Balearic Breakfast | Episode 155 | Free as a Seagull...

by The Lioncub
Nov 14, 2023
9 min read

Updated: Sep 3, 2024

Colleen ’Cosmo’ Murphy broadcast the 155th episode of Balearic Breakfast on her Mixcloud and Twitch TV socials on November 14th 2023.

About this show. – A few days ago, when sharing the request line on her socials, Colleen was clearly in the mood for a good flight with a seagull! After meeting an eagle and also some dancing pigeons, there you go, here comes the Seagull! You might remember that we already met them in one of the first shows from the series (head over there). Yet, as always, nothing is the same here at Balearic Breakfast, and this 154th is once again here to prove it with several layers of interpretation available upon listening! So let's meet our new friend and see what we can learn by his side!

Listen back to the 154th episode of Balearic Breakfast:

PLAYLIST

Jonny Nash – Dream it Right (Music from Memory 10)

Joni Mitchell – Both Sides Now (Live at Newport)

Joni Mitchell – Impossible Dreamer

It's A Beautiful Day – White Bird

Snow Raven (ft Misha Mishenko) – Free Birds

Waves – Summer Sunday (25 years of Aficionado)

Seal – Fly Like an Eagle

Tom Tom Club – Won't Give You Up (Random House Project Remake)

Grand Tapestry – Seagulls

Alisha Chinai & Vijay Benedict – Zindagi Meri Dance Dance

D' influence – Good Lover (Touch Remix)

Marcel – On the Beach

David Kitt – Till The End (X-Press 2 Remix)

Ministry – I Wanted to Tell Her

Soft Rocks – Talking Jungle (Justin Vandervolgen Remix)

Jose Gonzalez – Stay in the Shade (Pablo Fierro Edit)

Blaze presents James Toney Project – Elevation

David Holmes ft. Raven Violet – Hope is the Last Thing to Die

THE LISTENING EXPERIENCE

This 154th episode has to be one of the best examples of how and why this blog was born. When listening to the songs, their tonality, and their lyrics, I was able to divide this episode into three distinctive parts. So, without further ado, let's fly together!

The first part of the show sets the tone; each one of the following songs helps us to feel what the Seagull is and who, in the end, we can become if we take the chance to adopt some of the feelings conveyed in these tracks!

ree — Jamie Tiller, Music From Memory's founder

An immense, almost empty, sky, except for one bird flying somewhere. Is it lost? Is it searching for something? Taken from the new "10" compilation, Jonny Nash – Dream it Right [2023 - Music from Memory] presents to the listener that never-ending travel to an unknown destination. Issued in 2021, the ethereal piece was used during the immersive audiovisual installation "Content Aware Fill", Jonny being joined back then by artist Nicole Martens to offer a memorable free and outdoor experience, the video being projected onto the iconic villa of the Chabot Museum. With Colleen dedicating the track to the memory of the late Music From Memory's founder, Jamie Tiller, we felt the need to share his picture here... The next three songs are quite interestingly put together, allowing us to think about what Freedom is and what we can do to achieve it. "Is it even reachable" is the question we may ask ourselves while listening to the poignant song by Joni Mitchell – Both Sides Now (Live at Newport) [2022 - Discogs] (I absolutely love this live version for many reasons, among which is Joni's laughter and, as Family member Rolo Mc Ginty said "Joni's older but still cutting in the hi end voice").

Still, there is that urge, somewhere to do things, to hold on to people, to try trust again, try friendship again, never surrendering to the light sadness we have in ourselves, and that is, also, listen closely, present in this first part of the show. Hence, both Joni Mitchell – Impossible Dreamer [1985 - Discogs] & It's A Beautiful Day – White Bird [1969 - Discogs], enhance these feelings of Belonging somewhere, someplace, with Someone by our side despite everything else (read White Bird's story here).

When listening to these songs, a quote by the great Jacques Brel came back to my mind. He really is summing up these song's core message and it goes like this:

Stupidity. Ah, stupidity is terrible. It's... It's the bad fairy of the world. It's the witch of the world. It's stupidity. There are no evil people, There are stupid people, And it's not their fault! And there are people who are afraid, That's their fault, People who are afraid and don't take responsibility for their fear. I think that's how it all starts. Well, that's... that's for a philosopher to determine, It's not up to me.

I don't like stupid people. Because stupidity is laziness. No one will ever make me believe that... Stupidity is a guy who lives and says, "That's enough for me. That's enough for me, I'm living and I'm fine... that's enough for me". And he doesn't kick himself every morning and say, "That's not enough... you don't know enough, you don't see enough, you don't do enough!" It's laziness, I think, stupidity. A kind of fat around the heart, fat around the brain.

The next two songs, Snow Raven (ft Misha Mishenko) – Free Birds [2023 - Interview] & Waves – Summer Sunday [2023 - Bandcamp – 1977 - Discogs], intrinsically take these thoughts to a "wider conscience", both musically and lyrically... Of course, you feel the urge to be free, yet, there's something more to than just embracing a spirit... You can clearly understand why when reading the description available on Bandcamp presenting the compilation Colleen is referring to: "French thinkers Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari in their landmark work of philosophy A Thousand Plateaus created a vast systematic meditation on connectivity. When applied to creativity, such an approach can help detail and categorise all possible variables and account for how great things emerge, stabilise, then disappear. Deleuze and Guattari talked of lines of flight - new trajectories sometimes establishing temporary creative plateaus or assemblages which can be productive or destructive but are ultimately unstable and constantly subject to change and mutation. The trick, they said, is to achieve a balance between the poles which mark the limits of stability and change while strata and sedimentary layers form, and to be fleet of foot; reactive. And unsentimentally so. Survival isn’t guaranteed."

Can you now see, and hear (listen to the sound effects and the instruments ;-)), how much all of the songs of this first part of the show share a close DNA? Being free is a dream, of course, but, with great rewards comes great responsibilities, and you must have what it takes to experience your dreams... One of the first is discipline: you can't enjoy freedom without it... Freedom needs dedication... I'll end by quoting a nice analysis about "Both Sides Now" which, to me, encapsulates the feeling I felt when listening back to the show; read carefully:

To me, both sides now isn't so much a coming of age song. If it were, it would mean that the author's point of view evolved from one earlier naive state to a more enlightened state through experience. In other words, it would mean that the protagonist used to see clouds & love as beautiful, and after subsequent experiences saw them in a different & more realistic light. While the coming of age/changing perspective thing is the subject of the verses; the chorus goes beyond that by adding that although she has seen things for what they really are, she continues to choose illusion over reality.

I think both sides now is a song about illusion versus reality from the point of view of a dreamer. Even when experience teaches the true nature of something, the dreamer can continue to live with their illusions about life and love. The dreamer seems doomed to repeat the same mistakes by choosing to sugar coat the true nature of life and love with their own romantic illusionment. Even this has a duality: you can look at it as being hopeful or unrealistic.

The show's second part is shorter, at least to me; it contains only four songs that share one common answer to an essential question: how can the "flying effect" appear in our lives?

One of the first answers we have here is that freedom is a thing of the mind! So we need to use our Spirit and Fly away. Freedom is a thing from the mind and the Soul. Taken from Space Jam's Movie Soundtrack, Seal – Fly Like an Eagle [1996 - Discogs] is an adaptation of the 1976 song by the Steve Miller Band. Another way for freedom to show itself in our lives is, of course, through Love! Tom Tom Club – Won't Give You Up (Random House Project Remake) [2023 - Bandcamp] is a perfect example of that! The original song came out in 2012 on Tom Toms Club's sixth "Downtown Rockers" album, with Chris Frantz saying: "We’ve always been on the upbeat side, and I think these songs are good for parties and dancing. I think it’s safe to say they will lift people’s spirits."

This naturally leads us to the next two absolutely huge tracks; winning the first Wow effect of this 154th edition of Balearic Breakfast; Grand Tapestry – Seagulls [2020 - Bandcamp - Website] & Alisha Chinai & Vijay Benedict – Zindagi Meri Dance Dance [1987 - Discogs], allowing Colleen to celebrate the Hindu festival of lights, symbolising the spiritual "victory of light over darkness, good over evil, and knowledge over ignorance", Diwali! If you feel like discovering more about our Friend Pritpal Ajimal (also known as Sway of the Verses, member of the Melomaniacs), head over here! Pritpal was also featured in this year's first Balearic Breakfast show.

Of course, you've understood it quite easily here, the "Flying effect" always grabs us whenever we listen to Music! For your information, the song "Zindagi Meri Dance Dance" was left out of Babbar Subhash's film "Dance Dance" although it featured on the vinyl album release in 1987. Re-discovered, and enjoying a second lease of life in director Ashim Ahluwalia's 2017 gangster film "Daddy", the song was a huge success, becoming one of the top tracks of the year!

The Last part of the show is an actual invitation to Fly as we shall see!

Colleen begins the second hour of Balearic Breakfast with two tracks, sharing an identical tonality : D' influence – Good Lover (Touch Remix) [1992 - Discogs] & Marcel – On the Beach [1999 - Discogs]! Then, she takes us on a proper trip, using her incredible mixing skills allowing us to forget, that, somewhere, a clock is ticking the time away, thus winning the second Wow effect of the show!

The first small mix is comprised of David Kitt – Till The End (X-Press 2 Remix) [2023 - Bandcamp] / Ministry – I Wanted to Tell Her [1983 - Discogs] / Soft Rocks – Talking Jungle (Justin Vandervolgen Remix) [2012 - Bandcamp]. Check out a nice interview of David Kitt on hotpress.com where he talks about his musical journey and his brand-new album. I must add that Soft Rock's Talking Jungle is one of my all-time favourite tracks!

Also, the song "I Wanted to Tell Her" fits the show like a glove in the sense that it deals with the need of the narrator to feel connected to Someone; there is a need to escape and to find new beginnings... "The lyrics depict a sense of longing and the urgency to reach out to someone who can truly understand and empathize. The upbeat rhythm and energetic instrumentation contrast with the underlying theme of longing, adding a complexity to the song. This juxtaposition captures the inner turmoil and the dichotomy between outward appearances and inner emotional states that many individuals experience."

The second small mix contains tracks by Jose Gonzalez – Stay in the Shade (Pablo Fierro Edit) [2017 - SoundCloud] / Blaze presents James Toney Project – Elevation [2000 - Bandcamp]! That's some proper flying effect to me!

The show-ender, David Holmes (ft. Raven Violet) – Hope is the Last Thing to Die [2023 - Bandcamp] is taken from Holme's last album, "Bird on a Galloping Horse", and the translation of the French Lyrics might interest you just a Tiny Bit... All, in all, when you think about it, and strangely enough I talked about it a few days ago with Ana, this show is brilliant because it offers layers of interpretation on an important theme... "Freedom"...