"Everything is Fine..."

Walking down through muddy, lower, poorly-lit ruts in the life path today.

I would like not to kvetch overmuch here, and focus instead on some positive things:

My wife felt really moved listening to former US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy give valid advice on loneliness, before, during, and after the pandemic.

Doing sweaty exercise in the morning, watching comedy and travelogues, however, has been my healthy self-medication since I started having panic attacks and not being able to sleep for up to 3 nights in a row.

Recently, armed with sleep of sometimes up to six or seven hours per night (this is a very welcome contrast to conditions before), I have been able to enjoy things I haven't been able to enjoy since November, such as writing pulp fiction for pleasure (the Terror of the Trdlo saga in March) and listening to sad music without slowly capsizing my own soul into a deep, sticky sea of tar.
I can listen to sad or disturbing music again and feel comforted that I am in a similar boat, rather than just getting pulled under by it. 
                                                  

I feel empathy for the fellow humans - young musicians - who covered the song below and made this video during the worldwide pandemic. They are acknowledging fears that a lot of us are facing.

The title of the song means, "Everything's fine, everything will pass" - I don't speak Russian, and don't understand the lyrics, but I think the protagonist of the song (or the video's interpretation of the song) is trying to reassure his girlfriend or platonic friend that, although things are scary, and although he's walking around their Russian panelák-building-filled housing development at dusk and at 3 am and they can't sleep, things will eventually turn out right.  Maybe she's reassuring him, too.  Maybe they are both trying to convince themselves and each other at the same time.

Click for an alternative way to reach the video:

Maxim Rudenko and friend do a great cover and video HERE

The original band who created this song is Несогласие - which to my Cyrillic-illiterate eyes looks like HE-CORN-ACNE, but really is Nesoglasiye - a Russian word which means "Dissent" or "Disagreement" in English.  They started a few years ago as a tight, energetic, but undistinguished punk rock band with songs like Haters Gonna Hate but have since evolved into something transcendent and Joy Division-esque.

A video at YouTube with image of the album cover

The idea of "Everything is fine" being said but conveying the opposite gets a different approach in   Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft's  Alles ist Gut (Translation: Everything is OK)

This chilling song intones a hypnotic pattern of messages: "Be still...still!  Close your eyes!  Please think about nothing!  Believe me! Because everything is OK." 

I imagine the protagonist shuddering in an underground bunker during a (nuclear?) war, fiercely clutching his child or his lover, trying to calm this person down, trying to convince himself that the horrific reality outside and nearby will not puncture the safety of the bunker.  Maybe muffled gunshots and explosions are sounding outside, coming closer.

Of course, this could be the full weight of an oppressive government, anthropomorphized, telling the Everycitizen to shut up and drink the Kool-Aid.  Or it could be something awful that is personal or domestic.

Any interpretation of the song finds the meaning that everything is actually NOT good!  

In any case, DAF is well worth your time to listen to.

Sadly, Gabi Delgado-López who was the core of the band with Robert Görl died this March 22, aged 61.

Also, the great electronic music pioneer Florian Schneider of Kraftwerk died April 21, 2020. 

Kraftwerk's Die Mensch-Machine was the first record I bought for myself in 7th grade.  My aunt was kind enough to buy me the English version, The Man-Machine at Christmas that year. For years afterward, whenever a friend let me on their high-school low-wattage radio station, I would beg to play the German and English versions on two turntables, one started slightly before the other. Out would crackle: "Wir sind die Roboter" then "We are the robots" shortly after.  It worked well to put the two records spinning slightly out of sync with the instrumental swirling part toward the end of "Neon Lights", too.
 
Anyway, take good care of you and yours and stay safe!