horation ode

the dj in charge of my soundtrack, the inner one, the bits and pieces that make a sonic collage of our waking hours, popped a new tune into my head yesterday. i found myself humming and singing parts of the song. i've not heard the piece in years and tho i've never been a huge fan of the band i always liked this particular piece of music.

perhaps there was some reason operating on the back end of my subconscious that needed this tune. i've been fairly stressed and i suppose the dj needed to remind me to chill, that life is short and this day will never happen again. perhaps the answer was the name of the band which might've been a direct reference to the philosophy of the sublime.

or maybe not. whatever the referent of the band's name sublime skateboarded the 3rd wave of ska in the 1990s into a half-pipe of success with their song 'what i got' cresting the charts. the song is indeed an ode to living large but its humility and love of life is i think an heir to mr flaccus.

horace, as you recall, wrote about seizing the day while you can and not worry about aging and death because, as donald hall said in his collection of horation odes, the museum of clear ideas [ticknor & fields, 1993], worrying about death does not prevent death and only hastens dying. dig as you will these lyrics by sublime:

life is short so love the one you got
you might get run over or you might get shot

* * *

i don't cry when my dog runs away
i don't get angry at the bills i have to pay

i don't get angry when my mom smokes pot
hits the bottle and goes right to the rock

* * *

let the loving let the loving
come back to me

the humor and sadness makes i think horace smile in recognition. of course i'm making a literary conceit here comparing sublime to horace but unlike most pop songs that want to comfort with a shellac of fey references and emotional brinkmanship with a bargain basement level of kitschy goodfeelings, sublime rather amps the intellection of their piece by stating that life is shit but even the experience of shit can be a good time and while we are having a good time remember to practice humility too. therein lies an emotional sophistication that girds but does not contradict the rather outrageous statements of the lyrics.

horace preferred in his carmina lightly watered wine which contrasts, by a bit, with sublime's dope smoking, 40 once drinking, smack hitting southern california aesthetic but the richness of life is one they both share. 'loving is what i got,' says vocalist bradley nowell which is the work of life and horace seconds it in this prayer:

apollo grant that i be satisfied
with what i have as what i ought to have,

and that i live my old age with honor,
in health of mind and body, doing my work.
[translated by david ferry]

the work of nowell was cut short when he died of a heroin overdose in 1996. horace lived to a relatively ripe age and did indeed do his work. it might be a stretch but i think apollo would recognize this song by sublime as a worthy heir to senor flaccus.