Substitute

The Man of the Sea, Rene Magritte

Maybe Cocaine - Nick Jaina

Classical economics posits that in the event of scarcity (or competitive pricing) one commodity could substitute for another, natural gas, say for coal. Surrealism suggests one thing might, plumbing the subconscious, representing the unmentionable, substitute for another: in crudest terms, a teacup for a vagina, a baguette for a penis. In Roland Barthes' structuralist interpretation, the act of narration, all telling, is a substitution, a way of representing events but not their meaning. I could go on...

So when Nick Jaina sings (stumblingly) Maybe cocaine/ Can ease the weary voices in my brain, I don't think it's "cocaine," but substitution. Scarcity, want, the inadequacy of words to express either. Cocaine substitutes, for food, for sleep? Maybe, Jaina is not sure, maybe cocaine. Maybe something, maybe nothing, maybe lack, maybe love. He is not a doctor or on T.V., but maybe cocaine. Maybe writing songs. Yes, writing songs; the words that plague his head. Language as desire. The desire for language. Could this be as simple as writer's block? Horns sigh in frustration, violins gasp and shudder. They don't know.

Buy the album The 7 Stations at CD Baby. Also, Jaina is a writer, even without a pen.

Elsewhere, the latest Contrast podcast is excellent--musicians introducing their own songs.