Clothes Removal

One of the first bands I got into in a big way, though they were a big thing before my time, were The Kinks. They wrote some wonderfully idiosyncratic pop songs. Like Ape Man.

“In man's evolution he has created the city and
The motor traffic rumble, but give me half a chance
And I'd be taking off my clothes and living in the jungle”

But my word, there are so many clothes to take off these days. Aren’t there?

It seems to me to be a very complicated journey getting back to Simple, or even to Simpler, if those happen to be the destinations we want to reach.

We often find ourselves putting on another new layer of something before managing to discard ones that had come to seem unnecessary. Like engaging in cyclical crash and burn diets. Calories off. Calories on. At the end of the day still feeling like a modern day Michelin Man. Buried under layers of tyres. Very tired.

And wondering where our inner Apeman has buggered off to.

I don’t really think he’s gone anywhere though. In my saner moments I hear his primordial tongue whispering at the edge of my consciousness.…”Just sing that song”….”Go for a walk”…. “Turn off that bright screen thingy” … “go into the garden”….”play with the grandchildren” … “daydream a while”… “don’t click that button!” …. “Climb a hill”.

That kind of thing. Less about discarding. More about doing. `

I think it was Apeman who mentioned the Homesong idea. And these days he’s saying “Don’t let the things that are all about Simple, become another layer of stress”.

And when I listen, my clothes often seem to fall off of their own accord.