How I came to know Nelly

[Thoughts and ramblings of Andy Neill on life, death, medicine, travel, GOD, the church, music, books, canoeing and err... volvo 850s. ]

Preparation time: roughly 26 27 28 years

Simply combine an over active and imaginative mind with roughly equal portions of ben folds, divine comedy, jack kerouac, aimee mann, captain cameron, iain archer, oxygen toxicity, the sweet and the sour baby, duke special, life death and the in between, tom wright, the amazing pilots, wilco, ryan adams, caffeine, david mcnair, alister mcgrath, the endorphins, van morrisson, the frames, two door cinema club, david kitt, douglas copeland, radiohead, the black seeds, sigur ros, cs lewis, death cab for cutie, paul simon, iron and wine, jose gonzales, (the lovely) natalie imbruglia, josh ritter, jonny cash, genesis to revelation, jeff buckely, the wittenburg door, hope of the states, hi fidelity, uisce beatha, gomez, (the even more lovely) gemma hayes, kurt vonnegut fast emperors, element, the endless ocean, elbow, the doves, decemberists, damien rice, brian houston, the lowly knights, barenaked ladies, bloc party, arcade fire, pedro the lion, the slow agitation of the relentless onslaught of time.

Simmer for 20 minutes on low heat, let stand undisturbed on a beach in the dark for several hours, season with irony, hyperbole and sarcasm, then relax and enjoy.

Combinations of letters in sequence to from cohesive ideas:

• The Great Divorce – CS Lewis – Heaven will not be like this I know, but I’m sure they’ll have a copy in the library somewhere
• Hi-Fidelity – Nick Hornby – Am I miserable because I listen to pop music or do I listen to pop music because I’m miserable?
• On the road – Jack Kerouac – Because he was so excited just to be alive
• Life after GOD – Douglas Coupland – this is my secret, that I am sick and need GOD.
• Rich Christians in an age of hunger - RJ Sider – will make you want to sell all the books and live in a cave eating beetle. But in a good way.
• Crime and punishment – Fyodor Dostoyevsky – Cause old books can be fun to read and not just to make you look smart and cultured
• Desiring GOD – John Piper – joy is kind of the point
• Confessions – Augustine – will reassure that 1600 years between you would not stop you from having a good old chat in the pub about “what it all means”
• Mere Christianity – CS Lewis – rational thought is worth something
• Ideas - Peter Watson – some 30000 years and no closer to the point
• King solomon’s Mines – H Rider Haggard – so that’s where they got all the indiana jones ideas from…
• Surprised by Hope - Tom Wright – so we don’t go to heaven when we die then?

Music that makes me feel like weeping:

• David Bazan/Pedro the Lion – cause if all that’s left is duty/I’m falling on my sword/at least then I would not serve an unseen distant Lord
• Bright Eyes – i have my drugs/i have my woman/they keep away my loneliness
• The Amazing Pilots – cause if you’ll let me be/I’ll be your pretender to the throne
• Iain Archer – cause if there’s only one way to heaven/i think that i just may be forgiven/if for just one second i thought it was you
• Duke Special – cause i don’t get in till half past three/and the shit i walk on comes in with me/but i don’t want nobody else but you
• The Arcade Fire – between that flick of the light and the start of the dream
• Ben Folds – cause there’s always someone cooler than you/nerds go wild
• Brian Houston - we don’t need religion/but we could use the love of GOD
• Wilco - We fell in love/in the key of C/we walked along/down by the sea/you followed me down/the neck to D/and fell again/into the sea
• Snow Patrol -Dr Jekyll is wrestling Hyde from my pride
• Sigur Ros – though i’ve no idea what they’re singing about
• The Divine Comedy – if heaven doesn’t exist/what will we have missed/this life is the best/we’ll ever have
• Radiohead -I’m the next act waiting in the wings/I’m an animal trapped in your hot car/I am all the days/that you choose to ignore
• Jonny Cash – early one morning while making the rounds/i took a shot of cocaine and shot my woman down
• Josh Ritter – what five letters spell apocalypse she asked me/i won her over singing WWIII/and we smiled and we both knew that she’d misjudged me
• Paul Simon – the doctor was smiling/but the news wasn’t good
• Bell X1 - “you’re such an asshole when you’re drunk” she said/at least i’m ok in the morning
• Sufjan Stevens – and my friends I’ve returned to wish you all the best
• Gemma Hayes – afraid i’ll forget you/afraid I might try to
• Eels – feeling scared today/write down “i am ok”/a thousand times the doctors say/”i am ok”
• Elbow – you know you drive me up the wall/i need to see your face that’s all/you little sod i love your eyes/be everything to me tonight
• Death cab for cutie – if heaven and hell decided/that they both are satisfied/illuminate the “no’s” on their vacancy signs/if there’s no one beside you/ when your soul departs/i will follow you into the dark
• Dave McNair – promises made that i’ve compromised/but you love me
• The Lowly Knights – a kiss to say good morning/a kiss to say goodnight/it’s not perfect but it sounds alright
• Captain Cameron – so much wrong i don’t feel strong/so much wrong with me/ so much wrong in all i’ve done/i need someone to have

I have been known on occasion to record music myself and you can find it here if you’re really that keen.