"So Simple" Part 1: Jamaica

To watch the video for "So Simple" click here

*For a full understanding of the timeline and context of this story, please watch “Walking Music” here.

Jamaica, May 2013

It was the second day of my planned “vacation” in the Blue Mountains and my friend Buru was eager and ready to go play some Music.   After a quick breakfast of Ackee and saltfish (Jamaica’s national dish), I grabbed a cup of Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee and we headed up the hill to spot off trail to jam.  Still unaware of the next leg of an intense journey awaited, I decided that I wanted to warm up with a song that was recently gifted to me by the Music, So Simple.

Colorado, March 2013

So Simple.  It's interesting to look back a decade and see that all of the answers that I have found fit the definition of those two words.  So Simple.  The song started off as a riff in my head that I couldn’t shake.  Dun dun da duna dun dun da duna du du do-do-do-do dun dun da duna dun dun da do-do dun-a-nun-a.  The riff repeated incessantly for days before I was able to sit down with my guitar and work it out.  As what I had been hearing in my head came to life through my instrument, a calm, easy feeling took over.  I repeated the riff, added some harmonics and a simple little solo/breakdown. I played it daily for at least a month as a way to feel connected.  No title; no words; just Music.  So Simple.

Finally, after hearing me play the song a couple dozen times, one of my friends told me that she loved the it and that it was sticking in her head.  I told her a little bit about what the song was doing for my spirit and she smiled.   “I am going to get some food.  Write the lyrics by the time I get back,” she said.

I had remained open to finding some words for the song and her challenge came at a time when all of me was eager to accept.  I grabbed my notebook and sat down.  I played the riff a couple of times and asked for the words that are connected to the frequency of the song.  I began to hear a heartbeat (90 beats-per-minute come to find).  The song emerged in full as though I was sitting the middle of an orchestra.   The lyrics flowed out in what seemed like less than five minutes:

“Feel the beat hit your feet its so neat complete

Retreat reheat the passion inside you

Pay mind to all who care

Beware don’t stare

Free your mind but go nowhere

Prepare to tackle all the fallacy

Seek the truth in all you see, we

Label all hypocrisy, mindless mental heresy

Breath in the air with me

Become your breath’s one destiny that’s life

So Simple

So so Simple

Not the heat of the street feeling old future’s bleak

Can defeat the heartbeat underlying inside you

Take flight to where you go with the ebb in flow

In time you’ll start to grow

Unscathed by the way they be

Keep thinking he and she will follow Love not greed in

Due time just plant a seed

And hope it grows into a tree

Breath in the air with me

Fulfill your heart’s true fantasy that’s life

So much potential

So So Simple

So, sit back tip your hat in the aftermath take what reminds you

Be grateful everyday, bring on what may in time define you

Celebrate as you come to know let the Love in-flow unite lets try to

Operate the world as one, having fun sharing peace and Love, true

Breath in the air with me become the one you know you’ll be that’s life

So

Breath in the air with me, fulfill your hearts true fantasy that’s life

So

Breath in the air with me become your breath’s one destiny that’s life

So simple

So simple

So simple

So simple”

The song rang out so loud that I thought I was going to fly through the roof.  The first time I played it all the way through, everything in the house; dogs, cats and snakes included, were dead silent and still.  I felt every hair on my body stand up. It was like time had stopped.  The song was literally healing my heart and clearing the energy of my house at the same time.  I already knew I didn’t care what anyone else said about this one.  It gave me a feeling of purpose.  The lyrics were worthy of striving for.  The vibes were Medicine and I knew it.  I played through it three more times so that I could find an outro and get ready for my friend’s return.  As she walked in the door the little child in me said “Are you ready?” She laughed.

I played the song and that was it.  My friend enthusiastically approved and “So Simple” was immediately adopted as my mantra.  Ironically, my life was about to get a whole lot more complicated.

Jamaica, May 2013

As I sat down on that beautiful Jamaican mountain top, the entire island got calm.  There was not a sound around.  The wind was non-existent.  Even the birds seemed to quiet their never ending melody.  I tuned the guitar by ear, handed the iPad to Buru and began to play the opening riff which lead seamlessly into the first verse.  As the word “breath” hit my lips during the chorus, the wind enthusiastically showed as natural accompaniment.  Throughout the second verse, it hung around enough to let us know that it was interested. Then, as I reached the word “breath” again, it made an undeniable gesture. Buru got the biggest smile on his face.  The wind was undeniably playing with me. The gust that showed up during the second chorus made the entire island of Jamaica dance, along with every ounce of my being. During the music break and next verse, the wind noticeably died down.  As if it knew the song before I played, once again, the wind showed up with the word "breath."  As I reached the end of the final chorus, everything on the island got incredibly still.  That is until I fumbled through the outro and the wind gifted us a brief round of applause as we were both left in compete awe.  It was truly an unexplainable and undeniable experience. So Simple.

Today

Since that day in Jamaica, nearly every time that I have sang and/or played “So Simple’ outdoors it has been accompanied by the wind.  Regardless of the weather or temperment of the day, it just seems to show up and remind me that So Simple is the way. As I have grown so accustomed to it, I am sometimes forgetful as to the way my spirit, body and mind were completely changed that day on the mountain.  As the song reached its pinnacle, so did the wind.   As the song came to completion, so did the wind.  Buru was changed.  I was changed.  Nature re-tuned us with the help of a simple little riff and a mantra for living: So Simple.  I have attached the raw video of our experience so that you can see for yourself.  Our planet is undeniably an instrument of Music and, should we choose to strike the right chord, she will accompany us so vividly that we can be forever changed.  I am grateful.  So Simple.

-William aka Wisoino, February 22, 2024

"So Simple feat. the Wind" May 2013