Musician Chilly Gonzales (born Jason Charles Beck) hates bananas. I’m not that fond of bananas myself. It’s that sticky, doughy texture. Our mutual dislike of bananas is a trivial idiosyncrasy, the same as with probably millions of people. However, there are other important things about which I feel the same way as he does, which was a pleasant, but unexpected, discovery. This world-famous, award-winning, masterful composer and pianist, this enthralling performer, made me feel that I was on the same page (pardon the pun) as him, while I was reading his book, ENYA – A Treatise on Unguilty Pleasures. (Not ungodly, unguilty.)
He spoke to me: me, an amateur, fiddling around on Logic Pro, making things that could, if one were kind, be called “songs”. To make that kind of connection with a reader takes superior writing skill. The blurb on the back of the book describes it as “crisp, erudite prose”. It certainly is. But more than that, it made me listen for new things in songs that I thought I knew well.
Having read it, I realized some useful things about owning your music creations, self-expression, lyrics, ENYA, Chilly Gonzales, and everyone else’s taste in music, etc. To find out what, read my post on sevencircumstances.com, linked below.
What is your unguilty pleasure?
Jan. 4, 2022
“How did this happen? Firstly: I actually understood right away what he means. Secondly, I could immediately apply the arguments to the composition I was working on. Thirdly: It made me go and listen to Enya’s music. I thought I knew her music, and Gonzales’ music and basic approach to composing, but reading the book led me to many new angles and ideas. So, to those of you who do not write or perform music or lyrics, I say do not ignore this half-size paperback of a mere 61 pages of text, because Gonzales confronts the reader with questions and possible answers about core aspects of the creative process, whether it is creating fiction, poetry, lyrics or music.” Continue reading…
