Everything is Borrowed

That is the title of the new album by UK rapper The Streets (aka Mike Skinner).
I do not often review albums that are not of a Madonna nature, but I have felt compelled to talk about this one simply because it has really stuck with me and helped me change my out look on things.
This will not be one of those dissections of the tracks ending with a mark out of ten/star rating/thumbs up, but instead this will kind of be a thank you to Skinner for making an album that I not only love to listen to, but gives me a new perspective in his simple statements about living.
There is nothing here that a million philosophers have not said before, but there is something so beautifully profound about the simple delivery of his ideas.

On the opening title track he lets his new agenda come out a-blazing. The human race in materialistic and constantly overlook the beauty around us. We all know this, this is nothing new, but sweet natured way he says this is enough to bring a tear to my eye.

“If it’s bleak, or if the week’s leaking down the street
or if any days wasted I want to face facts.
My time on this earth is my only penny,
wise is the gent counting every moment spent.
I don’t want to explain things, don’t wanna fill in the gaps,
I want to look at my friends and in that minute react

Memories are times we borrow
for spending tomorrow.

I came to this world with nothing
and I leave with nothing but love
everything else is just borrowed.”

He tackles religion and spirituality “Heaven for the Weather” and “Alleged Legends” the latter bravely taking down the teachings of the bible.
Ecology and the environment are also sung about. “The Way of the Dodo” is an amusing take on the state of the planet, and how, really, the Earth does not really need saving:

“It's not Earth that's in trouble
It's the people that live on it, oh no
Earth will be here long after we've all gone the way of the dodo”

Pause for thought. If conservation and environmentalism was spun in the media as the survival of the human race, then you are sure as shit everyone would recycle, turn off the tap when brushing their teeth and use their cars less. Self preservation is one of our top priorities.

After going after the bible, materialism and environmentalism he goes and tackles that lightest of light subjects, suicide with "On the Edge of a Cliff". Sounds bleak and morbid, but the way he approaches things with his lyrics and his pay-it-forward narrative makes this one of the most life affirming and uplifting suicide songs since “The Letter”.

“You gently take things slowly
You softly bowl them over
That’s the delicate way you’ve shown me
You’re the strongest person I know.”

So go the lyrics to one of the loveliest love songs about appreciating your partners differences I have ever heard. 'Strongest Person I know' is all sing/sung in his cracked and broken voice that brings an even greater vulnerability to this most wonderful private confession of admiration and love. There are moments in the song where you can hear a smile come to his lips as he sings in his off key way, as though he is singing right to their face and is embarrassed by how he sounds, but he continues on because of love.

I have already sung the praises of the last song on the album. “The Escapist” is not just a song about being on vacation, although it was for my on my summer break. It is a song about reminding yourself that you can get out of the self imposed cage you have put yourself in. Just walk out the door, and keep on walking and really look and the things you pass every day and take for granted. Never before has the thought of sunlight through a tree seemed more poetic, or more appealing…it is almost as if that simple everyday occurrence has the power the cure the world of all it’s ills. And maybe it does.
I will leave with this little thought I had while writing this. With all the problems in the world, and religion and industry being the main ones, if all the simple ideas of living a better life that Mike Skinner has talked about on his album were to become its own religion, well I for one would be a convert. I would be on my knees in a field, singing hallelujah to a honey bee and shouting Amen to the trees.

Watch the video, read along with the lyrics and enjoy. It is well worth your time.



“All these walls were never really there,
nor the ceiling or the chair.
I am eking weeks of peace on a beach
I see the breezes weave the trees,
these walls you find - they’re yours and mine
confined not by them I
I am in times that lie behind my eyelids,
the sunsets steal the rising silence,

I’ll not feel no fear
Cause I’m not really here
I’m nowhere near here

There’s no rain on roof that grates and beats me
my favourite tree breaking lights to pieces
sprinkling, sharded light on me
throw a stone as high as you can
and hearing with hand not hear it land
nothing taxing, dusting sand
my window and world spins and twirls,
the walls then fall, i recall the sore
white clouds white wash faded spotless
the weighty shadows, ranges of rocks
the cold is all illusion thought up
the stroll on the shore, snooze and explore
all possibilities in each new morning,
until satisfied reaching out, yawning
fish in a big dish, some rice and spice,
salt over shoulder never salted so nice
the truth I’ve told was silence sometimes
but who soul does not hide any crimes
wrapped in walls, encircled by work
the walls fall - this story occurs
no barrier, no boundary, all hours I please
the freedom to stay all stray
be fiend or friend, cause no harm but charm - the peaceful end

I’ll not feel no fear
Cause I’m not really here
I’m nowhere near here

Pale ancient woods, strewn white sandy bays
this ugly room pales away today
I am swimming, in the ocean
I sink slow motion
fingers, toes floating
every year til yesterday
seeing the eternal setting sea
I compare all this to me,
little fleeting momentary me
I blink my eyes, this is reminding me
life lies in the blink of an eye
the old die for reasons, new tide, four seasons
new life born is like changing
all these walls were really never there
nor the ceiling or the chair
I am eking weeks of peace on a beach
I see the breezes weave the trees
I am not here at all,
you dearly fooled,
I see busheling trees, the shush at the sea
the mischievous
fluttering seagulls
No!
I’m not trapped in a box, I’m glancing at rocks
I am dancing off docks
since this dance began
thats where i am

I’m not feel no fear
Cause I’m not really here
I’m nowhere near”