CHANGE

"Change change change see it all the time
Look look look I could write a book about my life

Baby blue I love you
Look look look I could write a book about my life

Change is coming just like the sun
Change is coming you better run

Baby blue I love you
Blue blue blue I could write a book about your life

Change is coming just like the sun
Change is coming you better run"
                             Marc Bolan - Zinc Alloy & The Hidden Riders Of Tomorrow
                                                        A Creamed Cage In August

Another so-called simple song by Marc Bolan but then again, the theme here is most important. Few sentences were enough to convey a universal wisdom:  "Change change change see it all the time" : everyone can witness changes around oneself. Our own body changes and grows older each and everyday. Our perception of people and things do change regularly as well. Matter itself must abide by the laws of time, as once sung by George Harrison in All Things Must Pass as nothing lasts forever. One must remain conscious, "see it all the time", and not fall under the spell of illusion thinking oneself to be above the laws of nature.

"Look look look I could write a book about my life": indeed Marc could write a book about his life. This song was released in 1974 and from the early days of Toby Tyler to John's Children, from the Tyrannosaurus Rex fantasy world to T.Rextasy, eons of time had past already for the poet; few years only for the audience. Marc lives his life in the fast lane knowing he may not be living to be thirty years old. The same year, the Rolling Stones release a most striking song as well, Time Waits For No One, in which Mick Jagger sings "Time can tear down a building or destroy a woman's face; Hours are like diamonds, don't let them waste; Time waits for no one, no favours has he, Time waits for no one, and he won't wait for me." In the next verse, Marc Bolan changes the same sentence into "I could write a book about your life", knowing that we all live similar experiences and that no one can pretend to be able to avoid "changes".

One is immediately reminded of Bhagavad-Gita when Krishna tells Arjuna: "O son of Kunti, the nonpermanent appearance of happiness and distress, and their disappearance in due course, are like the appearance and disappearance of winter and summer seasons. They arise from sense perception, O scion of Bharata, and one must learn to tolerate them without being disturbed." The spell of Maya is so strong that one identifies oneself to be the material body and is thus subject to happiness and distress. Marc Bolan sings: "Change is coming just like the sun". No matter what, change will occur as every day sees the sun sets. Then he adds: "Change is coming you better run": certainly Marc didn't mean one should try to run away, instead, he specifies one must get ready to face change and go with the flow, and because time flies, there isn't a second to waste. Change is already happening and one who isn't aware may realize much too late that time, indeed, didn't wait. On the other hand, Krishna says in the following verse of Bhagavad-Gita that "the person who is not disturbed by happiness and distress and is steady in both is certainly eligible for liberation." ...or, while one is still living in this material world, the priceless gift of peace of mind.