Interpretation of “Here” by Trypes

For this entry, I am interpreting one of the many ever-relevant songs of the Greek rock band Trypes (Τρύπες). The title of the song is Here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1uePbLKaAY8. Not only is this an uplifting live performance with memorable music, it also communicates a profound message.

Below are the original lyrics, my faithful translation of them, and subsequent philosophical commentary. Also check the previous entries about Trypes:

New dizziness (2022-08-01)
Train (2022-06-28)

Εδώ

Ερμηνεία:  Τρύπες
Στίχοι:    Γιάννης Αγγελάκας
Μουσική:   Μπάμπης Παπαδόπουλος


Εδώ δεν πιάνουν οι κατάρες, δεν πιάνουν οι ευχές
Εδώ το τώρα ζητιανεύει λίγη πίκρα απ'το χτες
Εδώ οι άγγελοι δεν κλαίνε ούτε γλύφουν πληγές
Εδώ η θλίψη δεν κερδίζει ποτέ

Εδώ οι μέρες ταξιδεύουν σαν χελώνες νεκρές
κι εγώ τρεκλίζοντας τις ακολουθώ
Εδώ οι σκέψεις ζωντανεύουν ναυάγια, πυρκαγιές
Καίγομαι ολόκληρος εδώ και ξανασβήνω εδώ

Εδώ οι νύχτες δεν διψάνε γι'άλλες άγριες γιορτές
μονάχα σκιάχτρα τραγουδάνε με καρδιές δανεικές
Εδώ πεθαίνουν νυσταγμένοι οι τελευταίοι εραστές
Εδώ η θλίψη δεν κερδίζει ποτέ

Here

Singer:  Trypes
Lyrics:  Yiannis Angelakas
Music:   Babis Papadopoulos


Here grudges are ineffective, ineffective are the wishes
Here the now begs for a little bit of bitterness from the yesterday
Here angels do not cry nor lick wounds
Here grief never wins

Here the days travel like dead turtles
and I follow them while shaking
Here thoughts revive shipwrecks, fires
I burn entirely here and abate again here

Here nights do not thirst for more wild festivals
only scarecrows sing with borrowed hearts
Here the last lovers die from sleepiness
Here grief never wins

While every piece of art has many truthful meanings, the one I feel the most for Here is the sense of peace we get when we have presence in our present. In other words, when we take the here-and-now for what it is, choosing to no longer yearn for a past that cannot be recreated or daydream about a future that is not realisable.

The titular “here” is both a physical location as well as a state of mind. It is about where we are at any given moment, with the prevailing conditions at play. We have situational awareness in appreciating what is and in recognising what cannot be. This awareness is rooted in a mindset of accepting what our immediate experience is subject to.

Acceptance does not necessarily mean that we are happy about what is. No. It simply is a recognition of how things stand and, thus, an admission that past and future are, strictly speaking, irrelevant to what unfolds right now.

The way we treat our present conditions us to think in one way or another. If we are in the mode of comparing the present to some glorified past, then we are in the process of counting our losses. We are sad and are bound to become more miserable. The reason is that we see in the past a value for which there can be no alternative, as if life only has one answer to it, one way of how nice things can happen, and as if one size must necessarily fit us all. Yet nature likes to surprise us, to teach us how little we truly understand of what we think is ours, and to expose our dogmas as ignorant opinions.

Past experiences may have been pleasant, but so can the current and future ones. Not necessarily in the same way though, but in their own right as diverse expressions of the continuum of life that is the cosmos. “Here”, then, is a place of bliss when we no longer insist on a specific type of experience; when we let go of our obsession of what our good outcome is.

We have to put our faith in the world, to trust that it can yet prove us wrong and naive. In the here-and-now, we relinquish the expectation to have things a certain way, accepting instead that we go with the flow of the phenomena, immersed in a world whose workings are beyond our control. There is a serendipity to this disposition that cannot be found elsewhere. It requires open-mindedness and the courage to challenge what we think we know. What we had may have been decent, but it was only one perspective on the vastness of the cosmos, which could not possibly show us everything about the greater whole.

Being present in the “here” is ultimately about having the guts and tenacity to explore what you may become, friend. Muster the strength to dry your tears. Then make small steps towards the “here”, to appreciate the little things all around you. Stop being a maximalist. Let go of the misbegotten notion that you can have perfection all around you or, worse, that you are somehow entitled to it. When you want everything, you get nothing. Plus, you are not perfect yourself, so why expect others to be that for you?

“Here” is where the stray souls finds their home. And we are all waiting for you to join us.