Tonight I uploaded the first song to the Journeys & Star Gazing YouTube channel.
It is called Bodhisattva Pyjamas.
A playful reflection on ego, specialness, and the costumes we wear.
Its origins go back about fifty years. I originally wrote the lyrics with pen on paper — remember those days? For decades the words sat quietly in notebooks, folders and drawers. I never imagined they would one day return with actual voices.
Recently I discovered Suno, where I uploaded the old lyrics and described the atmosphere I imagined. Then something almost magical happened. The handwritten words came back carrying music, mood and emotion.
What amazes me most is not just the technology itself, but the strange collapse of time within the work. Words written by a younger version of myself suddenly became audible in the present.
On the page, lyrics exist silently. But once voice and music enter, another layer of meaning appears. The words become less flat, almost three-dimensional.
I’ve lived long enough to witness this transformation from ink on paper to sound moving through the net. Then, as part of the adventure, I had to teach myself how to create a YouTube channel just to share it.
Anyway, here it is.
Listen here: https://youtu.be/ESjmA5xoeh4
Original Lyrics (c. 1970s)
Bodhisattva Pyjamas
Why did you kick that habit?
It looked good while you had it.
Sorta human, sorta UFO,
you know like some TV Fellow.
You’ve got a new religion now,
all the vegies takes a bow.
Tell me, do you feel the new you
in Bodhisattva pyjamas blue?
It’s all a trick
to make you think
you’re something special.
Well I don’t know wrong
what’s right or wrong.
But the sun don’t shine
on just one son of a gun.
It’s all a trick
to make you think
you’re something special.
Now that you’ve been through life
climbed all the ropes, this and that,
you have an organic decoy to keep you trim and unspoiled.
Your father knows you well
that’s why he don’t ring the door bell.
He left you a polyester purse
and an inflatable universe.
It’s all a trick
to make you think
you’re something special.
Well I don’t know wrong
what’s right or wrong.
But the sun don’t shine
on just one son of a gun.
It’s all a trick
to make you think
you’re something special.
Welcome — I’m glad you’re here.
Journeys and Star Gazing 