From the dark end of the street To the bright side of the road

OK, so Broadband is holding up (‘touch wood’). We succeeded in moving home. It felt a bit like a mission to the moon and back, and when it was completed I felt like Danny Boyle might have felt after completing the Olympics Opening Ceremony. It was a surprisingly huge and complex undertaking. The excellent friend/helpers who came with a van to help us ended up doing a 12-hour day.

So this week I am looking out of a new window. This time it’s low down. The new flat is semi-basement. But the view is pleasant enough; a yard with a shed and some plants and things. It’s also quieter because this is a cul-de-sac ending in a park.

So, there are MANY positives, but the change seems to have taken a lot out of me, and probably out of everyone involved. As you get older you become more acquainted with more aspects of health and ill-health. Things take longer to heal, you have to deal with multiple health issues at once, and what I learned this week was that the relationship between mind and body, stress, anxiety and the body are far more insidious, stark and profound than I’ve ever anticipated before. I experienced severe nausea every day for a week, and the waves still come and go. Seeing as I had no trouble eating etc. it seems this must all be an aspect of extreme, though semi-conscious anxiety.

But I want to be as upbeat as possible, because the new place is beautiful in many ways, and I have had some moments of joy in just going through the complex process of finding new places and new relationship for all the things that make up my life and work. I don’t feel guilty about having a lot of books and archives, of drawings, writings, music etc. I came around to figuring this week that, yes, this is my life, all of this. This is what I came into this world to do and this is what I have done. I am not going to bequeath any children or property or wealth to this world but everything I have done and that I keep together here, is, to me, a contribution of some kind, precious in a certain way and justifiably preserved and cared for, organised and collected.

Furthermore, as I think I mentioned last week, with another Lockdown descending and such an uncertainty about the future, each of us having our own concrete libraries and treasured things and tools and equipments seems like a good idea. The Internet promises free, virtual, immaterial access to all that we need, but in fact one person’s own clunk and clumsy collection takes on a new value in a world where we might find ourselves increasingly silo’d for who knows how long. Here I have a lot of resources that I want to use more and if possible share more.

One of my joyful moments was getting my turntable, amplifier and speakers set-up. The first song I played on it was Van Morrison’s ‘Bright Side Of The Road‘ form the album ‘Into The Music‘. It’s one of the happiest songs I can think of and it’s well worth really listening to everything that is going on within it and thinking through the magical spirit that is music, how it can energise the singer, the musicians and the audience, and for 50 years now without sounding at all tired or redundant. Amazing stuff. Give it a listen right now, play it loud – the neighbours won’t mind for 5-minutes – and make sure you dance around the room and shake your ass and throw your arms about when you do so. I promise you, it really helps, and is further, and more positive proof, of the strange relationships that can occur between mind and body

I hope Van won’t mind me providing this link and the lyrics below:

BRIGHT SIDE OF THE ROAD

From the dark end of the street
To the bright side of the road
We’ll be lovers once again
On the bright side of the road
Little darlin’, come with me
Won’t you help me share my load
From the dark end of the street
To the bright side of the roadInto this life we’re born
Baby sometimes, sometimes we don’t know why
And time seems to go by so fast
In the twinkling of an eye
Let’s enjoy it while we can (let’s enjoy it while we can)
Won’t you help me share my load (help me share my load)
From the dark end of the street
To the bright side of the roadInto this life we’re born
Baby sometimes, sometimes we don’t know why
And time seems to go by so fast
In the twinkling of an eyeLet’s enjoy it while we can (let’s enjoy it while we can)
Help me sing my song (help me sing my song)
Little darling come alone
To the bright side of the roadOn the dark end of the street (on the dark end of the street)
To the bright side of the road (to the bright side of the road)
Little darling come alone
On the bright side of the road
On the dark end of the street (on the dark end of the street)
To the bright side of the road (to the bright sight of the road)
We’ll be lovers once again
On the bright side of the road
Yeah, we’ll be, we’ll be lovers once again
On the bright side of the road

Source: LyricFind

Songwriters: Van Morrison

Bright Side of the Road lyrics © BMG Rights Management

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