Dot Earth Blog: Life's Very Fine Lines - a Song

Here?s a brief musical interlude. I spent a couple of hours yesterday building a little video around a fresh recording (still a work in progress) of one of my older songs, ?Very Fine Line,? which explores life?s close calls (?winning and losing, living and dying, loving and leaving??). As I?ve explained many times, without music, journalism would be utterly unsustainable (for me, at least).

The tune is relevant to Dot Earth in that all of biology, through natural selection, and much of human progress, through surprising innovations, is built on accidents. Being willing to touch and cross boundaries is vital to sustaining the human adventure. Indeed, someone once asserted that the definition of adventure is a disaster that almost happened.

It may be that the Pushmi-Pullyu?mix in our society of edge pushing and precaution (visible every day in the comments here) ultimately offers our species the best chance of progressing in turbulent, unpredictable times. That?s the process I call ?falling forward.?

I hope you enjoy the song. I?ll alert you when the final version is done; the drums here, for instance, are digital. (I?m also happy to get your thoughts on ways to improve it.) The great background harmonies are by my friends in Motherlode Trio and the recording and slide guitar are thanks to Joe Johnson. (Click here for YouTube versions of more of my songs.)

The clips are mostly from the Library of Congress collection of extraordinary short films produced by Thomas Edison?s movie company from the late 1800s through the early 20th century. I also threw in a snippet of ?Nosferatu,? the chilling 1922 vampire saga, and a bit of ?The First Circus,? an animated look at a circus performer in the age of dinosaurs.

Here are the lyrics:

Very Fine Line ? A. Revkin 2013

It?s a very fine line between winning and losing.
A very fine line between living and dying.
A very fine line between loving and leaving.
Most of your life you spend walking a very fine line.

Five out of six Lotto numbers won?t win you a dime.
If that driver ahead is a nut you may soon be flying.
Girl?s out the door if you say right things at the wrong time.
Most of your life you spend walking a very fine line.

Chorus

It?s a very fine line that you?ve got to walk.
Gotta watch every word when you make small talk.
Gotta watch every step or you?ll find yourself crazy and crying.
Most of your life you spend walking a very fine line. A very fine line.

It?s a very fine line between loony and sane.
A very fine line between a loss and a gain.
A very fine line between pleasure and pain.
Most of your life you spend walking a very fine line.

People you think are a genius are this far from bent.
President blows an election by half a percent.
We all know love hurts but we try it again and again.
We know that the line between love and despair is so thin.

Repeat Chorus

Bridge

Winning and losing ? a very fine line.
Living and dying ? a very fine line.
Loving and leaving ? a very fine line.

Loony and sane ? a very fine line.
Loss and a gain ? a very fine line.
Pleasure and pain ? a very fine line?

Repeat Chorus

Source: http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/03/03/lifes-very-fine-lines/?partner=rss&emc=rss

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