Open Thread - Thurs 27 March 2025 - King of Pain
King of Pain
A few days ago I was listening to the 'radio', or, Pandora, actually. Pandora had created a playlist of early 1980's songs for me and I was jamming and having a blast. Nikko and I were dancing, yes, he dances. Then a Police/Sting song came on: 'King of Pain'. I'd not heard it in a long, long time.
The Police, King of Pain
Suddenly in the middle of dancing, it occurred to me how symbolic this song was to me of one aspect of my life - one which eventually led me to organic farming and always, always, treating 'wild life' as best as I could, even slugs, even spiders, even roaches, even dang it, rats. And so I researched the song a bit and boy, did I have it 'wrong' in a way. Sting wrote it when he was breaking up with his first wife. To me the song isn't directly about a break up, although it's definitely about pain and I can see that pain being pain of loss. To me some of the lyrics made me swear to myself to 'not be that person', not be the people letting the red fox get torn apart by the huntsman's pack, not just walk by and ignore the dead salmon frozen in the waterfall or the blue whale on the beach, or the gull with the broken wing, or the skeleton choking on the crust of bread... and so on. I could be the Queen of Pain, but I was damned if I was going to let other beings be hurt because of me.
Once upon a time I was a vegetarian, and ate no meat. But that's changed as I recognized that nature is nature, and human beings are animals. Some animals eat other animals, some don't. But I don't know of any other animals besides humans that basically torture other beings. And I decided I wasn't going to be part of that torture, as much as I could. And I still stick by that decision, as much as possible.
I was surprised, when writing this and listening to the song, that my husband knew the song. He is not a new wave, punk, kind of music fan. He liked hard rock and heavy metal in the 80's and still does. Anyway, he knew all the lyrics, sung along to it, and told me it still invokes very strong feelings in him. Wow, guess the song meant more to more people than I thought.
What song(s) was/is/were/are really important to your development and life choices?
Here's the open thread - remember, everything is interesting if you dive deep enough, so tell us about where you're diving!
Comments
Happy Thursday Everyone!
Got this post written and scheduled a bit earlier than usual because we are having a big thunderstorm here (Wednesday night, around 7 pm here), which is very unusual. Supposed to perhaps even bring about small tornadoes (yea, in the Puget Sound area and north!) but that hasn't happened yet. Storm just started, thunder is booming all around. So I'm expecting to lose power soon. We'll see, fingers crossed!
Hope all is well with everyone. What's up? How ya doing? Whatcha learning?
If you're poor now, my friend, then you'll stay poor.
These days, only the rich get given more. -- Martial book 5:81, c. AD 100 or so
Nothing ever changes -- Sima, c. AD 2020 or so
Meow, meow, I agree. ฅ^•ﻌ•^ฅ
> Some animals eat other animals, some don't.
https://vetmed.tamu.edu/news/pet-talk/cats-are-carnivores-so-they-should...
Yep, dogs should eat meat too..
I completely agree. My cats are former feral cats, and they have hunted rodents all their lives. But they also get good wet meat cat food, because good hunters are well fed, not starving. My dog gets a raw food diet; human grade chicken and beef. And it's raised organically
If you're poor now, my friend, then you'll stay poor.
These days, only the rich get given more. -- Martial book 5:81, c. AD 100 or so
Nothing ever changes -- Sima, c. AD 2020 or so
All hail the Animal Kingdom — er, “First Animal Republic” !
(from book #6, Freddy the Politician)
http://freddythepig.com/?page_id=26
(P.A. system plays “Oozing Forward”)
https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Animalia/
“Ladies and gentlemen-organisms — please rise for our phyletic anthem …”
(P.A. system plays “Noble Notochord”)
https://manoa.hawaii.edu/exploringourfluidearth/biological/invertebrates...
“♫ Lollipop tunicate, oh lolli tunicate”
Those links were awesome!
I really enjoyed reading such a diverse and cool collection of animal 'stuff'. And I liked the song too
If you're poor now, my friend, then you'll stay poor.
These days, only the rich get given more. -- Martial book 5:81, c. AD 100 or so
Nothing ever changes -- Sima, c. AD 2020 or so
Chordates link says, “Tunicates have no known commercial value”
Ha, ha, that puts these critters / distant relatives of ours on the same page as Frank Zappa, with his four-album project No Commercial Potential (also the name of a biographical book about him).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/We%27re_Only_in_It_for_the_Money
Or, microscopically, only it for the Monera, as the case may be.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monera
As Mother Nature might say, “It’s not creative unless it’s cells.”
Good morning...
Got cabbage and broccoli plants in yesterday. Today I'm trenching in a few potatoes. Got half the pathways mulched with woodchips. So garden season is in full swing.
As loti suggests above cats are carnivores, and they often torture their prey. We are fortunate to have local regenerative producers where we get high quality pastured meats. These animals have a great life, and just one bad day. We're meat heavy ketovores typically eating twice a day. I usually do a three day fast every month. Everyone has to find their own diet which makes them feel good and healthy.
I can't think of a single song which was life changing. I college I began playing old time music and that was life changing and took me all over the country and even overseas. Here's a cut of a radio show from several years ago.
Have a great day. Thanks for the OT!
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
Heh, I need to get our broccoli planted...
The first seedlings are up in the greenhouse and doing well. Time to get them hardened off and planted outside. Cabbage too, and onions, and so on. This year we are not planting potatoes, I just didn't have the time to get the beds dug, bleh. Next year!
We use locally grown, pasture fed meats too. Used to get it from a neighbor, could go and say hi to the animals. Neighbor has retired but we still get our meat locally. In fact, my grandfather grew his own meat cattle and pigs for a time; in order to make it very clear which animals were going to be eaten he'd name them things like 'steak'. Hah!.
That cut was great! Just great! Of course, it's a song I've not heard before, and now I'm humming and singing along after listening to it a few times
. Thank you!
If you're poor now, my friend, then you'll stay poor.
These days, only the rich get given more. -- Martial book 5:81, c. AD 100 or so
Nothing ever changes -- Sima, c. AD 2020 or so
Theme songs
.
Singing about pain helps to ease the suffering.
Explains the proliferation of blues and love ballads.
A couple tunes that I identified with:
Los Lobos Sail On, Sailor
~and~
QMS What about me?
(and a few million others)
Now I wonder if we shortened our cat's life by
feeding him crunchies. He only had one kidney
and was thirsty all the time. Hindsight.
Thanks for the OT Sima
Thought is the wind, knowledge the sail, and mankind the vessel.
-- August Hare
Easing the suffering by singing about the pain...
Yep, exactly. Thanks for introducing me to those songs. I am a Los Lobos fan, but for some reason I've not heard that song before. It's good and I'm going to be doing some more listening. Same with the QMS song!
I used to feed my cats crunchies too, but about 15-20 years ago I adopted some ferals from the local PAWS. I was surprised that they were feeding them canned wet food, and I was told about how cats need water and they don't drink enough, they get the water from their kills, and when in the house from the canned food. So I just started feeding the cats some canned food, and the crunchies are for treats. I still see the cats drinking from the goat water troughs and the chicken waterers, but not nearly as often. I don't, however, think feeding them crunchies kills them, necessarily. All my cats have lived long lives, unless they were killed by a rattle snake (sorry t'one). My first cat, Mia, lived for 21 years! And I got her when I was about 5 and house cats only ate crunchy food.
If you're poor now, my friend, then you'll stay poor.
These days, only the rich get given more. -- Martial book 5:81, c. AD 100 or so
Nothing ever changes -- Sima, c. AD 2020 or so
For some reason the following tweet made me think of a
different image.
Here it is.
Hahahahahaha!
I was looking at the picture in the tweet thinking, what does that remind me of, the stooges! And then I looked down and there was the pic of the stooges you put up! YES! That was awesome!
If you're poor now, my friend, then you'll stay poor.
These days, only the rich get given more. -- Martial book 5:81, c. AD 100 or so
Nothing ever changes -- Sima, c. AD 2020 or so
Good evening, sima!
My hound dogs danced, too!
Music was always my influence. From early R & R, country, R & B, and classical music was in my ear, in my head. I can't count how many songs give me flashbacks, bring me to tears, or bring me to heaven on earth.
The music during the Viet Nam war were particularly poignant, what I played in my head when attending funerals of my high school classmates.
I had reached 18 for 3 days when this protest at Kent State went awry. I was a sophomore in college. Shaped my view of politics.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
This!
'I can't count how many songs give me flashbacks, bring me to tears, or bring me to heaven on earth.' I feel much the same way. It's funny, because I don't listen to pop music much anymore, and yet my head is still overflowing with songs. I love most music genres, country, r&b, classical, rock, punk, new wave, etc. I even like some rap!
I was pretty young when Kent State happened. But it shaped my view of politics too. Still does.
Have a great Friday and weekend!
If you're poor now, my friend, then you'll stay poor.
These days, only the rich get given more. -- Martial book 5:81, c. AD 100 or so
Nothing ever changes -- Sima, c. AD 2020 or so
Hi Sima
Thank you for replaying an old favourite, musically and lyrically ...
https://genius.com/The-police-king-of-pain-lyrics
Another of that era ...
Love that song too!
Thanks for the posting the video of it. Love(d) that group, another great song was 'Once in a Lifetime'. And thanks for stopping by!
If you're poor now, my friend, then you'll stay poor.
These days, only the rich get given more. -- Martial book 5:81, c. AD 100 or so
Nothing ever changes -- Sima, c. AD 2020 or so
I too have always been a great fan of Talking Heads
All their music talks to me. This one has always felt especially resonant ...