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do the do
“Thanks you for accepting this friend request. I just want to thank you for everything you’ve done for me, unconsciously. Some of your songs completely changed my life.” – Michael
I’ve gotten a lot of messages like this, via email, facebook, myspace, garageband, etc. all of them hit me hard. this one hit me like a sledgehammer.
a very talented friend of mine is thinking of quitting the music business and going to med school. he says he wants to do something to help people, not just make pop records sound better. I know just what he means, though maybe messages like Michael’s have started to get through to me after all these years. I know that I am doing something to help people.
but more than that, I know I am doing what I came here to do, that I am giving what I came here to give, and that by doing so I am getting what I came here to get. I couldn’t be a doctor (absolutely can’t stand the sight of blood). maybe I could run a business that made a lot of money or work in a non-profit to help people directly or whatever. but I don’t think I could do anything as well as I can sing. so that’s what I do.
I think each of us, over and over, has to answer some version of the question, “am I doing the thing I am best at? am I doing the right thing with my life? am I doing what I came here to do?” maybe we ask it consciously and maybe we ask it unconsciously, maybe we make lists or maybe we shy away from even thinking about it. but whether it’s being a good parent, a provider, an artist, a caretaker, a student, a hard worker — whatever — I think we ask this question and search for the answer.
one of the reasons I appreciate the community that has formed around black lab is that it helps answer this question for me, again and again, each time it arises. working on the ‘pictures of people’ video has been a very powerful experience, seeing people’s faces over and over, feeling gratitude that so many of you would be generous in sending in your pictures, and just getting this visceral sense of who the community is.
so, thanks again everyone.
3 Responses to “do the do”
There is a reason that we waited (im)patiently through the long drought between YBAM and STS, even when the entire outside world moved on to the Spears and the Agularas…Black Lab is a moving, living, breathing entity. It touches each of us and affects who we are and how we see things. I still tear up a bit over Gates of the Country, still feel the angst in Black Eye, still have my heartstrings pulled by Mine Again. Paul, you and your creative teams have always been a singular, special thing to us and it makes me smile to know that you understand that….that you understand that no matter what else you may do….THIS is what you were made to do!
-SleepsWithAngels
Honoured to be in that vid honoured
Archangel-INC
Thanks for being so candid with your words and music. I have to tell you somehow the demo for Say Goodbye wound up in my iTunes and I randomly ran into it the other day and was blown away. It’s been a while since I’ve listened to a song on repeat and it’s for just the reason your post is about. Thanks for doing what you do Paul!
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