C. Daniel Boling: Listen to Music

• MP3 play whole song, hi-fi (broadband)
• MP3 play whole song, lo-fi (modem)

One of the most vibrant and charismatic men I have ever known called me in the middle of the night -- shattered and at the end of his rope. I went and found him and brought him home with me, and over the next few days he explained as best he could the depths of the paranoid schizophrenic crisis he'd been experiencing.

A lot of folks understand this song right off. A lot of folks misread it completely. I guess you have to have been there.

PERFECTLY STABLE

Yesterday morning you came to my door with a smile
Saying that you’d found the answers that haunted your mind
In each word they’d said to you, each line she’d written
You read things that I couldn’t see
You showed me the words and the letters and waited
Expecting translations from me

And the “a”s and the “e”s roll over
And an “r” on its own falls down
But the “o”s are all perfectly stable because they’re round

Nine years ago when we met you were larger than life
The sparks in your eyes showed a barely controllable fire
Charging unchained and unbridled at challenges
Pausing to wink back and grin
Throw back your head and fling open your arms
And you’d welcome the world to come in

Now the “a”s and the “e”s roll over
“u”s point upward, “n”s point down
But the “o”s are all perfectly stable because they’re round

It’s a mind game someone’s played on you
You’re convinced they know something you don’t
And you’ve struggled nine months now to find the key to unlock it
And found that it won’t

And the “a”s and the “e”s roll over
Double “s” makes an evil sound
But the “o”s are all perfectly stable because they’re round

Dismayed and discouraged you’ve come to mistrust everyone
No will to move forward but, thank God, too strong to be done
Lost in regrets and wrapped up in self pity
You wander and sink in the mire
But deep in your eyes I still see the banked embers
Just waiting to burst into fire

Still the “a”s and the “e”s roll over
And an “r”on its own falls down
But the “o”s are all perfectly stable because they’re round