Because Money Isn't Everything

Living the dream was not a concept

It was his lifestyle

Two Ferraris and a Harley

Scotch with caviar

A bungalow in the Bahamas

And a wonderful butler

Everyone who was someone

Was on his iPhone

They called him invulnerable

But nobody looked at his life

Parents killed by a maniac

With rotting yellow teeth

Growing up alone

Lonely

No one realized how alone he was

Hitting the gym to keep aggression at bay

Slowly drinking his sorrow away

And one day, inevitably

The wolves came

And wrote about the billionaire

Found dead in his bath tub

And we put on those lying sunglasses

And were judgemental gossips

Until such time that he became a dusty newspaper

Covering a homeless man

Sleeping on a park bench

The Bilge Master

A Topsy-Turvy World

I live in a topsy-turvy world

Where water turns to wine

And moonlight is regarded divine

Dreams float like balloons in the sky

My world has tangerine trees and marmalade skies

Suffused in the yellow of a smiling sun

Here the roads are made of ice cream

And the buildings of chocolate

But perhaps the best part of this world

Is that there are no strange people in it

With their matters of consequence

Those who live behind a purdah

And never stop to stare

At the beautiful place this world is

The Bilge Master

Beware the Authors

A blank sheet of paper and a pen

Is all I need

To turn your light into darkness

To invert and pervert

With a flourish I can turn happiness to despair

And have you clutching at straws

Trying to stay afloat

I am a dynamo of ideas

Some good, some bad, some very dark

Beware the authors for they have power

Beyond your imagination

And should you anger them

They will immortalize you in print

The Bilge Master

Winter Reminiscence

I'm sitting in my room

Staring out the window at the rain

Holding a warm cup of tea

And yet, I am miles away

Lost

In an endless maze of memories

That I created with you

The first time we held hands

The time we grooved to Simon and Garfunkel

Incidentally I'm listening to your favorite song now

Served with a side dish heaped with melancholia

The rusty park bench on which we used to sit

Has been given a new coat of paint

Cherry blossoms are in bloom

And you are on my mind

I wonder which time zone you're in

Last I heard, you were working in Berlin

Tell me, have you seen the black forest?

I look for you in the inanimate objects of our relationship

And I slowly realize

Love's too sad without you my dear

The Bilge Master

We Will, We Will Rock You- An Article on Rock Music

Mankind has expressed itself in myriad ways. We have drawn, we have written, we have sung. This is an article about singing. It is about music. It features the genre rock. The funniest part of this genre is that there is no genre called rock. When we say rock we mean a number of things. It could be classic rock like The Beatles or The Who; it could be psychedelic rock like The Grateful Dead, it could be soft rock like Dire Straits. It could have power chords, it could be acoustic...the possibilities are endless.

I am going to try to talk about rock for a while and why it appeals to us. A good rock song is like a really attractive person- it plays with your senses. Just like the person has certain qualities you like such as their smile or the way they walk, a rock song has it's chords and its lyrics. Sometimes its the lyrics that stand out- they can be simple ones like in The Beatles hit Help!: "Help me get my feet back on the ground" or they can be complicated like in Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody which is an a Capella, ballad as well as an opera in one.

Do you see the versatility here? The many permutations and combinations that can be pulled off with just a few guitars and a set of drums? Bit by bit, beat by beat, riff by riff a rock song is born. Look at the opening of Dire Straits' Money for Nothing as an example. Powerful drumming backed up by a riff that is in sync. Guns and Roses  gave us Sweet Child o Mine with a riff so iconic that it's all you need  to identify the song and the band. Pink Floyd did it with their words: "We don't need no education" . You don't. You don't even need an ear. You just need to understand English to appreciate rock. Perhaps that is why it is the genre everyone uses to introduce their children to music.

Rock is simple, but oh so complex. Look at Led Zeppelin. Look at Stairway to Heaven. Look at Tangerine. Look at The Who with their song My Generation. Look at The Grateful Dead's Scarlet Begonias. These songs gave birth to progressive rock. Without these bands there would be no Arctic Monkeys or Porcupine Tree.

Growing up, I had Pink Floyd, Dire Straits, The Beatles, The Eagles, Oasis, Nirvana, Cream, The Who and so many other bands to listen to. They all appealed to me. They were all simple yet complex. Some made me want be a guitarist. Others made me sad. They were all attractive.

I guess that is what rock is. A powerful electromagnet that attracts you to it, pulls you into its field and doesn't let you go. Rock is a friend in need, a companion in times of loneliness and an aphrodisiac rolled into one.

So turn the volume up and listen! 

The Bilge Master

The Importance of Being Imperfect

Your favorite song is not one you know by heart

It is something that surprises you each time you hear it

With that one verse or those three lines

That can brighten up your entire day

Your favorite book is the dog eared one on the shelf

With coffee stains on the cover

A book you can read a thousand times and yet

Never be bored by

The person you love is far from perfect

But they can make you believe in life

When the room is dark they can fill it with light

Remember that while perfection is something to strive for

Imperfections are what attract us

For each perfect moment

Remember the imperfections that lined up behind it

The Bilge Master