Well folks, we're nearing the end. Not long now until the final entry on February 19th, 2025. The last major theme to close us out revolves around the Passing of Time. If the first few months of this project were tough, they're actually a cakewalk compared to what we're about to go through. We're getting old and life perspectives are changing as they should - AKA we're closer to dying than when we were born. Some of these songs represent the heaviest weights that we've carried since knowing them. Some are as recent as 2023 and 2024, but I know in my heart of hearts that even if they came out in 1989 they would have made this list - they are that profound to me.
So if you're an artist that made this project from here on out you should feel humble and proud...you achieved what you set out to do...make music that people feel and love...thank you.
God Peter Gabriel is the best. I know he is a perfectionist and during recording that has to be frustrating to anyone not named Peter Gabriel. But you know the old adage:
Crap in - Crap out.
So it stands to reason:
Perfection in - Perfection out.
That's what i/o is - a perfect album. And this is a perfect song. Much like the swan song albums of Rush (Clockwork Angels) and The Cure (Songs of a Lost World), that's what i/o is. I grew up with these artists - they've meant a lot to me over the years. To arrive into the sunsetting of my life with them and these gifts they have given the world, well, it means the world to me.
It means I'm not alone. The thoughts I have about growing old are the exact same thoughts they have had - they just have the talent to put pen to paper and write deeply personal songs and compose absolutely breathtaking music.
I mean that in the most sincere, deepest way. Shannon has witnessed it first hand many, many times with this song.
It is this section that causes me to collapse emotionally. This is a song where the lyrics are 50% of the importance and the composition is the other 50% and this section best illustrates it in this song.
One by one the voices silenced
For they know that time will tell
It’s time that wears the crown
And time that rings the bell
All cards on the table
All hands are down
Everybody’s playing for time
Everyone’s still playing for time
Looking for a flicker
In the face of the clock
Hidden in the mountain
In the body of the rock
No one seems to notice
Or to feel the aftershock
They’re all too busy playing for time
Everybody’s playing for time
You and I still playing for time
How many voices did we share were silenced over the past year? That lyric alone should be enough to make anyone collapse. For me it just starts my descent.
But when he sings this lyric:
Looking for a flicker
In the face of the clock
That's when I go from the continental shelf, pass the continental slope, skip the abyssal plain and head straight to the bottom of the ocean trench of emotion - all within a millisecond.
Really think about what that lyric means.
Just one more second. If I could only have one more second with those voices that were silenced. It wouldn't matter one bit how I spent that second. At least I got it.
Or does it mean jumping a second ahead - so I can get home sooner to spend my time the way it should really be spent? With loved ones.
Or does it mean someone I love more than my own life has a clock that's ticking faster than my own and I just wish it would jump back so we could spend one more second together?
It means all of those things and so much more. The weight of all of those thoughts is what sinks me to the bottom so fast.
But the grim reality is this - it only matters to Shannon and I in this moment (and that's ok).
No one seems to notice
Or to feel the aftershock
They’re all too busy playing for time
Everybody’s playing for time
I would just challenge anyone reading this to really examine how you're spending your time...and make the most of it as best you can...
Shannon’s Perspective:
Down, I’m getting it down
Sorting it out
So everything I care about is held in here
All of those I love, inside
There are several really good lyrics in this song but for today these are the ones I've chosen. It feels like that is what this whole project has been about.
Down, I'm getting it down: All the stories we have shared throughout this project. It is nowhere complete for sure but we are trying to get as much of it down as possible. So some day in the future when it is needed it will be here for whoever needs it.
Sorting it out: This has certainly been true for me. I have been processing so many emotions through this past year. Sometimes it has been for the very first time and in some cases for the very last.
So everything I care about is held in here: I will hold these things forever in my heart and for as long as possible in my mind and at least now as the memories fade the writings will remain.
All of those I love, inside!
Playing For Time (In-Side Mix)
Peter Gabriel
Far, far away
Out amongst the stars
There’s a planet spinning slowly
We call it ours
Any time, any day
Any moment that we bring to life
Will never fade away
Oh, all the moments come and go
While the memories ebb and flow
And play again, play again
Oh, there’s a hill that we must climb
Climb through all the mists of time
It’s all in here what we’ve been through
Down, I’m getting it down
Sorting it out
So everything I care about is held in here
All of those I love, inside
Everybody’s playing for time
You and I still playing for time
Thеre goes the sun
Back from whеre it came
The young move to the center
The mum and dad, the frame
Any space, any time
Any moment that we bring to life
Ridiculous, sublime
Oh, all the moments come and go
While the memories ebb and flow
And play again, play again
Oh, there’s a hill that we must climb
Climb through all these mists of time
It’s all in here what we’ve been through
Down, getting it down
Sorting it out
So everything I care about is held in here
All of those I love, inside
(Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh)
(Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh)
The future shines a sunny day
Unpacked memories stored away
All the while, the clock keeps ticking
You and I are still playing for time
One by one the voices silenced
For they know that time will tell
It’s time that wears the crown
And time that rings the bell
All cards on the table
All hands are down
Everybody’s playing for time
Everyone’s still playing for time
Looking for a flicker
In the face of the clock
Hidden in the mountain
In the body of the rock
No one seems to notice
Or to feel the aftershock
They’re all too busy playing for time
Everybody’s playing for time
You and I still playing for time
30th Anniversary
Our Story - Shannon's Perspective
Our Story - Larry's Perspective
Ghost of a Chance (Rush) and why?
Ghost of a Chance 