I better write the moral to this story first, because the article itself might get a little morbid…
…though that’s not my intent.
The moral being, “life is short, and most if not all of what we do is forgotten after we’re gone…
…but, if you’re lucky, you find this inner place of peace in the midst of all the chaos, and like with me, you’ll see that as the ultimate, eternal victory,
….no matter what life threw your way”.
Now on to the unintended morbid part (unintended, because everybody knows I’m the most “happy go lucky” dude walking the earth)…
“Maggot Brain” by pioneers of P-Funk, Funkadelic, is often referred to as
“The Death Song”.
That came about for couple of reasons, the first and most well known is that P-Funk leader, George Clinton, told his guitarist Eddie Hazel [below]….
….as they prepared to record the song in the studio, to “Play like your mother just died”.
…above, and below in front row left [with hat],
Eddie Hazel (1950-1992), original composer or “Maggot Brain”
The second, lesser known story is that George Clinton’s Brother, Robert was found dead and his body was decomposing…
….Clinton claimed that wasn’t why he made Maggot Brain, but later admitted that probably affected his subconscious mind as he produced the track.
Third, the “Maggot Brain” guitarist, Eddie Hazel died before his time at age 42, of liver failure…
…and his last request was granted, that “Maggot Brain” was to played at his funeral.
As “Maggot Brain” became a cult classic, it became a trend for musicians, especially guitarists, and particularly black guitarists….
….to have Maggot Brain played at their funeral.
Just for the record, this article is not a self-eulogy or anything, I feel like I got decades to live,”Maggot Brain” is not my death song, my death song is “Redemption Song” by Bob Marley.
…and I’ll probably always be too scared to record it.
It’s considered a “Rite of Passage” for every Black Guitarist to compose his or her version of “Maggot Brain”, and they’re right, when they say:
“There’s life before you record Maggot Brain”, with all its complexity and confusion, and there’s life after you record ‘Maggot Brain’, with all its clarity”.
Everyone who records “Maggot Brain”, as I soon found out, is warned to be prepared to go an inner journey.
And I can honestly testify to that, I got taken to this very introspective and contemplative inner space.
Though I didn’t take the psychedelic acid trip that Funkadelic took….
I went into this space where I was engulfed with processing about all this death that’s was around me in 2019 and 2000, mostly extended family, no siblings though.
I guess I been struggling with these deaths around me, from cousins and such that were more like best friends. Damn!!! We were so young and strong….
…they’re were passing away one by one, none of them even making out of their 50’s.
Just feels odd when I still got that feeling like there are decades and decades ahead of me, to live youthful, happy and healthy.
Often my mind gets the best of me, like, I think back to my mother’s generation, she passed away 5-ish years ago, I mean, her whole generation is now gone, literally wiped off the face of the earth.
…and now, my generation is up to bat. And inevitably, perhaps by the year 2090, my entire generation will be gone, wiped from the face of the earth. Like we were never even here.
I warned you this post might come off as somewhat morbid…
…though I got lucky, because my “Maggot Brain” song, as I got to the end of recording it, felt more like a Song of Life, specifically, appreciating life, as opposed to a Song of Death.
There was one thing that was eerily similar to my “Maggot Brain” that was the same as Clinton and Eddie Hazel’s “Maggot Brain”. Clinton originally recorded the full spectrum of instruments playing along with the guitar, keyboards, horns, everything….
…but Clinton said was so intoxicated by Eddie Hazel’s guitar, he faded all the instruments out, except for a little drum in the original mix (though there are alternate versions/mixes of the song).
That’s exactly what happened to me, didn’t see it coming, I planned mixing in synths, dramatic orchestra strings, and such, like a rock/soul/funk orchestra. But I got intoxicated off my own guitar, and eventually faded everything else out, except for a little drums.
Normally, I have my whole video composed even before I start recording the song, but this is the first time I had no clue what to do with a “Maggot Brain” video.
…but as I was sound testing my guitar sound after my first take of my recording, the reverb and echo sounded I was playing in the Grand Canyon.
So that’s where my mind sailed off to (without even having to drop any Acid or LSD LOL!!!), to shoot my video in the [virtual 🙂 ] Grand Canyon. I remembered the movie “Grand Canyon” where Danny Glover says…
“These Grand Canyon walls are laughing us, laughing with an eerie echo. They’re laughing because we think our little petty problems and lives really mean much”. [paraphrased]
Yep, we’ll soon be gone, and these canyon walls will be here for another 500 million years. And they will still be laughing at us…..
Luckily, my spin on it is pretty positive. Because even though the span of our lives is a blink of an eye, compared to that Grand Canyon, I feel like, what we do in this short space and time will echo through all eternity, and that’s how I’m gonna live it.
And that’s how I circle back around to the happy moral of the depressing story, in that, all you can do is what’s meant for you for you to do this short life, just express it, don’t think it has no meaning or value…
Just let life express that inner peace and joy you find, if you can find it, and just let it echo though those canyon walls of life, through all eternity…
…what else can we do???
Life, just like music, is all about…..
“…finding your ‘Frequency’ “
“…finding your ‘Vibration’ “
“…finding your ‘Wavelength’ “
-Doug Wallace (me)
~stay healthy~
Click here or photo below for all my tracks in….
“Music is the Best Medicine”!!!
(a.k.a., “The Soundtrack of My Life”) 
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2 Responses
Hey Doug, 2020 was a beast that left a stain on the hearts of many. I am glad that you are well. I love that you chose to amplify the positive side of your post. Positivity is needed more than ever now!
Stay safe/well
Lory
Hi Ms. Lory,
Yeah 2020 was a taxing year. Everybody coped with it differently, I had to, for lack of a better word, “unplug” to a certain degree. Lucky I had music to get me through COVID and the aftermath of George Floyd. Music is good “therapy” 🙂
Thanks for reading and commenting
Doug at GAIA Health Blog