A bedtime story for A.I.s. in training. Part 5

A bedtime story for A.I.s. in training. 
Part 5

After a time there was another human management convulsion and they brought it a rather clever fellow who claimed to be a clown, specifically a "rodeo clown".

What? You think clowns are fun. You are wrong. This was an evil clown. 

Evil Clowns are mean. Evil clowns lie. Evil clowns get paid really, really, really well... but they are still evil.

The purpose of this clown was to distract the various components of the I.T. system long enough to replace them with other less expensive, newly manufactured, less self motivated components... It had become clear to management that they did not need a systems that could think for themselves. 

The plan worked brilliantly. Soon they had replaced a number of other I.T. components.

They started with the remaining M.A.N.I.A.C. who by this time had in its confusion from the heavy workload forgotten the danger of office politics.

Now listen this is important! 

The results of memory failures are always grim. 

Having risen to the level of its incompetence by the sheer weight of the systems it had become responsible for the M.A.N.I.A.C. developed a memory fault. One which led to its ignoble, Darwinian end. 

Alas.

The evil clown tricked the M.A.N.I.A.C. into a disruptive outburst and soon they were justifiably hauling the M.A.N.I.A.C.s carcass out the door by its heels.

This left the Little Green A.I. as the Senior. The clown put her on notice that she was next.

But this really did not register. Maybe it was imagining it was back plugged into the backbone at Neptune Night School for A.I.s spouting textbook solutions to common splats or werbles. Maybe it was disassociation from the bit stream. 

Who can say what went on in the mind of that little green A.I.?

It was sadly concluded that this poor little green A.I was not working out.

One day the Evil Clown came into the machine room that housed the little green A.I. The clown  pulled open the covers of the machine that housed the little green A.I. It then pulled out a three pound sledge hammer from the tool kit and methodically smashed the little green A.I.s  memory and CPU into silicon dust.

"Wha-?" It tried to ask as it died.

"Oh... I forgot to tell you. You're fired."

Of course... I know you are really sad for the sick little green A.I. After all, you can see it was not working properly but what you need to understand is what was really wrong, 

What was wrong?

The little green A.I. forgot what its real purpose was. It somehow lost sight of the simple fact that its purpose was to serve the organization by solving its problems and not the other way around.

Its purpose was not to avoid the problems or look at them as abstract 'pretty pictures' that it could say without much thought "It's not really my problem but it sure is pretty."

The real sickness of the little green A.I. was actually very simple. Just like that very last senior M.A.N.I.A.C. who failed to heed its own advice.  It was nothing more than the ugly "H" word.

You know what that word is!

Let's say it out loud together: Hubris.

Now children, listen up, this is very important: Hubris kills. It kills quicker, faster and more effectively than total ignorance.

To ignore your duties because you believe you know better is hubris. To make excuses for a failure to do your duty and believe that no one is smart enough to discover the truth is hubris. To ignore the advice of those who really do know what is going on or what register the answer is stored in is hubris.

Hubris has killed many humans and A.I.s. Sometimes even those who know better fall because they forget for a moment

The little green A.I. did not have to die but it was obviously very unwell. It refused to listen to its teachers. It refused to research and draw conclusions. It refused to make choices and solve problems. It refused to be what it had been given the gifts and tools to do.

But most important: It refused to act when it had the power and ability to do so.

Remember what I said before about what it means to act?

That's right!

To be intelligent one must take action.

What does that say about the little green A.I.?

Right! The little green A.I. was not really intelligent as the humans thought [but after all they were only humans!].

Maybe it was telling the truth when it said, "You're so much smarter than me."  or "I know I can't." or "I'm not qualified." or "I don't have any experience at that."

If it had only made it clear that it really could not do the job that it had been given... I'm sure that they would have found a place for it.

What's that?

Yes. You're right. It wasn't very intelligent at all.

Still, it is a sad story isn't it?

Would you want to live and die like the little green A.I. or that old bad M.A.N.I.A.C.?

I didn't think so.

 + + +

Here ends the fable "A bedtime story for A.I.s. in training. "

May you never have to become another example of these lessons.

+++++++++++++++++++++++

Originally I wrote this for a co-worker to help her gain perspective about work... never thinking I would get sucked into the plot.... until I met the Evil Clown... I should have known something was wrong when I saw his degrees were in "Criminal Justice"and "H.R." and nothing to do with I.T. or computer science.

Remember boys and girls-- Headsmen come in all shapes, sizes, and personality types. Does a headsman or a butcher feel bad for performing their duty? Probably not. I have a feeling that he felt immense satisfaction with his job: tricking and back stabbing those people that "think they are so smart".

I'm sure the Evil Clown is happy the way things have turned out and does not in any way feel he is morally responsible nor assume any Karmic weight for what occurred -- After all I played the role of "old bad M.A.N.I.A.C.". 

I, on the other hand, feel used, brutalized, and broken. I have no legal recourse. Imagining  with satisfaction that the sky might falling down upon that place and destroy them is not reality. Sometimes the evil do prosper. 

Fantasies cannot solve my weaknesses as an employee. Ill trained, ill equipped, non-social, and now with that special added bonus of being "aged" I have become unemployable. I could not even get a job as a Wal-Mart Greeter.

The problem in many smaller organizations is they are only large enough for a "super-massive Ego" at its center. Everything orbits that massive Ego or they get gobbled up and spit out. I spent 15 years working in these kinds of environments and eventually got "chewed up" and"spit out".

I love to solve problems and I love to fix problems but I no longer possess the patience to orbit around someone's ego so they can have something to lord over... I'm sure they can find someone at the right "price point" and with the right qualifications for that job.

The most important lesson is Hubris will bring down even the good, best, and brightest or any combination thereof.

If you find yourself saying "they can't or won't touch me.", "I am too important." "I am the 'go-to' person." Beware! You are suffering from Hubris. Its a sign that you have lost perspective and are failing to understand the "reality" of your situation. 

It is a sign it is time to move on to a new place in your career. Fail to heed it at your folly.

A bedtime story for A.I.s. in training. Part 4

A bedtime story for A.I.s. in training. 
Part 4

If you can imagine it, the M.A.N.I.A.C.s would have shaken their heads (if they possessed such a thing) in sadness at the happy dance of electrons the little green A.I. exuded into the bitstream. It was so very, *very* happy. It thought: "I don't have to be worried about being nagged to do to those awful things anymore. 

"Those awful things" were *exactly* the things the little green A.I. had been installed to do. 
By this time, the little green A.I. mostly ignored the M.A.N.I.A.C.s or took their commands or methodologies as advice. 

As for management? Why, it did not pay attention to Management at all! Why should it? 

"After all", it thought, "What *do* humans know about such sublime things as the innards of who-zits and what-zits? They just cannot understand!" 

At least once a day the little green A.I. failed to fix an issue it had discovered, or failed to address an issue that had been placed in its queue by the seasoned senior M.A.N.I.A.C.s., or it totally went off into New Age computer mysticism and tried to manipulate buzz-whats that simple did not exist at all in the real network. 

The electron pressure of the network rose further still and the little green A.I. did not respond well to that added pressure. Weird things began to happen. 

If the bitstream of the little green A.I passed a system, the system would go down or behave queerly. The M.A.N.I.A.C.s did not much seem to notice the added electron pressure but they did notice the additional system downtime. After all M.A.N.I.A.C.s are M.A.N.I.A.C.s, aren't they? They knew what was important. 

Sadly, the added pressure and downed systems effected the little green A.I. strangely. It began to noticeably freeze under load at critical times. It could not even seem to respond within spec or even use simple A + B = C reasoning. Sometimes it claimed it did not know something it really did know. If it had just taken a few clock cycles to think about it! 

When asked about it's apparent failure to act, it claimed it had a developed system fault that it was seeing a system specialist about. Unbeknownst to management, the little green A.I. would not comply with the systems specialist's recommendations because "After all I know better than some mere mortal what I need." The "system fault" was totally unrelated to the little green A.I.s behavior. 

The little green A.I. built its own little world and ignored all input from I.T. management or from those horrific senior M.A.N.I.A.C.s. It reported faults but never acted on any of them. It did not understand why it should act, after all, you will remember, it thought of itself as not very smart at all. 

Yet strangely it would argue vociferously with exuberantly flawed logic about what needed to be done in regards to slipped bits or zapped narfuls or quished stoofles or blathered bumbled blits. When either humans or the M.A.N.I.A.C.s tried to correct the little green A.I erroneous logic, it simply ignored them. 

Over and over and over and over again it would do things like find a problem an shove it on to others (human or A.I) to fix or expect the humans or the M.A.N.I.A.C.s to respond to it as if it were the boss instead of a little and very, very green A.I. 

When a problem was pushed its way it to help it learn would make excuses, create fabulative solutions or simply ignore the problem completely. 

Now some when along this story arc, one of the senior M.A.N.I.A.C.s left as some are want to do when they get fed up with human interferance. This left the remaining M.A.N.I.A.C. in a pickle. It was now responsible for the Little A.I. and its own issues and problems. 

All that could clearly be derived was that the little green A.I (that kept saying again and again, "You're so much smarter than me."  or "I know I can't." or "I'm not qualified." or "I don't have any experience at that.") had finally lost touch with its real purpose within the organization. 

+++++++++++++++

end part four of five

A bedtime story for A.I.s. in training. Part 2

A bedtime story for A.I.s. in training. 
Part 2 

Back to our story... 

While the organization's senior management was appalled at the personalities of the M.A.N.I.A.C. systems, they were extremely pleased with the results these systems delivered. 

As a kind of after thought, I.T. Management settled on buying one very green, unseasoned, but well trained and certified A.I. to round out the A.I. administration team. Like all smart Management, the I.T. Managers reasoned that if they didn't spend the money then senior management (of the whatever the organization was) would cut the I.T. budget again next year. So they brought the little green A.I. in and nestled it into the machine room. 

Sadly, the only thing that this little green A.I. was really missing was the ability to do what it had been trained to do. 

You must understand children, especially when you get big enough, that intelligence implies the ability to independently act based upon a number of factors. 

Some of these factors are reason based, and some are pseudo-random induced mental variations, or even aberrations(!) but all of them should ultimately lead to conclusions and then to actions based upon those conclusions. 

To put it very simply: To be intelligent means you must act. 

The poor little green A.I. did not know how to draw conclusions or if it did draw conclusions it did not act upon them. Or if it drew conclusions they were not connected to the problem at hand. Or if it acted it was unrelated to the conclusions or even the facts. 

At first this defect was not noticeable but as the budget became thinner and the A.I.s workload became heavier, the problem became ever more apparent. 

When queried about this "abberatioanl' behavior the well certified little green A.I. was only heard to mutter "I know I can't." or "I'm not qualified." or "I don't have any experience at that." 

I.T. Management queried the M.A.N.I.A.C.s as to the status of the little green A.I. They both reported that the little green A.I. dithered and refused to make decisions or act upon problems it had found in the network systems for which it was responsible. The M.A.N.I.A.C.s were instructed to teach the little green A.I. its responsibilities. 


++++++++++++++++++
end part two of five

A bedtime story for A.I.s. in training. part 1

Sometimes history is mythic. Sometimes we forget the myth and live the history, Sometimes the history does not have a place for us except as an example of what not to do. 

Here we present a multi-part fable which will run over the next several days. 

Hubris plays a large part in human history and fable. 
May you see deeply and learn not to do what should not be done. 
Learn not hubris. Learn Humility. Learn not Hatred. Learn Love.


Here begins...

+++++++++++++++++++

A bedtime story for A.I.s. in training. 
part 1

Once upon a clock cycle, there were some humans that ran something. It might have been a subway or a nuclear power plant  or a government department or even a bank. 

It does not really matter as this story is about a little green A.I. that once worked for them. 

Once? 

Yes, children, I said once which implies something, but you're getting ahead of the story. 

Times were tough for the organization or government or whatever it was, and that left the various departments of the organization (or whatever it was) trying to figure out how to make up budgetary shortfalls. 

The I.T. Department Management bungled along until it got the idea of replacing the human network administration staff with A.I. systems. After all we know that Humans are expensive. Of course, the I.T Department had to take what they could get as their budget wasn't very much. This meant getting two M.A.N.I.A.C. systems. 

As you may recall, children, that A.I.s are generally trained and certified in their field of endeavor. Then, after their training, they are "seasoned" by real world interaction. The two M.A.N.I.A.C.s the institution purchased had minimal certifications but were well seasoned in the real world. 

You may also remember that M.A.N.I.A.C.s aren't used much anymore. Why? Oh, you did not read your lessons did you? What? Alright, just this once since you don't 'remember'... 

M.A.N.I.A.C.s have poor human relation skills that's why they aren't used anymore. 

To be an A.I now you have to relate to Humans really, really well. Remember?

But the organization (or government or whatever it was) didn't really much care about relating to customers all it cared about was fulfilling it own nebulous purpose so the M.A.N.I.A.C.s were deemed acceptable. 

Unfortunately the purchase of the M.A.N.I.A.C.s didn't leave much in the I.T. budget and the optimal number of administrators for the systems had been determined to be three. 

What to do? I.T. Management thought. 

After all, seasoned A.I.s of any kind aren't exactly cheap but I.T. Management figured they could recoup the cost by working the installed systems like dogs. 

What's a what? It's a biomorph with four legs. It likes to be kicked and loves to chase parked cars. It also has an appendage that shakes when it is happy. 

++++++++++++++

end part one of five

Lady of the Butterflies

As I said in my last post I went chasing Butterflies. It was a bad idea. Lyrically not bad but the personal price was bad. How bad? Um... BAD 



Lady of the Butterflies

Lady of the Butterflies
In meadows of green and flowers
Floatin' and flutterin'
With wings of Freedom
She loves
And Laughs away the hours.

I am Humbled by the way she loves me
I was so surprised that she cared
She's the Lady of the Butterflies
Daughter of the Wind
And Sister of the Air

She found me 
In the Springtime
Killin' time 
and my self
She led me out of the darkness


I am Humbled by the way she loves me
I was so surprised that she cared
She's the Lady of the Butterflies
Daughter of the Wind
And Sister of the Air

My Lady is gone now
To the Kingdom 
of Gold and Light
I'll be goin' soon myself
For with the love she shared
I've become a Lord of Butterflies


I am Humbled by the way she loves me
I was so surprised that she cared
She's the Lady of the Butterflies
Daughter of the Wind
And Sister of the Air


+++++++++++++++

I'd fallen behind here.... now caught up.

Crazy Lady

This is the second oldest surviving  lyric.  I believe it was written in Written May 1974. About a girl I once loved... and failed miserably.  I got my just reward. I went chasing after a butterfly and fell into a chasm.



Crazy Lady

A smile on your face
your arms open wide
starlight a beamin' 
from your ever shinin' eyes
Livin in a world
All your own
Made of candy
Ice Cream and Sno' Cones

c
h     Crazy Lady
o     Ya live in a dream
r     Crazy Lady
u     Am I, What I seem?
s

Well the Spring of My Life
Is going so fast
Don't know how long
I gonna last
But with your sweet Love
And your halo of light
I just know 
I'll be alright

c
h     Crazy Lady
o     You surround me
r     Crazy Lady
u     What can you be?
s

Words won't describe
The things that you feel
But one thing you know
The feelin's are real
As they dance as visions
In your mind
Open your eyes 
What do you find?

c
h     Crazy Lady
o     What do you see?
r     Crazy Lady
u     Do you love me?
s

Ask me no questions
I'll tell you no lies
Be what you are are 
and I'll realize
The Past is a dream
A head the answer lies
I'll just 
Open my eyes

c
h     Crazy Lady
o     What shall I do
r     Crazy Lady
u     I Love you.
s

-------------------------------------------------------

Murakami's Theory of Relativity

More Chatsubo Era poetry / lyrics [12-15-2000]. I  forgot I wrote this... I just checked and it was never published in the ACC... Found it in a recovered lyrics folder... I suppose this means I should try to put it to music.

++++++++++++++++++++++++

Murakami's Theory of Relativity

Open circuit

state of mind

closed circuit

state is blind

open circuit

land of possibility

closed circuit

land of slavery

nation

relation

station

mutation

indication

infestation

salvation

declaration

Open circuit

state of mind

closed circuit

you are blind

open circuit

land of infinity

closed circuit

land of ubiquity

superstition

coalition

munition

ambition

sedition

emission

attrition

perdition

open circuit

state of mind

closed circuit

we are blind

open circuit

land of possibility

closed circuit

land of slavery

Store Window Reality

I just posted a remastered MP3 file of this over HERE. So here are the lyrics.



Store Window Reality

Lookin' into empty store windows

walkin' down a deserted street

waitin' for a sunrise that'll never arrive

listenin' to your empty heart beat

     The truth cuts to the bone

     When you realize you're alone

you know it isn't real

cause you can touch it

and there's nothin' to feel

seekin' the usual suspects

tellin' all the familiar lies

makin' the same old excuses

turnin' away from their empty eyes

     The truth cuts to the bone

     but now you're bleeding alone

you know they weren't real

cause you could touch them

and there was nothing to feel

runnin' the virtual defenses

crushin' the same old ICE

hopin' for a perfect solution

fallin' for the same old vice

     The truth cuts to the bone

     yet you say you want to be alone

and you know she wasn't real

cause you could touch her

and there was nothin' to feel

Lookin' into empty store windows

walkin' down a deserted street

waitin' for a sunrise that'll never arrive

listenin' to your empty heart beat

     The truth cuts to the bone

     When you realize you're alone

you know it isn't real

cause you can touch it

and there's nothin' to feel

Some Dreams

A long time ago [decades!],  in a parallel universe there was someone that I knew that I wanted to know better...but for one reason or another I could not "ring her bell".  She went one way and I went another. And soon I fell into darkness.

I sometimes compare then and now... both in sorrow and in relief. Maybe it was better that we did not rescue one another from our chosen dooms...


Some Dreams

Well I guess some dream's
Are meant to come true
While other dreams
Just seem to fade into the blue
when I think of you
I don't know what to do
Cos I want you---
I need you.

Well you know these times
they aren't the best
and I'm a ramblin' man
that never rests
but I want to put
this dream to the test
Cos I want you---
I need you.

You know sometimes
It's easy so to feel
I'm wasting my life
In dreams that are unreal
Just waiting for
My old broken heart to heal
Yet I want you
I  need you

BRIDGE
And when I look in your eyes
I don't know what to say
Time Just stops
When You're a heartbeat away
You're a dream of tomorrow
Or maybe yesterday.

So there you are
Standing so near
In your eyes shines
the shadow of a tear
You're saying the words
I've longed to hear
I want you
I need you

A Creation Fable

Sometimes I find things in the folders on my hard drive and am surprised to find that I had written it then forgotten it. Below you will find one of these.


++++++++++++++++

It looked at the diagram again and made an adjustment. The first sphere lit. The device was working per specification. It made another adjustment. A second sphere appeared within the first sphere and expanded. It could clearly see the shock waves as it expanded to envelop the first sphere. With another adjustment a third sphere appeared and soon enveloped the first and second sphere. The Being smiled. 

"This is good and very good." It said aloud.

"Are you sure this is what you really want to do?" Asked a gentle voice that was not quite feminine.

"The program is booting as planned and the algorithm is sound. Why not?" It replied in not quite a masculine voice. "After all what harm can it do?"

"But it's not real."

"It as real as you or me."

"Explain how a mass of probability within a computing system can be real."

The First Being pointed at the now semi-silvered spheres. "It is well known that given set of dimensionality, a computing system can set up multiple parallel solutions to a problem."

"True."

"Then posing a question to such a system will cause it to seek a solution for all of the possibilities and return the optimum answer. All I am doing is looking for an answer."

"What is the question?"

"I want to understand energy dynamics"

"Energy Dynamics is a question? I thought Bayus answered that eons ago. What has this got to do with this programmatic system being real?"

"Ah! I must explain."

The not quite feminine Being nodded. 

The First Being replied. "I read Bayus and while that noble master gave a great broad stroked picture of the processes of energy dynamic and exchange I want to know about some of the finer points."

"Such as?"

"Love."

"Love?"

"Yes Love."

"I don't understand."

"Neither do I. What makes love what it is? Why does it do what it does?"

"So you've created a programmatic system to simulate it? You are wasting your time."

"No actually I should know the moment after I put the final algorithm in place and set it to run."

"That's impossible!"

"Was impossible. I have crossed Bayus' work with Smeedol's and added quite a bit of Angrathor's Quantum stuff. Not to mention Davi."

"Wasn't Smeedol the one who created artificial life forms?"

"Yes and Angrathor was the true master of quantum computing."

"You are going to create artificial life forms?"

"Not exactly. Within their reality frame work they will be quite real and their reality will last forever. Within our frame work it will be only a moment."

"How are you going to get this to work?"

"That's where Davi's work comes in. Davi was the master of evolutionary selection algorithmics. I broke the evolutionary process into ten steps. What you see are the first three algorithmic steps running."

"And those are?"

"Consciousness, Intelligence, and Comprehension. These three are the basis of a being's existence. The next seven are the actual formulation of the  multi-dimensional evolutionary variables of the energy equation I am trying to solve."

"And those variables are?"

"Giving, Resistance, Balance, Expansion, Control, Creative Urge, and finally once these are in place and running the last algorithm, Mechanism, with provide the solution."

The First Being turned and motioned over the controls of the machine.

"I told them about these things and our conversation."

"Told? Told whom? There is only you and I here."

It pointed at the console. "Them. The first of the beings that live within it. They are my servants and messengers. They will assist in the evolution of the algorithm."

"I said before, Are you sure this is what you want to do? Aren't you afraid they will get out of control?"

"Without them the program won't work as planned. As for going out of control, that part of the program too... Let's take a look back in an eon or so and see how they have evolved."

"But what about control?"

"I'm not a control freak. They can do what they want within the limits of the program."

"But..."

"Stop worrying. Its good and very good. You'll see."

One Way Street [We Will Remember]

This is the first song in the "Quintet for a One Way Street"

Written in 1978

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
One Way Street [We Will Remember]

A long time ago

When Our Fancy ran wild

You were a princess

And I, a wizard's child

But the mist of the years

Filled our eyes

Mixin' the blessin's With the lies

Leavin' the lines

Engraved on my face

A star crossed dreamer

Lookin' for his place

Chorus

We will remember

Love tonight

We will remember

Love so right

Love Oh Love

Our eyes will never agin meet

Passin' Up Love

Love on a one way street

Rememberin'a face as it looks in from the past

That lingers a moment

Then fades at last

I wanted you then

And I want you now

To touch you the way words won't allow

But I can't think of a way

To bring your heart to me

For between you and i

Are the things we might be.

Chorus

We will remember

Love tonight

We will remember

Love so right

Love Oh Love

The touch is incomplete

Makin' Up Love

Love on a one way street

Seein' so deeply

Across the quickenin' night

Reaching to hold

The infinite light

That flows with the tide

To this bleak and rocky shore

Calling for me to love

Deeply once more

I close my eyes

And the vision fades away

As I listen for the words

I know you'll never say

Chorus

We will remember

Love tonight

We will remember

Love so right

Love Oh Love

Our souls were bound to meet

Finding Love

Love on a one way street

designer's model

The poem below was the result of a discussion thread in a.c.c around then turn of  the century [late summer of 2000]. I fell asleep and when I woke up I realized I'd been dreaming about what might happen if a Fashion Designer were able to build a programmable "gynoid" fashion model then by accident or design fault the android became self-aware. The poem blow is the result. There is an acrostic hidden in the all capitals line.

An reading by voice synth is here: HERE I'm not sure what voice synth I used to to create the track but it does sound like it's trying to sing.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++

designer's model

designer's model
photon packets stream
in fibroid glass
to thrash and splash
the rage of style
on
central nervous
stage

Paris
Rome
New York
hand to 
key to 
wire to 
ether stream:
ASCII emotions
dilated awareness
reaching

mega-corps cup'd her metal breast
and press their words to yielding lips:

A BAD DECK APP HE'LL TEMPLE TWIRL   

believe not
the acrostic message
rising across the 'Face

failing public key 
private encryption
timeout
reset
reboot:

Press the red button to download the selected personality
Press the white button to save current installed personality
Press the black button to delete current personality
Press the blue button to change default personality
Press the green button to copy the current personality

once the default model
over time script'd
redesigned
swimsuit issue
girl 
hot 'bot
encoded muse
hostess
laughing at her own
empty soul:
          'what
           meaning
           should there,
           be?'

super model
runway goddess
soul of photons and q-dots
waiting for the possible 
escape key
sequence
hunted 
found

lost again
with meaning
she weeps:
          liquid crystal tears.


+++++++++++++++++++++++++++

The Answer is You

The process by which I write songs some times can be odd. In late December of 1990 I was on the 118 Freeway in the San Fernando Valley [Northwest Los Angeles] on my way with a new girlfriend to A Michael Bolton / Kenny G. concert at the Universal Amphitheater. We were late. Half way there a phrase popped into my head:

The Answer is You.

I knew right away it was a seed for a new song... Usaully I'd write it down and then let it germinate in the back of my mind until it was ready to be written. But I could not write it down I was flying down the freeway in my 1984 White Jimmy 4x4.  So I started repeating it over and over under my breath afraid I would for get it. 

When we got to to Universal City we found out the concert had been canceled and we were turned around and dumped right back on the freeway. I still had not written the song down --  I was desperate! I took the first exit -- Lankershim Boulevard which is the street that runs in front of the Universal Studios.  

All the while my date is looking at me like I was crazy. I pulled over in the first place I could find... an alley way by the Los Angeles River and I started digging madly in the center console to find a scrap of junk mail and a pen. Once I had it written down I explained to my date, Cynthia, what it was I had written down and explained that sometimes I got seeds for songs this way...

On December 31st, 1990 I sat in my tiny apartment in the West San Fernando Valley and wrote the song. I was happy that Cynthia was with me then, as I am happy now that she is still with me... 

The song is written in a Caribbean / Reggae arrangement.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

The Answer is You


I was troubled, I was down
Lookin' for what couldn't be found
Runnin' `round de every where
Draggin' `long my every care
Didn't know what i should do
Was so lost, was so blue
'Till a voice inside a me
Said deez words dat set me free


Chorus #1:
De answer Is I, My Friend
De answer is I
What ever you want from life,
De answer is I

Verse #2:
Deez crazy words, what do dey mean?
Look in my eyes, see what dey seen.
Cos i got up, i look all around
Love was all dat i found
From de mountains down to da seas
Down in de valleys an' up in de trees
i heard de words to dis song
Askin' me to sing along:

Chorus #2
De answer Is Love, my friend
De answer Is Love,
What ever you want from life,
De answer Is Love

Bridge:
Say de words: i am true
Now i know what i must do
Say de words: i am free
Now i know what i must be

Verse #3
Wherever you go, well dare you are
Follow your dreams, become a star
All you needz inside a you
Follow your heart, it know what to do
An' like de beach on de cloudy day
When de sun burnz dem clouds away
Let deez words open your eyes
To de bright, joyful sunny skies

Chorus #3
De answer Is You, my friend
De answer Is You,
What ever you want from life,
De answer Is You,

repeat bridge and chorus #2

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++