Be Yourself

"Be Yourself", the song by Audioslave. As far as I can recall, I think I first heard it in Ganand's room in the 2nd sem. I entered the guest room after dinner and found Sir there, headbanging to it with the lyrics on the screen. Since then, I've played it over and over and over again. I feel that a late night BC session is incomplete without this song.

When I was going home for the 3 month vacation last summer, I was wondering how I'll stay for 3 months without it. We had played it infinitely many times over, so it had become a necessity. Smiley had started worrying that we were killing the song. But Arjun had it on his laptop. He used to drop in every once in a while so that I could listen to it. But sadly, even Arjun didn't really like it. He said that the guitar is too repetetive or something. Why? How can one not like this masterpiece?

These days I play it less frequently, I have to pay some heed to my wingmates who probably stuff cotton in their ears as soon as the playlist reaches this song. I don't understand how people cannot like it. Once I downloaded it on Kesharwani's pc and played it, and to my horror, he didn't like it at all. He put it off immediately.

What do I like about this song? I like the vocals, though Badri thinks that the guy has a bad accent, I like the guitar. A portion in between two stanzas, is absolute GOD stuff. Tom Morello just sweeps you off your feet. I like the drums, I like the bass, the lyrics. The video is also fodu, set in a dark room with a tranquil kind of atmosphere. In short, I like everything about the song.

So, here are the lyrics:

Someone falls to pieces
Sleepin all alone
Someone kills the pain
Spinning in the silence
To finally drift away
Someone gets excited
In a chapel yard
And catches a bouquet
Another lays a dozen
White roses on a grave

To be yourself is all that you can do
To be yourself is all that you can do

Someone finds salvation in everyone
And another only pain
Someone tries to hide himself
Down inside himself he prays
Someone swears his true love
Untill the end of time
Another runs away
Separate or united?
Healthy or insane?

To be yourself is all that you can do
To be yourself is all that you can do
To be yourself is all that you can do
To be yourself is all that you can do

And even when you've paid enough, been pulled apart or been held up
With every single memory of the good or bad faces of luck
don't lose any sleep tonight
I'm sure everything will end up alright

You may win or lose

But to be yourself is all that you can do
To be yourself is all that you can do