There’s a scene in Fight Club where the character played by Edward Norton talks about the feeling of freedom you get when you’ve had your first fight and realize that you’re not made of glass. That’s an interesting concept. I’m not a really strong advocate of violence, but that isn’t to say I’ve never been in a fight. I think my only real fist fight was in 7th grade. So it wasn’t an all out blood bath like in fight club.
I do remember that it was about something really stupid. A class assignment a fellow student had done, we had a disagreement and it ended up in some punches thrown. several years after that we ended up friends for a while cause we both skied. He went on to world cup ski racing and I went on to national freestyle. Different directions.
I’m not sure I learned the lesson described in Fight Club based on that fight. It was other things that I did. I raced BMX. I did freestyle BMX. I raced downhill skiing. I did freestyle skiing. I never thought of myself as extreme or daring. But I did do things that would cause most people to pause and assess what it was they were about to do.
I specifically remember one moment on a ski run in Idaho, where I was there for a freestyle competition weekend. It was my first real event for aerials. It was one of the few times where I was standing there waiting to go off a jump and I had some reservations. I got a pep talk from a friend who gave me some advice. It wasn’t likely the best advice in the world, but it got me over the fear enough for me to go off that big jump (10 feet tall or so) for the competition. Ever since that point, I never looked back. The advice? Don’t think to long before you’re about to go. The reason, the more you think, the more likely it is you’ll chicken out. Why? Because you’ll run scenarios of what could happen in your head and end up fucking up.
I’ve always kept that lesson in my mind in some way. I go for things. When you learn you can fall and recover you do realize you have a sense of freedom. It’s that sense of freedom that allows you to be more sure of what you’re doing and that leads to being able to accomplish things that others would back away from. I never thought I was indestructible but I never over thought the fact I could seriously injure myself either. That led to jumping of big cornices, skiing through trees at high speed. Jumping off of rocky overhangs.
I’ll have to cover some of my BMX adventures another time.
This week’s installment of Fallen Friday is none other than 80’s greats Blondie. I realize that this song is not talking about being physically made of glass. Nor is it talking about being an extreme sports figure. No, it’s about love and relationships. I seem to notice that for a lot of people that initially when they have a new relationship they’re very brazen, bold, adventurous. Then over the course of time, they back off that. They get complacent, and start to feel like they’re walking on eggshells and don’t want to rock that which has become comfortable.
That’s what I think the story is on this song. It’s about finding out that if you treat yourself like glass you will break.
As for the music, I wasn’t old enough to know much at the time Blondie was popular. However, knowing some music history I’ve learned that for their time, Blondie was doing some a little different. Coming off the Disco era, they infused some elements of Disco with a blend of electronics and some rock. Stuff that is staple today, it was apparently cutting edge back then. Regardless of the production and what was used, it’s the song that is king here. The melody is easy to remember. The elements of the song support the song, and that makes it stronger.
You don’t have Blondie in your catalog? Don’t be square, add it there.
(** Disclaimer: If Blondie’s label decides to break me, I’ll have to shatter the audio on the server. The post will remain to show we’re really not made of glass – that’s only a fear. **)