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Lyrical Philosophies

I have been thinking more about what was, and what is now. I have also been thinking about Don Quixote, especially in the musical form of "Man of La Mancha". One song in particular, "To Dream... the Impossible Dream" had always been very special for me. In this song, Don Quixote explains his quest and the reasons behind it... and in doing so, he captures the essence of life and its philosophical underpinnings. (For me, it USED TO BE absolutely magical.).You can play a snippet of the original as sung by Richard Kiley here.

Below, I write out the original lyrics, and then below that I substitute lyrics that portray what appears to be a more realistic philosophy of life. How I wish it were not so.


To Dream... the Impossible Dream

Lyrics by Joe Darion


To dream ... the impossible dream ...
To fight ... the unbeatable foe ...
To bear ... with unbearable sorrow ...
To run ... where the brave dare not go ...
To right ... the unrightable wrong ...
To love ... pure and chaste from afar ...
To try ... when your arms are too weary ...
To reach ... the unreachable star ...

This is my quest, to follow that star ...
No matter how hopeless, no matter how far ...
To fight for the right, without question or pause ...
To be willing to march into Hell, for a Heavenly cause ...

And I know if I'll only be true, to this glorious quest,
That my heart will lie peaceful and calm,
when I'm laid to my rest ...

And the world will be better for this:
That one man, scorned and covered with scars,
Still strove, with his last ounce of courage,
To reach ... the unreachable star ...


Since I seem unable to feel the above philosophical construct in my heart and soul any longer, I thought I would instead attempt to rewrite the lyrics to match my current feelings:


To Live... the Horrible Reality

Lyrics by PipeTobacco

To live ... the horrible reality ...
To be badgered ... by the unstopable foes ...
To exist ... with unbearable sorrows ...
To the Hell ... where no one willingly goes ...
To live with ... the unrightable wrongs ...
To despise ... the people inflicting scars ...
To give up ... when your mind is too weary ...
To fall ... into the pit of despair...

This is my life, to live this actually ...
No matter how useless, no matter how hard ...
To struggle for life, with onlly questions and pause...
To always be marching into Hell, just because (its reality)...

And I know that even if I be true, to my previous quest,
That my heart will lie deadened with alarm,
and when I am destroyed, and die from this quest ...

The world will be no better for this:
That this man, scorned and covered with scars,
Simply died, with his last ounce of energy,
To live ... the horrible reality.

While I may not be able to do so myself, I do sincerely hope that you, my readers, have a pleasant day.

PipeTobacco