Before reading the remainder of this post, I want you to start out by opening a link to a music video. When possible in another window or on another screen. You could also look up the song on another device and justen listen to the audio.
Ace of Base - Happy Nation ( Official Music Video )
And here's the lyrics, if you feel like singing along:
"Happy Nation"
Laudate omnes gentes laudate
Magnificat en secula
Et anima mea laudate
Magnificat en secula
Happy nation, living in a happy nation
Where the people understand
And dream of perfect man
A situation leading to sweet salvation
For the people, for the good
For mankind brotherhood
(We're traveling in time)
Ideas by man and only that will last
And over time we've learned from the past
That no man's fit to rule the world alone
A man will die but not his ideas
Happy nation, living in a happy nation
Where the people understand
And dream of perfect man
A situation leading to sweet salvation
For the people, for the good
For mankind brotherhood
(We're traveling in time)
(Traveling in time)
Tell them we've gone too far
Tell them we've gone too far (happy nation)
Come through and I will dance with you (happy nation)
Tell them we've gone too far (happy nation)
Come through and I will dance with you (happy nation)
Tell them we've gone too far
Come through and I will dance with you
Happy nation, living in a happy nation
Where the people understand
And dream of perfect man
A situation leading to sweet salvation
For the people, for the good
For mankind brotherhood
Happy nation, happy nation
Happy nation, happy nation
Ace of Base - Happy Nation - Lyrics
Wait! Have you actually done what I just said?
If so, congratz. If not, no worries.
Who am I kidding here, it's just that the above song popped up into my hyperactive mind, two days ago.
It's an example of so called '90s Eurodance' (dance music from Europe ). This Swedish band, Ace of Base, was a prime example.
Suffice to say that 90s Eurodance music has a special place in my heart ( and brain ), mainly because it's ( some of ) the first music that I got to listen to, when I got my very first radio cassette player / -recorder and, This is the stuff that many of us teens listened to and danced on, back then.
FYI: I was born in October 1981, this music is from 1992 / 3.
If I listen to it now, it feels extremely slow but this is probably one of their slower songs. My favorite is The Sign. I remember playing that, several times, on a jukebox in Denmark, in the Summer of 1994, together with my two sisters.
Those were the days! ;<)
Remember this veloci-rapper?
Li'l Hyper
It's not my best sketchie - it was made a year or two ago - and he looks somewhat different than my later Hypersensitivosaurus drawings, but hey, this is an Alter Ego and Alter Egos aren't perfect.
In case you're interested, here's the post where I first introduced this fellow:
The Story of a Velocirapper called Li'l Hyper - creativity, spirituality and the hero's journey
It also includes a li'l ( text ) rap ;<)
Two days ago, while on a walk, a rap/ rhyme / poem came to me. As I think in dinos, stories ( and movies ), Li'l Hyper soon came to mind.
The whole intro of this post was inspired by the title of this ( fragment of a ) rhyme. While I wrote it down, the happy nation ( living in a happy nation ) refrain of Ace of Base's song came to mind. That is how my brain works...
So, if you have indeed listened to 'Happy Nation', it might pop up in your head, while you read the following:
Hyper Nation / Hiber Nation ( By Li'l Hyper )
We are living in a hyper nation
a world filled with information
No wonder people need serious hibernation
Information overload
please give me an overdose!
so I can hibernate
before it's too late
It's injected
whether you reject it
or not
you have it
whether they detect it
or not...
asleep or awake
you can't escape
That's all folks. It's what my hand wrote down on a piece of paper, before my mind tricked me into walking home again, before sunset.
No need to explain what kind of message lies behind most of the lyrics, right?
I can't help but think that many of us wish that they could hibernate through more than just the Winter season. That the more geekie ones of you wish they could be frozen, only to be woken up / defrosted, again, when things are back to normal ( or when we have reached our destination ). Kind of like the space crew in "Children of Time", a book that I'm reading these days.
I certainly have felt like this, many times, in the last two years or so. I am not gonna lie. But - now I think of it - I have felt the same about many uncomfortable situations in the past:
If I could only sleep now and wake up afterward or if I could only wake up now ( wishing this was just a nightmare ).
I guess it's called avoidance or escapism and based on not wanting to deal with your fear(s).
I seem to have reached a point now, though, where I am getting better at surfing the waves, at facing my fears, at letting things happen and making the best of the ride.
What about you?
Are you ( still ) living in a happy nation?
Or are you feeling hyper, due to all the information
and can't you wait to start your hibernation?