"Daily Rebirth(Ohh Lord)

Daily Rebirth (Ohh Lord)*

“Death. The only inevitable truth that we know. After surviving the last 33 years, death has become something that I no longer fear. Over the course of the last three years, I have ardently exposed myself to as many different traditions and schools of thought possible. While the acknowledgement of death is ever-present in each, modern interpretations, particularly in the west don’t seem to accept the one thing we know about our life: eventually it will end. While ancient traditions typically describe death as the beginning of a new life, the modern versions of each seem to have replaced a reverence and celebration of life at death with fear of hell and industries aimed at ensuring that life does not end, even if the quality deteriorates drastically. I wonder if God thinks we are childish. I wonder why the religious and political leaders of our world have taken such a dramatic turn away from death and its inevitability. It seems to me that, since we know this specific life will end at some point, we could be encouraged to use our time here productively and joyfully. Death, after all, is not the end. I want to find a song that helps us realize that we can become friends with life AND death. A song that will remind us that each day on Earth is a full life in itself. A song that teaches us how to be reborn every single day and to spiritually die each and every night in order to be .”

The above excerpt is my best attempt to summarize some of my journal entries written around December of 2015. As that year was winding to an end, I was struggling to find balance in the Music. I had been immersed in Hindi religious and philosophical study for months and was learning very much. I found the literalness of death in Hindi to be refreshing. It led me to a different perspective. One of perpetual life. Also, one with two halves that are really the same whole. While my intellectual spirit was receiving nourishment from my studies, it had been quite a long time since I had discovered a song in full.

Hindi had also lead me to learning more about George Harrison. His song My Sweet Lord has always been one of my absolute favorites, which was ironic considering that I was not particularly religious growing up. I had recently heard an interview with him where he said that his goal was to make a song that could accommodate all religious beliefs while still staying close to the concept of a Lord. He also wanted to include the Hare Krishna Mantra that had been so valuable to his own spiritually guided Musical journey. I loved these two concepts and had spent plenty of time sitting with them in contemplation. One evening in my office while contemplating the conceptual and perpetual nature of death, my spider sense went off and I picked up the guitar. The air of the room thickened and suddenly I was confronted with what undeniably seemed to be the spirit of George Harrison. I could feel his presence internally and externally. I can still hear his voice. “Death and Life are the same William,” he said. A song began to play. The guitar was simple and effective. There was a choir singing a mantra in Hindi. The lyrics were even there. “When you decide it’s my last day, take me home Ohh Lord. Amidst the very last breath I make, take me home Ohh Lord.” It was beautiful.

The song “Daily Rebirth (Ohh Lord)” is designed to reflect the inter-dependance that we share with God in regard to how our moments are experienced, not only in life, but also in death. The time that this song showed up was a very intense stage of my spiritual journey. Death was so present in my life at the time that I was forced to accept my own mortality in a way that was simultaneously scary and emancipating. Once the final arrangement of the song was in order, I began to play it in full. About halfway through, my stomach knotted up I a way that I had never experienced. I began to sweat profusely. By the time I reached the last chorus, I felt death so overwhelmingly surround me that I literally accepted that I might actually die.

Luckily, when I finished playing the song for the first time I was still alive. I kept hearing that Hindi choir. The melody was quite clear but the words were evasive. As the song was about graciously accepting death in order to live in the present moment with the Lord (Love), I knew that the underlying meaning of the chant must be about a blessed life. Consumed, I spent the next day and a half looking for the Mantra. Finally I came about a section on Rama, an Avatar of Vishnu considered to be the Supreme Being. The Mantra I found is simple in meaning. Praise to Rama for blessing our lives.

Rama: Om Apadamapa Hartaram Dataram Sarvasampada Loka Bhi Ram Am Shri Ram Am Bhuyo Bhuyo Yamam yah ham

It fit with the melody perfectly. I decided to work with the Mantra for a couple of weeks before committing to it fully, but its power was easily identifiable and wonderfully gracious from the get go. As the year was coming to an end, I decided to commit to making progress on the production of Daily Rebirth starting on January 1st, 2016 until it was finished.

It took 31 days working between 3 to 13 hours per day to complete the track by myself. It is the first Song that I played all the instruments, sang all the different parts and engineered on my own. Up to this point, I have shared the song with plenty of people but it has remained un-released. I have been letting it marinate for the last 8 years until I truly felt like I was living an embodiment of its spirit in every moment of my life. I guess I must feel like I am because here it is. I hope you enjoy!

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