LOOK UP NOW - about the lyrics

Every once in awhile, I'm going to post some lyrics on here and ramble about them a bit.  This time I'd like to share the title track to our debut EP - "Look Up Now". This song exemplifies the subjects I have focused on a lot on for this project: Coming of age and being aware of the lives we are living.

LOOK UP NOW
if we get to the time
when good posture would have mattered
heads forced to face
that overgrown knot in our stomachs

*and it's wearing us down
someday our walls will crumble and we'll fall out
when our will shatters, it will finally matter
no guts left to tuck back in, no crevices

ears sealed tight
all the sounds stale, lacking innocence
If we get to the time
when good posture would have mattered

this is a fear that will very well turn into truth
here's to youth
just remember, it's all time to use
someday that head will turn to a photograph
relying on validation from the greater past

*look up now
look up, look around
use your eyes and your ears
stifle that trivial mouth

don't let the sound of your own voice
be the only one that you've ever heard
when you speak, be content
they'd be satisfactory last words

As I've grown, I have become fascinated by the concepts/dichotomy/transition of "carefree" youth to "guarded" adult. I ponder the aspects of complacence that exist with each place in life, and how that complacence is related to the whole life-span. I also think a lot about the times when our age or place in life doesn't really reflect how we feel about ourselves or are perceived by others, and how this affects social roles.

The desire for safety, consistency, and peace can so often turn into extensive effort to not feel, speak up, or think. I believe that's when it can turn into potentially harmful complacency; harmful for its dishonesty, irresponsibility, and deadweight effects.  It can take so much energy to maintain that stability; energy which could be used to respond to and interact with the precious life and possibilities we have. 

I empathize with why people do this - why I do this. Life is big. It causes us to feel so much. Processing all of the events, information, and relationships we experience is overwhelming. When we are young, we are learning everything we need to survive. When we are older, we are trying to be confident that we know all we need to know to keep going. We strive to maintain these things in a way that that further us  and the people and things that we care about.

This song puts emphasis on the fact that though life can be overwhelming, we are alive. We are going to feel and interact, and if we don't learn to use that to enhance our lives, it will happen anyway... with potentially more chaotic effects. Every age and interaction we encounter is important - be it seriousness or jest.

xo.

-Ash