VERY GOOD ADVICE
It's probably indicative of the overgrown inner child inside of me that I found myself over-relating to a scene from Disney's "Alice In Wonderland" yesterday when I watched it for the first time since I was a kid.
A delicate moment of self-reflection from Alice, while she's lost in Wonderland, prompts her to break out into a tearful song "Very Good Advice" as a delightfully drawn group of random surreal creatures watches on in sympathy.
The scene is familiar to me for I too have often had surreal creatures watching me with sympathy.
I give myself very good advice
But I very seldom follow it
That explains the trouble that I'm always in
Be patient is very good advice
But the waiting makes me curious
And I love the change
Should something strange begin
There in a nutshell is the creative dilemma for those (like myself) with hyperactive imaginations that we can relate only too well to, as the allure of some new adventure (s) whilst determinedly trying to stick to the path of patience and reason often leads us to getting lost in a multitude of Wonderlands.
As you get older it becomes far less excusable to keep ending up astray with these fantastical diversions and cul de sacs of escapism unless they've profited you significantly, for any other outcome seems like idle complacency if you ask adult me.
Well ...
I went along my merry way
And I never stopped to reason
I should have known there'd be a price to pay
Someday
Someday
I give myself very good advice
But I very seldom follow it
Will I ever learn to do the things I should?
It was no surprise to discover that the lyricist behind these deceptively deep lyrics was the same Bob Hilliard who wrote one of my favorite Frank Sinatra songs of all time "In The Wee Small Hours Of The Morning" with composer David Mann. In that delicately wistful song, the character singing the song reflects on the sleepless nights a broken heart will suffer.
In the wee small hours of the morning
While the whole wide world is fast asleep
You lie awake and think about the girl
And never, ever think of counting sheep
When your lonely heart has learned its lesson
You'd be hers if only she would call
In the wee small hours of the morning
That's the time you miss her most of all
Both songs contain a self-reflective dialogue from the perspective of the characters suffering in their equal states of confusion or heartbreak providing an unerring level of intimacy for the listener to relate to as if we're listening in on a secret conversation or confession.
Back when I first discovered Sinatra's iconic 'In The Wee Small Hours' in my teenage years I probably over-related to the title track as I often pined for a girl in a 'Sorrows Of Young Werther' type of way until I moved onto the more cynical "One For My Baby" from the 1958 Capitol album 'Only The Lonely' to protect my heart from repeatedly breaking. Sinatra usually has a song for every permutation of love in both celebration and regret which comes in useful as you navigate your way through the highs and lows of relationships.
I have even considered writing a book about it one day a la Murakami. ;-)
Watching Alice sing 'Very Good Advice' yesterday caught me off-guard and led me into a different yet familiar type of introspection about my own adventures in Wonderlands, both real and imagined.
It's not love so much that trips me up anymore but art.
Who knows? Perhaps they're the same thing.