By Uncleben
“Plato says that the unexamined life is not worth living. But what if the examined life turns out to be a clunker as well?” – Kurt Vonnegut
“Be excellent to each other - and party on, dudes.” – Abraham Lincoln
So you wanna know the answers to the biggest questions of all - who are we, why are we here, what’s it all about? Well here at the Song Bar, with the help of the Ladybird Guide to Philosophy, we can maybe help by offering a smattering of ontological bons mots, drawn from some of the leading schools of philosophical thought and beguilingly captured in the medium of popular song.
Nihilism
Punk, like some of the nihilistic philosophies from which it borrowed, got a bad press for its perceived negativity and pessimism. But hey, it was as much a way of challenging conventional values and wisdoms. The Weirdos described later how “we were just thumbing our noses up at everything. Everything was a joke, punk was a joke, we were a joke”. Why Do You Exist? is a question without any meaningful answer, unless perhaps it lies in adrenalised rock ’n’ roll.
Stoicism
A school of Hellenistic philosophy that taught the importance of developing virtue, self-control and mental fortitude as a way of overcoming destructive emotions - strands of thought that run through much Jamaican roots reggae and are well illustrated by Clinton Fearon in the tremendous Life Is a Journey.
Aristotelianism
Aristotle, another Greek dude, maintained that you become virtuous not through learning alone but by practising virtuous actions. So when that esteemed Aristotelian, Jazzie B of Soul II Soul, exhorts you to Get a Life, don’t worry, he doesn’t mean it perjoratively. He’s encouraging you to experiment, to implement your ideas, to put your notions in motion, to be an asset to the collective. C’mon, c’mon!
Cynicism
Another misunderstood philosophy that invited its disciples to live in agreement with nature, love humanity and reject conventional desires for wealth, power or fame. It maybe didn’t help their public image that Diogenes, one of the early Cynics, lived in a ceramic jar on the streets of Athens. Or that, like the ‘kynos’ (dogs) after which they were named, the Cynics went about barefoot and made love in public. Odyssey (a Californian band, not the native New Yorkers) seem to occupy a similar vibe in the shimmering Our Lives Are Shaped by What We Love, penned by the son of C. L. R. James, the Trinidadian writer.
Pragmatism
Pragmatic philosophers, like William James (brother of Henry), held that practical understanding of life is more important than seeking impractical abstract truths. In what’s become their signature tune, Indigo Girls Emily Saliers and Amy Ray agree: there’s more than one answer to those theoretical questions - and the less they seek for some definitive truth, the Closer to Fine they are. A fine example of two people deriving unalloyed joy from making music together.
Logical positivism
As any logical positivist (or Douglas Adams) will tell you, asking “what is the meaning of life?” is as meaningless as asking “what is the meaning of asparagus?”. You need to reframe the question. Which is possibly - or very possibly not - what Black Uhuru have in mind when they say the answer to What Is Life? is that no one can tell. Michael, Duckie and Puma hedge their bets by postulating a random selection of other answers - it’s a spell, it’s a dream, it’s unity and “it’s really real”. Wittgenstein would be turning in his grave at this last point. But who cares when Sly and Robbie are at the controls and propelling reggae from its 70s roots onto the 80s dancefloor?
Existentialism
The Shins, being the good young existentialists they are, believe that each person is free to create the meaning of their own life. Fate isn’t what we’re up against, there’s no design. The Young Pilgrims of the title seem to represent an opposing positivist or rationalist view, though singer-songwriter James Mercer told an interviewer that the song’s essentially about “how your thought processes can needlessly get you down when you should just learn techniques to fucking get over it”. Well, that’s us told.
Absurdism
In this delightful 1931 version of a Ray Henderson tune and Lew Stone lyric, crooner and pin-up Rudy Vallée asks all the big questions - why are we here? where are we going? are Crystal Palace ever going to win the Premier League? (I may have misremembered one of those) - but, true to the tenets of absurdist philosophy, explains we’re best off living and laughing at it all. Life Is Just a Bowl of Cherries - don’t take it serious, it’s too mysterious!
Epicureanism
A few brave nominators took up the challenge of finding an instrumental track to fit the topic. Joy Ellis gets the nod for Eat, Sleep, Repeat, a neat distillation of the Epicurean philosophy of seeking modest pleasures through tranquillity and the absence of bodily pain.
Theism
As a Rastafarian from a young age, Dr Alimantado subscribes to the theistic belief that God created the universe, that He had a bloody good reason for doing so (even if He’s not prepared to let on what it is) and that we are here to serve His purpose. This faith finds no finer expression than in the magnificent Born for a Purpose/Reason for Living, written in 1977 while recovering from serious injuries after being hit by a bus on the streets of Kingston. The musicians on the record provided their services for free.
Cartesianism
In his Meditations, Descartes used dream hypothesis theory to show that we cannot trust our physical senses. Our dreams may even be contained within other dreams - we may be in a perpetual dream state and never experience ‘reality’ at all. Jeepers, maybe Palace did win the league last season after all. Propaganda take Edgar Allen Poe’s poem Dream Within a Dream and weave it into some ethereal synth-pop.
Cyrenaicism
We finish with an early Socratic school that promoted pleasure as a supreme good and pooh-poohed the idea of deferred gratification. Or, as Sally Bowles sings in our closing number: “What good is sitting alone in your room? Come hear the music play. Life is a cabaret, old chum. Come to the cabaret.”
Many thanks to all this week’s nominators - it’s been a gas.
The ‘Are We Here for a Reason?’ A-list Playlist:
The Weirdos - Why Do You Exist?
Clinton Fearon - Life Is a Journey
Soul II Soul - Get a Life
Odyssey (Californian band) - Our Lives Are Shaped by What We Love
Indigo Girls - Closer to Fine
Black Uhuru - What Is Life?
The Shins - Young Pilgrims
Rudy Vallée & His Connecticut Yankees - Life Is Just a Bowl of Cherries
Joy Ellis - Eat, Sleep, Repeat
Dr Alimantado - Born for a Purpose/Reason for Living
Propaganda - Dream Within a Dream
Liza Minnelli - Cabaret
The B-listed for a Purpose Playlist:
Dionne Warwick - Alfie
What’s it all about?
Buzzcocks - Everybody’s Happy Nowadays
Pete Shelley explained to Sounds that nothing exists. “There is no world. Or it doesn't really matter if there is. The way I'm affected by things is the way by which I want them to affect me.”
Villagers - So Naïve
Conor O’Brien, on the other hand, is sure he’s part of something bigger.
Fontaines D.C. - A Hero’s Death
About 20 (ironic) reasons why life ain’t always empty. I’m partial to this lockdown version.
The Heptones - Meaning of Life
Without love, it’s nothing (Part 1).
Penetration - Life’s a Gamble
All over the shop lyrically, but sounds fresh as a daisy 44 years on.
Bruce Springsteen - Life Itself
Without love, it’s nothing (Part 2).
Hitsujibungaku - Mayoiga
A plea to love the world and the unceasing brilliance of life - lyrics translation here.
Charlie Rich - Life Has Its Little Ups and Downs
Without love, it’s nothing (Part 3). Written by his wife, Margaret.
Joe Higgs - Life of Contradiction
Life is full of contradictions. From a unjustly neglected album by the Wailers’ early musical mentor.
Hex vs Cabbage Boy - Harmonic/Mod You (Coldcut ‘Bug’s Eye View’ mix)
A Persian story of a bug who lived in the world's most beautifully designed rug without realising that he’d spent his life in something that had a pattern. There’s apparently a metaphor in there somewhere.
Band of Holy Joy - This Rhythm of Life
Life’s about reading the situation and doing what you believe to be the right thing. And maybe we can push on from there.
Guru’s Wildcard Picks:
Blackalicious - Finding
The Wailers - Pass It On
These playlists were inspired by readers' song nominations from last week's topic: Like a butterfly: songs about the meaning of life. The next topic will launch on Thursday at 1pm UK time.
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