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My Gen X Playlist: Once In a Lifetime – Talking Heads

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Daily writing prompt
Is your life today what you pictured a year ago?
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I used to have a mental road map of my life. I think this was way back when I was in my twenties. Ah, to be young and naive. As I leaned into life, things started to happen and life seemed to veer away from the original plan. Life got in the way of . . . life, if that makes any sense. I began to understand that rarely is there a straight line between point A and B. Sometimes B is skipped altogether and you find yourself in a totally different alphabet, in a different language and you ask yourself, “How did I get here?” So to answer the question, no it’s not how I pictured it, but I’m not sure that counts because I put the camera on pause long ago. I’m just happy knowing I have enough coffee to brew for my morning cup.

And you may ask yourself, “Well, How did I get here?”

I can’t help thinking about the Talking Heads’ Once In a Lifetime. David Byrne has come to mind more times since starting this blog than the thirty years before it. Strange.

Some critics have suggested that “Once In A Lifetime” is a kind of prescient jab at the excesses of the 1980s. David Byrne says they’re wrong; that the lyric is pretty much about what it says it’s about. In an interview with NPR, Byrne said: “We’re largely unconscious. You know, we operate half awake or on autopilot and end up, whatever, with a house and family and job and everything else, and we haven’t really stopped to ask ourselves, ‘How did I get here?'”

David Byrne shed some light on his lyrical inspiration when he told Time Out: “Most of the words in ‘Once in a Lifetime’ come from evangelists I recorded off the radio while taking notes and picking up phrases I thought were interesting directions. Maybe I’m fascinated with the middle class because it seems so different from my life, so distant from what I do. I can’t imagine living like that.”

– Songfacts

Maybe that’s what I’m doing these days with this blog. Picking out words and phrases and trying to make sense of them all. Granted, my connections also don’t follow a straight line and can be difficult to follow. Sometimes a stretch or they skip a beat, but this may not be coincidental. If you traced the outline of my life, you might find a similar shape. I’m just like the rest of us trying to figure out life. Maybe it’s not worth questioning how I got here, but accepting that this is my here for now. I read Willow’s Wandering’s blog and she is not one to look back in the past, only concentrating in the here and now.

I’m a “Live in the Now” type of person. Which means the past is the past and I don’t worry too much about the future. Now is the only moment we have, and I try to make the most of this moment in time.

Maybe this is something I should try on for size. It may not be a perfect fit, but at least may help keep me a little warmer at night.

–

For a complete playlist, please click here.

For the Spotify playlist, please click here.

And you may find yourself living in a shotgun shack
And you may find yourself in another part of the world
And you may find yourself behind the wheel of a large automobile
And you may find yourself in a beautiful house, with a beautiful wife
And you may ask yourself, "Well, how did I get here?"

Letting the days go by, let the water hold me down
Letting the days go by, water flowing underground
Into the blue again after the money's gone
Once in a lifetime, water flowing underground

And you may ask yourself, "How do I work this?"
And you may ask yourself, "Where is that large automobile?"
And you may tell yourself, "This is not my beautiful house."
And you may tell yourself, "This is not my beautiful wife."

Letting the days go by, let the water hold me down
Letting the days go by, water flowing underground
Into the blue again after the money's gone
Once in a lifetime, water flowing underground

Same as it ever was, same as it ever was
Same as it ever was, same as it ever was
Same as it ever was, same as it ever was
Same as it ever was, same as it ever was

Water dissolving and water removing
There is water at the bottom of the ocean
Under the water, carry the water
Remove the water at the bottom of the ocean
Water dissolving and water removing

Letting the days go by, let the water hold me down
Letting the days go by, water flowing underground
Into the blue again, into the silent water
Under the rocks and stones, there is water underground
Letting the days go by, let the water hold me down
Letting the days go by, water flowing underground
Into the blue again after the money's gone
Once in a lifetime, water flowing underground

You may ask yourself, "What is that beautiful house?"
You may ask yourself, "Where does that highway go to?"
And you may ask yourself, "Am I right? Am I wrong?"
And you may say to yourself, "My God! What have I done?"

Letting the days go by, let the water hold me down
Letting the days go by, water flowing underground
Into the blue again, into the silent water
Under the rocks and stones, there is water underground
Letting the days go by, let the water hold me down
Letting the days go by, water flowing underground
Into the blue again after the money's gone
Once in a lifetime, water flowing underground

Same as it ever was, same as it ever was
Same as it ever was and look where my hand was
Time isn't holding up, time isn't after us
Same as it ever was, same as it ever was
Same as it ever was, same as it ever was
Same as it ever was, same as it ever was
Letting the days go by, same as it ever was
Here a twister comes, here comes the twister
Same as it ever was, same as it ever was (Letting the days go by)
Same as it ever was, same as it ever was (Letting the days go by)
Once in a lifetime (Let the water hold me down)
Letting the days go by (Water flowing underground)
Into the blue again

30 thoughts on “My Gen X Playlist: Once In a Lifetime – Talking Heads”

  1. I agree that living in the moment is important, but I’ve really enjoyed all your stories from your past. When you’re young, you think the destination is the most important thing, but once you’ve lost a good friend (or two) you realize that the journey was the good part all along.

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  2. Great post and an absolutely appropriate song!

    It really is amazing the way that life doesn’t turn out how we think it will. Even when we we re “on the path” life has a way of throwing monkey wrenches at us

    I’m reminded of the John Lennon quote “life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans”.

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  3. Pingback: I am where I am – Willow's Wonderings

  4. Thanks for the shout out. ^_^ I haven’t answered this prompt yet. I’m running late today. I’m like you though, glad to have enough coffee to make a morning cup.

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  5. Speaking of david byrne…the place I work at will be offering a tech an opportunity to scan musical memorbillia (talking heads & solo) in Mr. Byrnes home sponsored through Columbia University. If the commute wasn’t so long I’d consider the position.

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      1. I know right. We’ve done a lot if cool stuff but never on location at a famous persons residence this project took 7 years to finally get greenlit

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  7. I agree with you in the living in the now is important. But I made some stupid mistakes that I wish I can go back in time and change them. I was so naïve and I cared more about my parents and people’ expectations.
    I lived for others not for myself!

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  8. Great post. I always enjoy the clever bits SongFacts comes up with! Your life narrative sounds strangely familiar. And that’s interesting about Byrne coming up so much for you lately. Talking Heads were important to the ’80s, a formative part of my life.

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      3. Here’s one I remember seeing recently: https://www.songtell.com. I looked up a couple of songs; on some it did well, but on others it was very rudimentary. I suppose it depends on what else is available online for the AI “learning.”

        I vaguely recall seeing another site but as I don’t use them I didn’t bookmark it. One can see how it eventually would pick up nuances, but I find that level of automation a bit too dystopian! I mean yikes… will they replace you and me?!? Cheers

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      5. You’re welcome! I’m new to it as well. My main concern in the short term is how its use allows people to get writing (for example) for free, a service that they normally would pay for. Oh well… progress?

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  12. I relate to this post. However i have never been able to accurately chart a roadmap for myself as I have always found something entirely different panning out . Like you suggested, living in the present helps to stay calm and register every moment to the fullest. In that way we will be more than willing to naturally be a part of the future. I think the whole point is we can’t control our lives but only our reactions and our choices.

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