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Scribbled Lines

Original Post - 04 Sep 2025 - Michael H. Scott

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Like many people who were, have been, or will be around for long enough after 1973, every listen of Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon amazes me. The album covers themes ranging from greed to existentialism.

My standout track is Time. Most of the song’s lyrics hit right on the nose:

The sun is the same in a relative way, but you’re older
Shorter of breath and one day closer to death

But other lyrics are less direct:

Every year is getting shorter, never seem to find the time
Plans that either come to naught or half a page of scribbled lines

Actually, the first line is pretty clear: life gets busier as time marches on.

But listening to the second line, before the internet and its abundance of lyrics databases, my 90s teenager self could never make out the words. I thought Richard Wright was mumbling about plans that “come toward” (“to naught” was not familiar to my American ears) and “having a sense of peace of mind”.

If I had known the phrase was “half a page of scribbled lines”, my 90s teenager self would not have understood anyway. Now I get it though–the message is to pursue your creative outlets before it’s too late.

It might be the English way, but hanging on in quiet desperation is not the solution. Instead, get off your piece of ground and build clocks, join a band, make quilts, brew beer, write poetry, paint mosaics–anything outside your position description will do. Follow through on plans and carry your creativity out beyond a few ideas, random notes, and false starts.

Whether you like it or not, the sun will continue racing around to come up behind you again.

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A one minute read, the time is gone, the post is over. Now go create something!