For thousands of years, stories have been passed down from one generation to the next. Metallica’s song The Sandman is a retelling of a wisdom that is hidden.
Fables: From mouth to ear and then eventually printed into collections of fairy tales. Fables and stories need to be heard. If not, wisdom will find a way.
In far-flung centuries now forgotten, magical stories were kept and handed down from tribal meetings long, long ago. Then perhaps retold around the fire, to in more recent times, down the pub. Many of us have memories of stories passed down by grandmothers or grandpapa who cunningly wished to embed some wisdom in the heads of the younger generation. A bit like a beautiful large tapestry bag handed down from the Anunnaki people of the ancient Near East, all the way to The Jones family at number forty-two Limetree Avenue. Threefold, sevenfold tales have been put out there in the wind to spread, through many breaths, to land in the hair of another life. Answering questions we may have, bringing warnings, enlightening the naive, or teaching how to find contentment.
In recent years, the telling of fairy tales has been removed from schools and kindergartens. The silver thread of wisdom that was stitched through time by many a wise person, teacher, or sage must not be available to the young. Life is secular, all is lost unless you fit into the categorized role set for you. You will be like others and put a peg on your curious nose little one. The teaching that imparts the true meaning of fairy tales has been used to propel the wrong message into a soft, spongey, and very new little person. So, no wonder we find Cinderella and Red Riding Hood flung in the bin. And that’s a shame, or shall we say, a shaman speaking to us. Wisdom cannot be transmitted by those who are taught to teach by rotes or a marketing department. And if that’s all they are, then why not suppress them?
Devaluation is a cheap wax seal placed on many a scribe's handiwork.
With fairy tale books selling for fifty pence in the bargain bucket in charity shops, what has happened to those secondhand words, handed down through a thousand hands waving in the air as the story flows in the firelight?
The wisdom of words will always find a song.
Well, for me, that’s where my interest in a favourite song of mine comes in.
Metallica’s Enter Sandman from their self-titled album written by guitarist Hetfield is itself imparting knowledge that has been gathering for a while and finally erupted through this song. The words have broken through, maybe through the writer's experience of human behavior. The Sandman is the opening track on this self-titled 1991 album and it grabs you. Not only in the head but around the throat. Because, if it doesn’t, then you may have found yourself in a dreamy state of Lala Pollyanna land, where you mistake the henchman for a fairy. You see The Sandman tale was originally a sweet dream, a tale from Scandinavia which foretold of The Sandman arriving and throwing sand into children's eyes. Thus, making them close their eyes and fall into a magical realm where all is unbelievably good and just for eternity.
The writer E. T. A. Hoffmann (1776–1822) wrote a very different story of The Sandman. He cometh to children who craved being awake and sprinkled the grit into their eyes. The precious eyes would then fall out. Nasty Mr Sandman would then collect the eyes and take them back to his nest on the moon, made of iron, and dispense gleefully to his own kinder. Nourishing his children with the remarkable eyes he has collected. Cover and protect your all-seeing eyes and let them rest. (For what you do not value that glitters in the dark will be taken by someone who needs its power)
We could go on to Hans Christian Anderson's version, but this article is not about the tales that have been written in the near past and sadly chucked in the bargain bucket.
So, what is it about Tiggy, I hear you ask?
Well, it's about continuum. The never-ending reinterpretation of wisdom-lined stories that feed the inner psyche, impart seeds. If an angel cannot be recognized one way, then low and behold, the form is changed until one takes notice. Like an underappreciated, unrecognized sentinel that changes appearance over time to be noticed. One representation leads to another apparition of the word, symbol, or message until it is recognized and absorbed. A story will find its way, in the end to all who have their worldly and spiritual ears open.
Fairy tales and fables bubble underneath the surface and come out when needed in lyrics. Metallica The Sandman is a well-digested version of all the versions of The Sandman story. Divinatory or prophetical lyrics come out from under the skin through the mouths of those who have witnessed life as it is.
When our dream life shows us the not-so-nice it is always about the sometimes-deceitful behaviour of those other two-legged things we share this wer-ald with. The nighttime film comes to show us the wolfman, the dark predator that is lurking. Ignore it at your peril. That flying to never never land is for all. Should indeed be grasped, but facing the reality of the darker workings of not only us but others evens life out. What you see and what you hear, and receive is balanced in your middle, your stomach, by your gut.
Lessons: You can fly off to your rainbow, twinkly dust world, but you shall find Captain Hook. Or he will find you……
When life is unbalanced, what is on the other side of the seesaw must be seen. When one goes up, the other goes down. Balancing in the middle of the game called life must include both versions of the Sandman. I love this song, but would you play it to a two-year-old, probably not. But as we have put fairy tales in the bin, wisdom will find a way to be reborn itself.
And I think I'm going to stop there. After all, this is just my thoughts on a song by one of my favourite bands. A band I was lucky enough to see live on their very first UK tour all those years ago. We knew they were going to be big, but never expected the quality of literature and meaning that was gifted to us.
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Sonya Vukomanovic/Lawrence 22/01.24 ©
Photo: Egor Vikhrev https://unsplash.com/@egor_vikhrev
Photo by Egor Vikhrev on Unsplash
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