Jan
17
TRADE YOUR TIME, DECENTLY.
it’s thursday.
that day of the week when you feel like you are almost near the end of the week.
if you are anything like me, this is also the time you begin to get anxiety about planning your weekend. promising yourself to make the most of these precious days off. you guys don’t even want to see the lists i often make for my weekends (i think i’ve been carrying things over for years!)
i love my time. i like planning it and feeling fulfilled – yet i often feel unfulfilled when i don’t / can’t get to everything i aspire to.
i’m here to share you all with a song that has become a mantra of mine. when things feel overwhelming, when projects start to feel like they’ll never get finished – i put this on. it’s jeffrey lewis whom i adore for many reasons, but this song secured him a safe spot in my heart forever.
it’s about taking your time and looking at it as something you can profit from. trading it for knowledge and experience while also encouraging patience, exploration and getting involved with something new!
it’s a way i believe i’ve always lived my life – trying to experience as much as i can every single day.
time is gonna take so much away
but there’s a way that time can offer you a trade
time is gonna take so much away
but there’s a way that time can offer you a trade
you gotta do something that you can get nicer at,
you gotta do something that you can get wiser at,
you better do something that you can get better at
cause that’s the only thing that time will leave you with
’cause time is gonna take so much away
but there’s a way that time can offer you a trade
it might be cabaret, it could be poetry,
it might be trying to make a new happy family,
it could be violin repair or chemistry,
but if it’s something that takes lots of time that’s good
cause time is gonna take so much away,
but there’s a way that time can offer you a trade.
because your looks are gonna leave you
and your city’s gonna change too
and your shoes are gonna wear through
yeah time is gonna take so much away,
but there’s a way that you can offer time a trade.
you gotta do something that you can get smarter at,
you gotta do something you might just be a starter at,
you better do something that you can get better at
cause that’s the thing that time will leave you with.
and maybe that’s why they call a trade a trade,
like when they say you should go and learn a trade;
the thing you do don’t have to be to learn a trade,
just get something back from time for all it takes away.
it could be many things, it could be anything,
it could be expertise in middle eastern traveling,
something to slowly sorta balance life’s unraveling
you have no choice you have to pay time’s price
but you can use the price to buy you something nice
something you can only buy with lots of time
so when you’re old you blow some whippersnapper’s mind.
it might be researching a book that takes you seven years
a book that helps to make the path we take to freedom clear
and when you’re done you see it started with a good idea
one good idea could cost you thousands of your days
but it’s just time that you’d be spending anyway
you have no choice you have to pay time’s price
but you can use the price to buy you something nice
so I’ve decided recently
to try to trade more decently.
- jeffrey lewis, time trade – a turn in the dream-songs
listen to this song! now! and also, feel free to stay on my “good emotions” playlist to continue feeling inspired. how will you trade your time?
if you ended up here because you are already a jeffrey lewis fan, have you listened to his album with our friend peter stampfel of the holy modal rounders? it’s called come on board. (check it, yo!)
ps- i feel compelled to say that a lot of jeffrey lewis’ music is really kid friendly! i picture myself someday with a station wagon full’of’em, having sing-a-longs, kind of like what my parents did with NRBQ, except granted- we were singing about booze, accidental pregnancies and wacky tobacky… haha thanks moms and pops!
