Filed under: Comment
While Tom Waites – and I’m sure you will have guessed – is not the sort of singer/songwriter that appeals to my sophisticated ear [ahem], I can’t help but find myself agreeing with what he’s saying in this quote.
It’s especially bad in my industry, where in our quest for acceptance and credibility, we are grasping onto any piece of information like a drowning man clings to a passing piece of wood … without always understanding that sometimes, we’re holding onto noise rather than knowledge.
And don’t get me started about the confusion between money and happiness.
Sure, money makes life easier, but happiness is a totally different state of mind – often only realised when something precious is taken away from us and then you realise you have been preoccupied with glitter, not substance.
Though I don’t agree with everything Mr Waites says.
For a start, there’s a lot of people who don’t even have any money, let alone guns.
Freddie Mercury would never have made that mistake.
But that aside, well done Mr Waites, I couldn’t agree more with what you’ve said, though that could also be because I talked about a similar thing way back back in 2011.
I know, that piece of news has probably devastated you … but on the bright side, it might inspire you to write another of your depressing little ditties which I’m sure some Guardian-reading, wannabe hipster [who drives a BMW and works in the city] will be pleased to hear.
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Freddie Mercury wouldn’t make that mistake because he was too busy writing shit songs and dressing like a blind man in a fancy dress store.
Comment by Billy Whizz July 28, 2014 @ 6:22 amThat could be the funniest comment you’ve ever written.
Comment by DH July 28, 2014 @ 6:25 amI wasn’t being funny. It’s fact.
Comment by Billy Whizz July 28, 2014 @ 6:30 amnice work billy. who wrote it for you because theres no fucking way you did. its funny for a fucking start.
Comment by andy@cynic July 28, 2014 @ 6:35 amI’ve changed.
Comment by Billy Whizz July 28, 2014 @ 6:42 amThat’s libel in my book Billy.
Comment by Rob July 28, 2014 @ 8:46 amSo says the man working in advertising who owns more property than Donald Trump and more stuff that a Sony warehouse.
Comment by DH July 28, 2014 @ 6:27 amI’m just jealous. I don’t doubt you mean what you say. I simply wish I could become cashed up despite myself. I can’t make green even when I’m trying.
Comment by DH July 28, 2014 @ 6:29 amall paid with my fucking talent and money. he took so much away from me he could qualify an an ex fucking wife.
Comment by andy@cynic July 28, 2014 @ 6:36 amBe careful what you wish for.
Comment by Tom July 28, 2014 @ 7:08 amIf I was that wealthy, why am I working like a fool? And yes, I know you don’t think I am – but I am – because I have to pay for it all.
Comment by Rob July 28, 2014 @ 8:47 amSo I guess your talent and money wasn’t as valuable as we all thought Andy. Ha.
Comment by Rob July 28, 2014 @ 8:47 amPete’s going to cream himself over this post.
Comment by DH July 28, 2014 @ 6:31 amYou’re right David, I do like it. I agree with Rob/Tom that there are many, especially those in business, who confuse and celebrate things like volume for value. It’s led to focusing on the wrong thing and bad decisions.
I don’t think that’s something only Rob and Tom Waits have recognised, but I do think there isn’t enough discussion about it going on. But how can there be when the media and ad agencies keep pushing possessions are more valuable than perspectives.
Comment by Pete July 28, 2014 @ 6:53 amBravo.
Jemma xx
Comment by Jemma King July 28, 2014 @ 6:59 amSo what you’re saying is it’s all Rob’s fault.
Comment by DH July 28, 2014 @ 7:03 amnever trust a fucker in a hat.
Comment by andy@cynic July 28, 2014 @ 6:35 amThat’s the title of my new album.
Comment by Tom July 28, 2014 @ 7:09 amcampbell. writing some pseudo philosophical bollocks with some tenuous association to what some fucker says years later doesnt make you nostrafuckingdamus. it just proves if you throw enough blog bollocks at the wall, some of it will stick even if its still fucking champagne fucking socialism claptrap.
Comment by andy@cynic July 28, 2014 @ 6:40 amLaw of shit averages.
Comment by Billy Whizz July 28, 2014 @ 6:42 amDamn. But I thought that’s how futurists did it.
Comment by Rob July 28, 2014 @ 8:48 amonly you would fucking compare yourself to even bigger fuckwits than you are. and thats saying something.
Comment by andy@cynic July 28, 2014 @ 9:29 amIt takes (crystal) balls to be a futurist …
Comment by Ian Gee July 28, 2014 @ 11:34 amI’ve always said it’s good to be a futurist because no one can say you’re wrong till the future you are banging on about, is the past.
Comment by Rob July 28, 2014 @ 4:35 pmSo you won’t be hassling me for the iPhone 6 when it’s released then Rob?
Comment by Bazza July 28, 2014 @ 6:55 amGold.
Comment by DH July 28, 2014 @ 7:03 amYou may have written something similar in 2011, but I said it in 2008, so I’m suing you for all your money that doesn’t make you happy.
Comment by Tom July 28, 2014 @ 7:07 amTo be fair to Rob, money doesn’t make him happy, houses, gadgets and birkenstocks do. By the way, I said a similar thing in 1987 so just send me all the money you get from him.
Comment by DH July 28, 2014 @ 7:10 am“Holding on to noise not knowledge.” I will be borrowing that.
Comment by George July 28, 2014 @ 7:20 amGood post Robert, even with the Freddie Mercury comment.
I thought that was the name of the blog.
Comment by Boom Tish July 28, 2014 @ 7:32 amI’m old enough to remember working before the internet was anything worth bothering, Back then doing research meant actually getting off your arse- or at least making friends with people at the ONS etc.
Comment by Northern July 28, 2014 @ 5:56 pmNow it’s not about information- we’re awash with it, it’s about what you do with and how you connect it.
Or actually going out an meeting people to dig a little under the surface.
If only you hadn’t devalued the post by bigging up Freddie Mercury and slagging off Guardian readers.
But since Fred and I are going to ask you a favour soon I won’t push it.
I saw a quote recently by Dan Brown that said “google is not a synonym for research”. How bloody true is that eh?
I still prefer the inefficiency of conversation with people of opinion than the illusion of effectiveness of the internet.
Don’t get me wrong, I use it a lot – but the older I get, it’s less for insight and more for recognising the masses of conflict that is going on that rarely gets discussed as we seem to love “convenient answers”.
As for the impending favour – as long as it’s not paying for flights to South Korea, I hope I can help.
Comment by Rob July 28, 2014 @ 7:30 pmIs it getting you tickets for Queen and Adam Lambert? I’d fly you both to South Korea for that. Ha.
Comment by Rob July 28, 2014 @ 7:31 pmIt is cheeky and it may well involve Queen
Comment by Northern July 28, 2014 @ 8:05 pmTom is fantastic. One of my favourite artists.
Comment by Marcus July 30, 2014 @ 3:03 pm