James Varda has always been a favourite of mine. His first album Hunger was a real force. It was a shame that he became disillusioned and dropped out. His music is so original and good. We might have got a lot more of it.
However he did come back with a couple of great albums and then hit us with something that was so powerful it threw me. Chance and Time is a towering monument of an album.
It deals with James’ reaction to being given the news of having a terminal illness.
Most people would have crumbled or become introverted. That was not the case with James. He poured it into a feat of great creative affirmation of life. The naked emotion is so moving that I have never heard its like. The album fills you with the desire to make life count.
I can only thank him for that gift.
At least we have consciousness. We have experienced the world. We have had something when it could have so easily been nothing. We have to be incredibly grateful for that.
This is the track that begins that journey – The Doctor Spoke.
The comparison of cancer to the Big Bang is such a mind opening image.
The Doctor Spoke
The doctor spoke
Two hearts broke
I looked at you
You looked at me
And we looked down the road
I turned to him
And as best I could, I asked
“Is there something we can do?”
He held my hand
And with a tear in his eye
He said “Nothing”
“Nothing”
“There is nothing we can do”
Scan by scan
The picture grew
A triptych of liver, lung and bone
I turned to him
And as best I could, I asked
“Is there something we can do?”
He quietly spoke
He said “I’m sorry”
“There is nothing”
“Nothing”
“There is nothing we can do”
It started like this
From something very small
Very dense and very hot
An expansion occurred
Chance and time
Gave rivers and trees
Rivers and trees and birds and bees
There could have been nothing
But to have witnessed something
Rivers and trees and birds and bees
© James Varda 2014