What's the use in trying
by Bob on October 8, 2007
"I'm a Believer". The song Neil Diamond wrote which The Monkees turned into a huge commercial hit in 1966. And covered later by some interesting artists, in some interesting ways. Imitation is always the highest form of flattery, they say.
Despite their critics, who were numerous, the Monkees got the song right, for musical release. It worked. It was catchy. It said something.
Neil knew how to write songs. He had stints on New York's "Tin Pan Alley". Near the famous Brill Building near Times Square. He knew everyone and they knew him. I spent time there as a musician. It was an amazing place, the Brill Building and the area unoffically called "Tin Pan Alley".
But today I was listening to the song. In my head. No iPOD, no Walkman. That's how I prefer it. And I remembered some lyrics which I kept repeating.
-- "Disappointment haunted all my dreams"
-- "Seems the more I gave/The less I got"
-- "What's the use in trying/All you get is pain/When I needed sunshine I got rain"
So what is the use of trying ? I am not sure anymore. At least in my life.
Neil thought the rejoinder lyrically should be according to the song:
"Then I saw her face/Now I'm a believer/Not a trace/Of doubt in my mind"
and the verse continued ...
"I'm in love/I'm a believer/I couldn't leave her/If I tried".
Well it was a strong love song Neil wrote. But it has more implications in life like any piece of art.
Dr. Freud said to be happy in life we need love and work. Even if I disagree with some other theories of his and say sometimes a cigar is just a cigar. But he was right.
So if we have work and no love, no good. Love and no work, well that's a classical conundrum within the actors and musicians and artists community. Maybe not anymore with "corporate art". There are no "starving artists" anymore. Pity. An empty stomach and a strond desire made real art happen from inside our being.
Nevertheless, we have Neil Diamond's rejoinder to "What's the use in trying?" being Love. Seeing her face made the desparing man a "believer". Nice.
And if there isn't love in one's life ? Go out to a vending machine a get some ? Not quite.
So in times of despair, where can we turn ? To a lover, and the love there. Or to a Deity, a higher power.
But when all fails, we are left looking in the mirror of life, which admittedly is a tricky situation since I think, following the myth of Narcissus that the mirror is a bad invention. And if what we see in the mirror of life doesn't leave us with a "use for trying" to go on, then what ?
Albert Camus had a point in his work "The Myth of Sisyphus" and also in "The Rebel". The only true philosophical test is whether we allow ourselves to go on in life or to prematurely cut it short. Camus said that was the only valid philosophical question.
Friedrich Nietzsche chimed in as well, writing that 3 AM is always the dark hour of the soul, and our only consolation is that we can end it all, and have a laugh at Fate.
The image of Sisyphus pushing that heavy rock up the hill just to have it fall back down, over and over, for eternity, is very compelling.
But it takes a huge committment and a lot of courage to end it all. In that sense Camus was right. It's the most serious decision.
Despair left unanswered is devastating like a tornado or hurricane or any kind of Shakespearean tempest. It devours us, unchecked.
So on this rainy, ugly day in Boston town, I played "I'm a Believer" in my head over and over. Or to be really specific, it played me.
I'm not sure I am a believer.
Edvard Munch beat Schopenhauer at his own game with his painting "The Scream" after Schopenhauer said Art is not a valid medium of expression until a scream can be actually drawn and painted and made us all emote in terror when we saw it. Munch nailed it down.
So I feel more like the person in Munch's painting than a believer.
Dr. Freud got it right on this one. No love, and a lot of work is an imbalance. Or vice-versa, maybe. I think this latter case is better.
Being alone, as Adam in the Garden of Eden complained, is not fun. So God made Eve for him. And the monster Dr. Frankenstein created complained also to him that he wanted a companion.
But Fate is fickle. Some of us want more than a companion. We want "the whole enchilada" as the expression goes. And time is working against some of us. Father Time always shows up with the Grim Reaper.
Then I just saw a poster in Boston for a new 2007 movie called "The Heartbreak Kid" with Ben Stiller who's from my old neighborhood in New York City. It said on top of the poster "Love Blows". It very well might.