Leader Of The Band

An only child, alone and wild
A cabinet maker's son
His hands were meant for different work
And his heart was known to none

He left his home and went his lone and solitary way
And he gave to me a gift I know I never can repay

A quiet man of music, denied a simpler fate
He tried to be a soldier once
But his music wouldn't wait
He earned his love through discipline
A thundering, velvet hand
His gentle means of sculpting souls
Took me years to understand

The leader of the band is tired
And his eyes are growing old
But his blood runs through my instrument
And his song is in my soul
My life has been a poor attempt
To imitate the man
I'm just a living legacy to the leader of the band

My brother's lives were different
For they heard another call
One went to Chicago, and another to St. Paul
And I'm in Colorado
When I'm not in some hotel
Living out this life I've chose
And come to know so well

The leader of the band is tired
And his eyes are growing old
But his blood runs through my instrument
And his song is in my soul
My life has been a poor attempt
To imitate the man
I'm just a living legacy to the leader of the band

I thank you for the music
And your stories of the road
I thank you for the freedom
When it came my time to go
I thank you for the kindness
And the times when you got tough
And, papa, I don't think I said
'I love you' near enough

The leader of the band is tired
And his eyes are growing old
But his blood runs through my instrument
And his song is in my soul
My life has been a poor attempt
To imitate the man
I'm just a living legacy to the leader of the band

I am a living legacy
To the leader of the band

~

I kind of grew up listening to this song, I've known it since I was about ten or eleven and I knew all the words but I didn't really understand it until I was older. See what I love about old songs are the lyrics, they're just so deep, when you read them it feels like poetry.

Today was a pretty monotonous day. The highlight of my day was buying a guitar capo, I think that proves a lot.

I realise I didn't blog about my trip to Batam with 12S16. It was pretty fun overall, and the trip to the Al Jabar Orphanage was meaningful in a lot of subtle ways.

I actually think I learnt the most from the fifteen-minute bus ride there. In a bus around a foreign place, you can really tell a lot of things. Everything around you is a story.

I remember seeing a lot of graffiti around. The roads were narrow, so a family of three on a motorbike had to turn into the main street dangerously close to our bus. Their little girl had dust on her face and was in pajamas. Most of the people there are either really thin, or pot-bellied from alcohol.

But overall it was fine, the air smelt okay most of the time and the streets weren't as dirty as I expected. The kids in the orphanage were all really different. Some of the kids just refused to cooperate. I remember one little boy of about four or five who tried to spit on a girl's drawing while I was right there next to them.

I kind of expected the little girl (who was definitely older than him, she was about seven) to retalliate or at least say something, but she just sat there quietly and looked back at him while he used his hands and feet to smudge her drawing.

And it definitely wasn't pure playfulness coming from the boy. He would stare at her while he destroyed her drawing deliberately, like he was trying to challenge her or provoke a reaction out of her. I intervened and gently took the girl's drawing away from his reach, and he actually raised his hand in the manner a parent would do to a child, like he was threatening to hit me.

It was definitely scary, not because of his 'threat', but because it was coming from a kid that young. God knows who might have influenced him that much, and that negatively. In all honesty, I feel really sorry for him.

But it was really touching how some of the other children in the orphanage behaved. The older kids helped to watch out for the younger ones. Some of the younger kids came in late, looking lost, and an older one would stand up and lead the kid to a spot beside him or her.

While playing games, the older children also gave way to the younger children to let them win. It was extremely sweet :)

I would have loved to talk to the kids more but it was the language barrier that prevented us from bonding with the kids :( Still, I think I learnt quite a bit from those two days in Batam. It was definitely something different.

Not gonna lie though, I felt relieved coming back to Singapore because I missed the good life here. After getting down from the ferry some of us went to VivoCity for dinner and I felt happy seeing all the familiar clothes brands in Vivo- F21, Zara, River Island, Warehouse and all that.

Sometimes when I go overseas I can't help but wonder how my life would be different; how it would have turned out had I been born elsewhere. What if that little house on the corner of that street in Batam was mine? What if that girl in school uniform over there on the subway in Taiwan was me?

Yeahh, #justsaying

BYE

~