That's one of the things that you hear here, 'same same'. (and yes, I love that opening sentence... maybe I should quit while I'm ahead.... and while I'm digressing, let me note that this is my earliest digression to date, a line one digression, impressive!) Hear hear! Same same! (Editor's note, ''OK dude, start writing")
Same same is pigeon English, meaning... wait for it... the same. I don't know why it comes out like that here, but it does. I guess they like to double up on one syllable sounds 'boom boom, tuk tuk, same same etc'. I've seen tee shirts that say, 'Same same, but different', and that's a bit of a cliche here as well. Don't quite appreciate the whimsy, but whatever. I've got a better idea for a tee shirt slogan, and if I saw this shirt, I'd buy it. 'Chillin' in Chiang Mai' and below that 'Sabai sabai' (it's all good). (Ok those are some lyrics to my tune, but I think they make a great tee shirt slogan).
So as promised, yesterday I set about to write some lyrics to my new Santana-inspired latin groove. It took me until the afternoon to get going on it, but I did get some focused time in, and what came out was pretty cool. The tune is gonna be called 'Same same', and it feels like one of those that will grow into something special. There is a thing that happens sometimes when I start writing about one thing and along the way, it evolves into something else. For instance I might be writing a love song, and it turns into a God song. It's like when I came up with the 5 principles of making music, and they turned into something bigger than that. You start down the path, and it can uncover into something surprising. And I have just a hunch that 'same same', even though it started off as a description of what I see around me, will end up being about something I see inside of me as well... Just a hunch, but I tend to trust those hunches lately.
So here's what I came up with yesterday. Think Latin groove a la 'Smooth' here's a link to it if yer interested http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXp413NynFk
You see them walking down the avenue
She's twenty five, he's sixty two
And though it looks like they don't belong
There's something pulling and it's mighty strong
You can tell what he's looking for
A little lady and a whole lot more
You can see what she's looking for
Security and a major score
Same same, everybody's in the game
Same same, like the moth and flame
Same same, he needs that honey
She needs that money
Same same
...........................................................
That's all I came up with on the first pass, but it worked and I played it last night in the bar and yeah, it's gonna be good. Today I plan on digging in again and coming up with some more verses, now that the structure is fairly well set. I think the idea is to come up with ideas in which the characters appear to be different but are actually the same same. Hmmm, a latin groove treatise on that old philosophical conundrum of 'the one and the many'. Or maybe a salsa groove about 'duality'. Intriguing to this puzzle dude. And if people are talking and not paying attention, as happened in the bar last night, and I'm a background musician. (ugh), well hey, it's a great groove that they're tapping along to anyway. So there ya go...
And I am still remarkably stuck in the M drama, have never been in a pattern like this in which I'm bouncing around emotionally on such a regular basis. It's like I'm doing some kind of field work on compulsion, and the guinea pig is me. Normally, if I get my button pushed as much as it gets pushed in this situation, I'm so gone, and in my mind, I've been gone numerous times, but something keeps us coming back for more, not all that different than the verse in the song above, but in our case it's not an 'age and money' duality, but some other one in which we must be getting something out of the connection, despite the challenges on both sides. In my case, I'm seeing a woman who dresses sexy, flirts with the guys at the bar as part of her job, many of whom would like to take her home. Why would I do that? It makes no sense, why would I subject myself to that? And why would she subject herself to a judgmental guy who doesn't accept her for who she is, who criticizes her drinking and smoking, who pushes her buttons as much as she pushes mine? Why indeed? And like I say, I have a hunch that the answer gets revealed as 'same same'. (but I'm not quite there yet).
I guess for me, this act of returning for more is some kind of a positive (or am I being delusional?). But I have a sense that there is more to be gained by not simply disappearing, quitting and letting fear or uncomfortability run the show. Of course the odds are 99 to 1 that we could last as a couple, make that 999 to 1, given my history, the situation in which she's working in a bar, the distance etc. OK 9999 to 1, so it's obviously not a rational thing that's going on. But something's going on and I will continue to experience this process until it's over. (which seems like it could happen at the drop of a hat, yet we still have this gravitational pull on one another, time after time).
Same same (but you knew that)
