newyearboogie #3 (Johnny Clarke – Age Is Growing)

been involved in a lot of interesting debates over the last few weeks one of which concerned themusicologist and how it was/is evolving…..

allow me to elucidate…the early posts, (musicology #1-7), were raw, intense, deeply personal and provided a much needed outlet for expressing how it felt to be, once again, staring into the abyss and as music has always provided themusicologist with a most effective outlet for emotional expression the musical diary was born.

but when you find yourself on the ‘hill and gully ride’ as sure as day follows night, up follows down. and the next stage of evolution took themusicologist on a journey from down low to up high which just goes to show that “joy and pain are like sunshine and rain”

without getting too philosophical I suppose this could be seen as striking the eternal balance..or to put it another way the polarisation of extremity…hmmmm.

don’t get me wrong, ‘hill and gully’ has a lot going for it but, as I’m sure you will agree, it’s a hard road to travel and has just as many, if not more, pitfalls associated with it than ‘slow and steady’.

it’s like riding a wave, sometimes you can stick to it like glue and you feel invincible and nothing or no-one can stop you. other times the wave comes crashing down and it’s immediate wipe out …. but I suppose if you ride like lightning, stands to reason that you’re more likely to crash like thunder.

in a sentance, themusicologist is a soundtrack to an existence…and as the only thing constant in life is change so the message is always changing but, there is always a message there.

so, with that ‘off me string vest’ back to newyearboogie…

this piece, sung from the heart and mind of roots and culture legend Mr Johnny Clarke, is from the very special and life changing year of 1995 when it appeared as if by magic on the occasion of my first born child ..

“man don’t run around every day wasting time, man don’t sit around every day, watching the days go by…just think of the youts cos there’s a lot to be done” …

true enough it kicked themusicologist up the arse back then so what better way to confirm and reiterate the direction of 2008 than with this prime slice of musicology. Winston ‘Niney’ Holness production on his own Observer label. proof, if needed, that music will always be there to deliver inspiration.