Pink Floyd, Ā»TimeĀ« (from The Dark Side of the Moon,Ā 1973)
āDonāt waste your āgood yearsāā¦you blink, and half of your life goes byā
If you work with seniors or are around older adults a lot, a constant topic of conversation is the idea of time ā the time of day it is, āWhy is this taking so long?ā, how it feels like the year just started and now weāre about to start a new one, etc. And if youāre a relatively young adult like I am, you are constantly advised things such as the quote above, which was said to me by a senior unrelated to this project not even a week before I finished writing this piece.
Old or young, time always seems to be something weāre fighting against: for some, we feel like there arenāt enough hours in the day, while for others there is a struggle to figure out how to occupy oneself during the countless minutes of each hour that seem to drag out. As a child, a day can seem like a millennium if youāre waiting for a specific occasion or event; as an adult, a conversation I often seem to have with my friends and family is something along the lines of āI donāt know where the past month has gone ā it just flew byā.
When it was announced that this yearās theme week was lyrics, I immediately knew what I wanted to tackle: Pink Floydās āTimeā from their iconic 1973 album The Dark Side of the Moon. I canāt remember when exactly I first became aware of the lyrics of this song; like most people I was mainly familiar with the instantly recognizable clock intro during my childhood and my teen years. But I do remember being completely awestruck when I realized how powerful and brutally honest of an idea the Pink Floyd bassist, lyricist, and seemingly eternal pessimist Roger Waters tackled in the verses of this song. As a young adult who didnāt follow the cultural and societal expectation of immediately completing a university or college education right after high school, I had many days where I felt like I was ābehindā and that I had missed my chance to āstart my lifeā the way many of my peers had. Perhaps thatās why the final few lines of the first verse really resonated with me at the time, and are the focus of this piece today.
As Iām sure some of the other amazing contributors to this yearās theme week have mentioned in their pieces, lyrics are generally a subjective experience; what I might get from a set of lyrics may be nothing like what you draw from it. And there are so many factors that influence this: gender, country of origin, personal experiencesā¦the list goes on. But age (or, to put it another way, the amount of time youāve lived and experienced things on this planet) is arguably one of the biggest influences of how you perceive song lyrics and, perhaps, even how much you can relate to the message interwoven in the words.
With this in mind, Iāve opted to not babble on about this lyrical prose for 2000+ words. Instead, I asked friends, coworkers, friends of friends, and strangers what they take away from this block quote of lyrics. With the ages of the participants ranging from 9 to 90 you can really see how much the passage of time in oneās life changes oneās perception of āTimeā. All quotes, names, and ages are real and have not been fabricated.
āThis is [about] somebody young, and probably sad, because ten years have got behind he or sheā¦the person missed all of the chancesā¦itās not a great feeling.ā
āSomebody is sad, because somebody missed out on an opportunity or something they wanted to doā¦No one told them what they were supposed to do, so they screwed up, probably.ā
āThis is what I hear all the timeā¦āyouāre young, you have lots of time to figure out what you want to do with your lifeā, 'Stop being lazy and get your life sorted! Grow up already!ā Seriously, adults stress me the fuck out with these constant mixed messages! Just let us teenagers live our lives and stay the fuck out with your stories of 'time goes quicklyā!ā
āā¦although I am young now and it seems like I have the rest of my life to live, that life catches up to you faster than you think. It makes me think of the seniors I work with and how they are always telling me to be thankful for my youth and that it seems like just yesterday that they were my age. It makes me think of how they all tell me there would haves and could haves and wishes and how if they had of only done something when they were my age that maybe they would be in a better spot now. These lyrics also make me reflect on the past 4 years of my lifeā¦I have never been happierā¦ but it turn it seems like just yesterday i was living in Nova Scotia [Canada] partying every night. These lyrics to me are a symbol of the past and the future. They mean to me to not take the present for granted and to really live life.ā
āTo me, these lyrics say: donāt focus so hard on the endpoint that you miss out on whatās happening right now. Iāve been in school working towards various degrees my whole life and always looking forward to the point when I finally get the degree. But I feel like Iāve missed things along the way. I feel like society is always pushing us to reach the end goal, but then we somehow lose ourselves and forget to 'Live in the now!ā, as Garth Algar would say. These lyrics make me think of the Aerosmith line 'Lifeās a journey, not a destinationā. I think itās very easy to forget that. I donāt want to look back on my life ten years from now sitting around with my various degrees and thinking 'Wow, all I did was studyā and wishing I had taken more chances and opportunities to have fun with my family and friends. People are always waiting for their āadult lifeā to start, when they get the perfect job, etcā¦but your life has already begun and you need to start enjoying it!ā
āIt reminds me of when I first starting working at my new job, how three years ago I was living in a house with 3 friends and we were partying every night having fun. Now suddenly Iām 26 and have a career and responsibilities. I feel like if I didnāt go back to school Iād be stuck at bars every night wasting my life away wishing Iād done something with it. Iām glad I chose the path I did. Itās amazing how much you can grow in only three years.ā
āā¦ I think the feeling is encouraging, maybe to be ambitious and risk taking. Is telling me about making the most of every moment. I think at this time in my life [the song] is telling me to take chances, and be willing to make mistakes because thereās always time to work through it all.ā
āā¦thinking about where I am in life right now, and Iāve thought about where I should, or could be if Iād made different choices. Iāve also been thinking back to when I was 17 and 18 and how limitless my opportunities seemed back then, and it felt like I had all the time in the world. Now I feel like Iām accelerating towards 30 at a million miles per hour.ā
ā[The lyrics] could mean anything, butā¦Iād say: life doesnāt hold anyoneās hand. Thereās no guideline to what you want or should do [with] it.ā
āWhen my son was born, I kept saying I couldnāt wait for him to grow up so we could start playing catch and hockey togetherā¦next thing I know heās turning 11 and I realized I was so wanting him to grow up that I didnāt sit back and enjoy him being a young, mischievous little boy playing games and wanting to do stuff with me. Now heās 'too coolā to hang with dad.ā
āā¦a reflection on life. Live in the now, and do it now, because you might miss out on it, whatever it is. Taking chances, or your bucket list, whatever.ā
āThese words, reading them, is very bittersweet to me with my 40th birthday coming up. It feels like yesterday I turned 30 and had many things I planned to do as [a] 30-something. If I look back on what I wantedā¦I canāt. Many opportunities carelessly wasted. But Iām not dead yet. Thereās things you can still strive for even when you think youāre too old.ā
āā¦donāt waste time in your lifeā¦do it now, donāt waitā¦and donāt settle in your lifeā¦I look back at my last marriage. Iām easily the happiest Iāve ever been now, but there was all of that time wasted where I wasnāt.ā
ā'You are young and life is long, and there is time to kill todayā. Man, havenāt we all said that at some point?ā¦It sounds like someone who is my age and they arenāt where they want to be in life, and theyāre looking back realizing just how much time theyāve wasted, and their friends are productiveā¦it sounds like they arenāt where they want to be, but theyāre making up a shit excuse how no one ever pushed them to get there.ā
āThese words couldnāt be more true. When youāre young, you never think about this ageā¦this age that your parents were at when you were a teenager or [in your] 20s. Being a mom to 20-somethings, I look at them and think how great it would be to be that age again, with the potential to make your life whatever you want it to. But then I remember how stupid and naive I was in my 20s and Iām okay being almost 50 and way smarter [laughs].ā
āā¦you think you have all the time in the worldā¦for me, I guess I always thought I had more time toā¦get my singing career going, and you wake up all of these years later and go 'oh, Iām not quite where I wanted to beā. But Iām starting something newā¦and doing new things in the new yearā¦you hope it will be the best part of your career. Or your life, whichever.ā
āAll Iāll say is this: when youāre 25, you think youāre invincible and will be young forever. Then you wake up one day with bad knees, a beer gut, and a questionable liver because youāre 54 and made more bad decisions than good decisions at 25 because you thought you had all the time in the world to fix [bad] habits.ā
āIs this [Pink] Floyd?ā āThey always had a way with words. And in the case of getting old, I wish I had known about these lyrics long ago because I would have quoted it all the time. 'And then one day you find ten years have got behind youā? More like 'And then you find one day youāve got one foot in the grave and trying to tell yourself youāve still got lots of time leftā.ā
āI think [the lyrics] are saying getting old is bad. Getting old is only bad if you have a bad attitude about it.ā
āThis is wrong: life isnāt a race. Life is for you to do what you want, when you want. Yes, you donāt know when it is your time, but donāt make rushed decisions or big mistakes you know youāll regret later because youāre scared youāll die andā¦miss a chance at something. You have no control over when you dieā¦but, you have control over how you live.ā
āWhile I agree, it was different for meā¦Iām of the generation where women didnāt get a say in what they did. Be a nurse, a teacher, or stay at home and be a housewife. I was a housewife. I didnāt have the pressure you young people have today of making something of your lives, which I do and donāt wish I had. I look at my granddaughter, struggling to find a job she is happy with and [people] around here telling her sheās taking too long to figure this outā¦sheās 21 for Christās sake! She has time. But I canāt completely sympathize [with] your generation. I had simpler times, but times where we women were not considered useful except in the home. Thatās maddening.ā
āā¦if you reach my age, and your body and mind havenāt turned on you, you cherish every day of your life. Does time go by fast? Absolutely it does! And what they say is true: it gets worse as you get older. But if you have your health, do something every day you enjoy, tell your family and friends every day that you love them, have a small glass of gin, have a laugh and donāt dwell on what was or what would have been.ā
Iād like to thank everyone who graciously agreed to provide their opinion for this article. A very special thank you goes to B.P.M. Music and NYSC, both in Toronto, for generously allowing me to interview some of their staff and clients.
ā Katherine SpencerĀ // @thevinylkat
This is Katherineās fourth appearance on OWOB. Her first post covered Joni Mitchellās āBoth Sides, Nowā during our Songs of Love and Hate theme week.Ā
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