

4) Flight of the Icarus

5) The Wicker Man/Blood Brothers

6) Different World

7) Judas Be My Guide

8) The Prisoner

9) Powerslave

10) The Ghost of the Navigator

Cradle of Filth (NOT a fan. Just like 5 songs, and here they are)

1) The Death of Love

2) Nymphetamine. This song is beautiful 

3) Her Ghost in the Fog

4) Lilith Immaculate

5) Hallowed Be Thy Name (Iron Maiden cover)

Black Sabbath (Top 5 again. Solely because I haven't heard their later albums. Watch for possible update)

1) Never Say Die

2) Paranoid

3) Iron Man

4) Children of the Grave

5) The Wizard

Bon Jovi

1) Someday, I'll Be Saturday Night

2) Thank You For Loving Me

3) Runaway/Bed of Roses

4) It's My Life/Have a Nice Day

5) In These Arms/I'll Be There for You

6) Keep the Faith

7) Lost Highway

8) Superman Tonight/(You Want to) Make a Memory

9) We Weren't Born to Follow

10) Bounce/Everyday

Porcupine Tree (This was tough too)

1) Lips of Ashes

2) Blackest Eyes

3) Prodigal/Gravity Eyelids

4) Heartattack in a Layby/My Ashes

5) Start of Something Beautiful

6) Anesthetize/Dark Matter 

7) Arriving Somewhere, But Not Here

8) Metanoia Instrumental/Lazarus

9) Strip the Soul

10) Shallow

Ten bands brings this list to it's conclusion. I will continue to update as and when I can. Cheers! :)

The Bilge Master

Top Ten Lists Part One

I have decided to write a series of posts that list the top ten songs by the multitude of artists I have heard. I am doing this primarily out of sheer boredom and secondarily because at times, it helps to organize stuff. Do go through the lists and should you feel so inclined, listen to the songs. Onward with the first part then

Dream Theater

1) A Nightmare to Remember 
2) The Silent Man
3) Scene 5: Through Her Eyes. This is a MUST LISTEN
4) Hollow Years
5) Take Away My Pain
6) The Count of Tuscany. It's about 20 minutes long. Be warned
7) Scene 12: Finally Free- Nicholas' last dance so to speak
8) Wait for Sleep
9) Afterlife
10) Beneath the Surface

Oasis (Top 7 in this case)

1) Champagne Supernova
2) Wonderwall
3) Let There Be Love
4) Morning Glory
5) Lyla
6) Turn Up the Sun
7) The Importance of Being Idle

Dire Straits (10 songs; one tie. Thus top 9)

1) Romeo and Juliet
2) Brothers in Arms
3) Private Investigations 
4) Portobello Belle
5) Wild West End/Walk of a Life
6) Six Blade Knife
7) Down to the Waterline
8) Money for Nothing
9) Tunnel of Love

Poets of the Fall (Saw most of these songs LIVE in concert)

1) Carnival of Rust
2) Skin
3) Roses/War/Cradled in Love
4) Desire/Temple of Thought
5) Fragile/Delicious/3 AM
6) Locking Up the Sun/Diamonds for Tears
7) The Ballad of Jeremiah Peacekeeper/Heal My Wounds
8) Smoke and Mirrors/Lift
9) Miss Impossible/Someone Special
10) Signs of Life

Coldplay

1) The Scientist/Fix You
2) Yellow
3) Life in Technicolor (Instrumental)
4) Up With the Birds
5) Violet Hill/Speed of Sound
6) Paradise/Charlie Brown
7) Us Against the World
8) Every Teardrop is a Waterfall
9) Viva la Vida
10) Sparks/Trouble

AC/DC (Top 7 here too)

1) Highway to Hell
2) You Shook Me All Night Long. This song is very special because it is vulgar and yet does not contain a SINGLE expletive
3) Hard as a Rock/Back in Black
4) Shoot to Thrill. Duh. Tony Stark's anthem!
5) Hell's Bells
6) Rock n' Roll Ain't Noise Pollution. It is not.
7) Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap

Green Day

1) 21st Century Breakdown
2) Wake Me Up When September Ends
3) Jesus of Suburbia
4) Boulevard of Broken Dreams
5) Holiday/Basket Case
6) American Idiot
7) 21 Guns/Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)
8) Welcome to Paradise
9) Amy
10) Carpe' Diem

Guns and Roses (The OLD GNR, not the new one. Yes I am aware they had Buckethead)

1) Estranged
2) November Rain
3) Sweet Child o' Mine
4) Don't Cry/Civil War
5) So Fine/Patience
6) The Garden
7) Night Train/Welcome to the Jungle
8) One in a Million. This song is under rated 
9) You're Crazy/Mr. Brownstone
10) Rocket Queen

Queen

1) Bohemian Rhapsody
2) Radio Ga Ga
3) A Kind of Magic
4) We Are the Champions
5) We Will Rock You
6) Innuendo/I Want to Break Free
7) Another One Bites the Dust
8) Hammer to Fall
9) Crazy Little Thing Called Love
10) Don't Stop Me Now

And that ends the first part. 9 bands here. More to come folks. Stay tuned :)

The Bilge Master

Let the Music Play

The thing about music is that it's magical. It can help you in more ways than you ever imagined. For me personally, music has been more than just an inanimate object, it has been a part of the blood that flows in my veins. I have a giant music collection (about 150GB) and I cycle songs on my cell phone and listen to them every day. Some songs however are constant. These songs are listed below. 

1) The Sound of Silence by Simon & Garfunkel- this song is personal. It was the first song I bothered to memorize. I was three. Don't ask me why such a sad song heads this list, just listen.




2) Romeo and Juliet, Down to the Waterline, Walk of Life and Sultans of Swing by Dire Straits- These four songs are each lovely. Look for the riffs on Down to the Waterline, let Walk of Life bring a huge grin to your face, mind the opening of Sultans of Swing and just sink into Romeo and Juliet.





3) Tears in Heaven by Eric Clapton- look up the background of the song. That's all that I am saying.




4) In Absentia (the album) by Porcupine Tree- this was an acquired taste, but totally worth it. Also be sure to give Lazarus, Arriving Somewhere But Not Here and the Metanoia instrumental a listen.





5) Sweet Child o' Mine and November Rain by Guns and Roses- these two songs are both brilliant especially the piano playing in November Rain. But what will sink into you is Slash on the lead guitar.




6) Wake Me Up When September Ends by Green Day- for a number of reasons. The opening guitar work, the lyrics. The tune of the song.





7) The Raven That Refused to Sing by Steven Wilson- I can use no words to explain the beauty if this song. If you are familiar with the poem "The Raven" by Edgar Allan Poe, you will get the references in the song immediately. 




8) Wonderwall and Champagne Supernova by Oasis- ironically i hated Oasis as a child. One day I listened to Wonderwall. Then I got addicted. Hypocritical to a slight degree but who cares?


9) Knockin' on Heaven's Door by Bob Dylan- Because of the opening, the song itself and the simple guitar work





10) Carnival of Rust, War, Roses and Cradled in Love by Poets of the Fall- This was difficult. All of their songs are special to me in one way or the other. These 4 top the list. Plus I saw them perform these songs live.




11) Comfortably Numb and Brain Damage by Pink Floyd- the first for it's sheer awesomeness, the second for it's absolute creepiness





12) Warmness on the Soul by Avenged Sevenfold- They are a metal band. You will not believe that when you hear this song. Look for the piano.





13) How to Save a Life by The Fray- The first song I had heard by this band was "Over My Head". Then I heard this and I fell in love with it. I still pray that they get back to using the piano as their primary instrument


14) Fix You and The Scientist by Coldplay- The first for it's guitar outro and the second for the piano. Yes I love the piano. Also the lyrics!




15) The Beatles. Period. No specifics there. ALL THEIR SONGS RULE!


There's a TON of more music in my possession but these songs are never gonna be deleted from my phone. If I start listing everything I have heard, we will be here for years! 

Happy listening folks

The Bilge Master

Countdown to Midnight

Goodbye 2013. You will be missed. This is me wishing everyone a Happy New Year

The only thing amiss about the man was the fact that he had a ton of wrinkles. He looked about 40-something , he was possibly in his late thirties. And he had a lot of wrinkles.

His job was a simple one. He was for want of a better word, nothing but a desk clerk. Granted, he had people looking at the stuff on his desk well before and all he did was pass it on to his superior, a man who remained anonymous.

The word superior is perhaps misused here, as basically, a number of partners handled everything to do with an organization called WORLD. Yes WORLD.

Today, for example our wrinkled hero awoke, had a leisurely shower, shaved and as always took a long hard look at his face. At last count, there were 2013 wrinkles on his face. He began to contemplate the 2013 years of WORLD. They had had their problems no doubt, what with politics, wars and terrorists, not to mention the usual ineffectual lazy workers that each organization happens to have.

The thing is that today was a very important day. It was in fact the very last day. This was the day that everything from the past year was evaluated by our hero and mistakes or other issues were made note of. Ergo, he had a busy day ahead of him.

He began with the data that his colleague Death had placed in his in tray. He smiled because along with Death, there was another file from Birth. Statistically, Death and Birth should be almost equal. 

Unfortunately, owing to a bunch of disasters and other circumstances this year, equilibrium had not been maintained. He made a mental note to speak to Mother Nature about her storms. He doubted this would help, because she had every right to be pissed at WORLD because of late they had taken her for granted. Unless that changed, things were dreary indeed.

From the Health and Disease department, things seemed OK. No major epidemics apart from some bird flu, that had been contained. Crime had however risen and once again our hero mused, some words needed to be had with the concerned parties, namely Law and Order.

Perchance, he happened to glance at his watch, which ironically went both ways. He alone had the luxury of owning such a watch. Actually, owning is incorrect, since he made the watch himself. He found that the day was almost at its end and in a few hours, WORLD would enter its 2014^th year.

He shut the files and stashed them away. He got up from his desk and went to the bathroom again. After he had done his business, he poured himself a neat Scotch and soda.

Father Time smiled and watched the dial of his clock. In a few hours, there would be a new wrinkle on his face. A New Year would be upon WORLD. The slate wiped clean and the pens refilled with ink.

Father Time waited, and with him all of WORLD waited and watched the clocks countdown to midnight.

The Bilge Master