Raindrops keep falling on my head - Burt Bacharach
I spent some time with well know musician and Durbanite, Roly Struckmeyer, a couple days back. We met at a corner cafe under the new ‘green’ windmills that restaurants seem to be buying to save the environment. Only problem is the bats seem to be flying into them and chopping themselves in half. I have heard Roly play several times, but lately have been doing some work with him which has opened up the opportunity to get to know this incredible songwriter.
The conversation was one I could have over and over again. Amidst a fascinating life story I was interested by his comment that he wanted to be known as a ‘songwriter’ before ‘performer’, hence his hero being Burt Bacharach! Certainly great songs like ‘Let it Be’ have made more tin than some small African countries but for him this not only about the money. “I work off a formula when I write songs” he remarked “I pen down lines that I find myself thinking or saying. At some point the lines will marry and merge creating a song. Some of the songs you hear had their chorus written years before the actual verse!”
In essence, what I loved was that this was an amazing combination of thinking and doing, a beautiful relationship between what inward and what is outward. The contrast is musical in itself. Roly does what he does because he is aware continuously, listening to what happens around him. The result is songs which are an absolute expression of who he really is. His messages are powerful.
Our lives so often can be out of rhythm. To often we are to busy DOING to take the time to THINK. Your outputs slowly drain of an real representation of who you really are and what you were created to do. We can all take a lesson from one of Roly’s songs - Ferris Ride - which states;
‘Take this moment to unwind, cause time is what we try to find. Everybody loves the Ferris Ride, but we should still be dreaming of the rain’
“The Ferris Ride” Roly says, immediately making a repetitive circle motion with his hands “is that rut humans get into, round and round doing the same thing. What we most need to do is take a moment to think & to ask questions. Nowadays we dream of money, wealth etc (which keeps us on the ride!) and we’ve lost the basic love and togetherness that we used to have for each other as human beings.”
Roly says it all and through a piece of music and a humble guitar challenges us all to remember what is of value and to step off that Ferris Ride. Think and Do. Inward, Outward.
(Join Roly Struckmeyer and Gareth Gale as they join Appletree for the Ferris Ride experience in Durban, 28th january - see www.appletreelive.com for more details. Roly’s website is www.rolystruckmeyer.co.za)
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LifeLifeNow is written by Travis Gale who has spent the last 5 years running his own development business in South Africa’s corporate world and is currently involved in various long term partnerships with clients across a number of industries. Furthermore he has travelled to conferences internationally hunting down latest trends and insights. Having cycled around the world and survived a tsunami, his passion for crossing borders often lends itself to an interesting blend of stories and insight. He sees himself as a ‘change catalyst’ and displays strength in facilitating insight into the right spaces. Find out more at www.appletreelive.com