The best of times

My favorite musician is and continues to be the Rhode Island slam poet-cum-independent hip-hopper, Sage Francis. He continues to turn out amazing songs with amazing beats and, most importantly, amazing lyrics.

He has a new album dropping soon and he will be touring, but it is bittersweet. I am very excited. But I am also just waiting patiently. He has signaled many-times that he is close to the end of his touring and music-making.

His words continue to inspire and amaze me. I continue to identify with his lyrics. I will forever.

In in the meantime, I encourage you all to check out his new album that drops on May 11. He has released two songs already that you can download for free on his website. My favorite thus-far is "The Best of Times." The composition is by Yann Tiersen, who did the soundtrack for the movie, "Amelie."

You can hear the song, here. Some of my favorite yrics are below.

The most difficult thing I ever did was recite my own words at a service realizing the person I was addressing probably wasn’t looking down from heaven. Or cooking up something in hell’s kitchen, trying to listen in or eaves drop from some another dimension. It was self serving just like this is.

It was the best of times. It was the end of times. I was always on deck, I was next in line. An only child with a pen and pad writing a list of things that I could never have. The walls in my house were paper thin. Every squabble seemed to get deafening. If my memory serves me correctly I made it a point to void and forget some things. Probably to keep from being embarrassed. Never meant to upset or give grief to my parents. Kept my secrets…hid my talents…in my head, never under the mattress.

“Don’t listen when they tell you that these are your best years. Don’t let anybody protect your ears. It’s best that you hear what they don’t want you to hear. It’s better to have pressure from peers than not have peers. Beer won’t give you chest hair. Spicy food won’t make it curl. When you think you’ve got it all figured out and then your universe collapses…trust me, kid…it’s not the end of the world.”