One day, in a town where I used to live, I read a newspaper column about random snippets of conversation overheard in a restaurant, a theater, and on a bus. In the article, the journalist comprised a few of these overheard conversations: some funny, some inane, and some that didn’t make any sense at all. Then and there, I challenged myself to write a song one day with these vocal snippets. Today’s video is the result.
As juxtaposition to the song, I used Botticelli’s painting “The Birth of Venus.” Visually, it is a beautiful scene awash in allegory and mythology, very different than the real-life conversations from the song. Botticelli painted a full-grown Venus who sails in from the sea on a giant shell. For his model, a clam shell, or a scallop shell (as a marine biologist has said), or even imagination seemed appropriate for the womb of Venus’ “birth”. This detail is meaningless. One can still appreciate the beauty, and yes, the believability, of the overall picture despite the size and shape of the shell.
Similarly, one can appreciate the art of conversation now matter how overdramatic it gets at times. Let’s keep talking. To be a good conversationalist, you have to be a good listener too. One day, we could find ourselves saying nicer things about each other.