Veggie Krisha saves the day

Just a short walk from the colourful Camden market with its bright T-shirts, fancy dresses and Bob Marley music, the poorest of the poor queue in the rain without any obvious reason. Tired looking men in their forties, punks who drink out of a bottle in a Sainsbury’s bag and old women with muddy jumpers pull miserable faces while standing in line with their look straight ahead. Suddenly, a van stops and the faces light up.

Camden Town is one of the stops of the Food For All-van that distributes free vegetarian food to people suffering from homelessness, poverty, unemployment or mental or physical disabilities.
This much needed help is organized by London’s Hare Krishna, a religious movement that has its roots in Hinduism. In this movement, meat, fish, eggs, onions, garlic and mushrooms are avoided because of the belief that certain kinds of nutrition affect the consciousness in a bad way. “You are what you eat,” says the head of the charity, Peter O’Grady. “Whatever you eat, affects your consciousness.”

Strangely, most of the homeless people are not vegetarians. Even though there are many soup kitchens that offer meat for lunch in London, some people prefer to stand in the cold and eat their vegetarian food on the street. Mara, a homeless old woman, admits: “No, I am not a vegetarian. But the food is good. I come here every day.”

Ralf, a member of Hare Krishna, who distributes the free food in the van, explains: “People with health problems come to the van, because the food is digested easily.” After handing out a plate with rice and beans to a young man with red long hair and a dirty leather jacket, he continues: “People come here very ill, eat the food and get healthy again. Food is so powerful when it is made with love and devotion. Some people even give up their old lifestyle.”

Peter O’Grady says that he serves God by giving out free food. However, he does not feel the need to kill animals. “In fact,” he goes on, “I believe that there is a connection between bad karma and killing animals.” According to his belief, vegetarian food is “blessed food”. By giving out this food to homeless people, he blesses them.

Apart from his religious reasons to avoid meat, Peter O’Grady is also an economical vegetarian. He explains that “the meat industry uses ten times more crop than human beings eat. Without the meat consumption there would be ten times more crop to feed people.”

The van stops in Kentish Town, Camden Town and at Kings Cross for an hour each. Together with two rickshaws that supply students with a vegetarian meal on two university campuses, Food For All feeds 800 hungry mouths every day.

The charity picks up food products from supermarkets that have been over produced, gone out of date or wrongly packaged. The meals are cooked every morning in the kitchen of Watford’s Hare Krishna temple.

The charity has won the city award of 2007 for their successful green community based project. That this act of “love and devotion”, as Peter O’Grady calls it, is much needed, expresses one homeless person by saying that: “I don't get money from social security and there is no where I can get food from. I completely rely on the centre for my food and if it wasn't here I would probably die.” Another claimed: “If it were not here I would be begging money from cash points and shop lifting to earn money for food.”

Are you what you eat?

Thousands of people die because of their medicine’s side effects each year. Since 1996 the casualties through medicine has doubled. Doctors prescribe more and stronger drugs, which can lead to more side effects. The pharmaceutical industry sells £600 billion of drugs a year, says Patrick Holford, nutritionist and author of 35 books. In America one in nine women take anti-depressants. But is this all necessary?

“All of today’s major health issues can be solved by simple, radical changes in the way we live and eat – not by more and more drugs,” says Patrick Holford. In case of depression, he recommends getting omega 3 fats, zinc and magnesium into one’s system. A lack of these nutrients can contribute to feeling low.
A headache could be caused by dehydration, blood sugar problems, allergies to food and a lack of Vitamin B. Just a change of diet could cure a chronic, annoying headache.
Hazel Courteney, an award-winning health writer, who has worked as a columnist for the Daily Mail and Sunday Times, says that cutting down on alcohol, coffee, high fat and sugary processed foods and drinks can often help cure acne in most young people. She explained that these foods overload the liver, which is the organ responsible for breaking down and eliminating toxins and excess hormones, which are usually the trigger for acne in the young. If the liver becomes overloaded, then toxins remain in the body, triggering a host of conditions including acne, as toxins end up being “dumped” in the skin.

However, people should not rely on food as medicine at all times. Most nutritionists point out that a health food shop should not replace a doctor’s office. Melanie Flower, a nutritional therapist, says that nutritional medicine “is best used as a lifestyle choice to prevent future chronic health conditions. Orthodox medicine is fantastic at dealing with medical emergencies.”

But to cure chronic degenerative diseases, there is often no need to swallow hundreds of pills. All you need to do is change your diet. Doctors keep prescribing drugs, because they hardly know anything about the healing effect of the right diet. Patrick Holford says: “A young GP’s training is hopelessly inadequate and covers virtually nothing on nutritional medicine. If your doctor is over the age of 35, then the chances are, in seven years training they will have had six to 12 hours education in nutrition, most of which is very basic.”
Suyogi Gessner, who practises ayurveda, an alternative medicine native to India, gives another explanation. According to her, a patient expects a doctor to perform a miracle and cure as fast as possible. Food is a medicine that takes time to cure, whereas drugs work very fast. For patients, it is easy to take a pill, because they do not have to change their diet and can continue living their lives the way they did before, without changing their diets. What they do not realize, is that their illness might have been the result of a wrong diet.

“Prevention is far better than cure,” says Hazel Courteney. “Your body is made of food molecules, your body is literally made of what you eat, plus light, air and water.” Apparently, as much as 75 per cent of all chronic degenerative diseases are triggered by a poor diet, lacking in sufficient nutrients. Most cancer cells feed on sugar. But even if you inherit a specific cancer gene, you can help load the generic “dice” in your favour by eating anti cancerous foods such as fresh fruits and vegetables.
Patrick Holford recommends an intake of around 30mcg of Vitamin D a day to achieve the lowest cancer risk. A human being can take in 15mcg of Vitamin D by eating plenty of oily fish and eggs as well as 30 minutes of sun exposure. The other 15mcg have to be supplemented.

A lot of people think that supplements are just a rip-off. The number of supplements and suppliers is inestimable. Nutritionist therapist Melanie Flower says: “Some supplements are a rip off and some are extremely valuable. There is a lot of variation in what is available today. It is always best to see the advice of a qualified nutrition practitioner before taking supplements.” Hazel Courteney emphasizes the importance to eat enough vitamins, minerals and essential fats. “Supplements should never be used as a substitute for a healthy, balance diet,” she says. But supplements are better than nothing and maybe necessary, since nowadays
many fruits and vegetables contain lower levels of nutrients than they did 50 years ago.

Especially in the spring it is very important to eat a lot of fresh vegetables in order to achieve an optimum vitamin intake. The spring is the time of rebirth. The nature reawakens. Not only our houses, but also our bodies need a spring clean. Suyogi Gessner says, the body needs to get all substances out of its system that has been accumulated during the winter. We should eat easily digested food, such as rice and fresh prepared soups. She also recommends going on a fast for 10 days eating vegetables and mung bean soup.

We should not underestimate the curing effect of nutrition. “If medicine was meant to be used on a daily basis, nature would have let it grow on trees,” says Michael Gehler, a non-medical practitioner. A good place to start changing the diet is reading “The Optimum Nutrition Bible” by Patrick Holford. He said: “This stuff should be taught in school.”

Der Tod von Radio MultiKulti - auch die Öffentlich-Rechtlichen haben Leichen im Keller

Foto: Lutz Schramm

Artikel erscheint im Blicklicht, Februar 2009

Darwin hat mal wieder Recht behalten: Der im Kampf ums Überleben am besten an seine Umwelt angepasste überlebt. Fressen und gefressen werden. Radio MultiKulti wurde einfach zum Frühstück verputzt. In der Silvesternacht hat der multikulturelle Radiosender den letzten Ton von sich gegeben.

Grund dafür ist eine Sparmaßnahme des RBB, dem 54 Millionen Euro im Etat für 2009 fehlen. Die Öffentlich-Rechtliche Rundfunkanstalt wird zwar von GEZ-Gebühren finanziert, jedoch sind 14,5 Prozent der Haushalte in Berlin und Brandenburg wegen Sozialhilfe von den Rundfunkgebühren befreit. Der RBB-Sprecher Ralph Kotsch sagte: "Wir wollen nicht mit dem Rasenmäher gleichmäßig alles beschneiden. Stattdessen könnten einzelne Elemente vollständig entfallen.“ Mit einem Marktanteil von 0,8 Prozent, also täglich 37.000 Hörern, war Radio MultiKulti das schwächste Glied und musste gehen.

So unbekannt war der Radiosender dann aber doch nicht. Ein halbes Jahr lang wurde das Aus des Senders in den nationalen Medien diskutiert. Sogar bis nach London reichte sein Bekanntheitsgrad. Roza Tsagarousianou, Dozentin an der University of Westminster in London, sprach in ihrer Vorlesung über Multikulturalismus und Medien über die Vorbildfunktion von Radio MultiKulti, da es so ein Format in Europa kein zweites Mal gebe.

Radio MultiKulti sendete seit 1994 in 21 verschiedenen Sprachen. Am Tage war die Moderatorensprache jedoch deutsch, um eine „beidseitig befahrbare Brücke zwischen dem deutschen und nichtdeutschen Publikum“ zu bauen. „Integration ist keine Einbahnstraße“, so die Chefredakteurin, Ilona Marenbach. Das deutsch der Moderatoren war allerdings oft nicht akzentfrei, um weiterhin multikulturell bleiben. Ab 17 Uhr ging es dann auf englisch, französisch, sorbisch, türkisch oder anderssprachig weiter und ab 22 Uhr gab es dann die „Weltmusikspezialsendungen“ verschiedener Hörfunksender. Die Musik war vielseitig und stammte aus der ganzen Welt. Es sollte ein Programm für alle sein.

Von einem Programm für alle träumte schon John Reith, der Gründervater der BBC – ein Konzept, das ein Vorbild für die Öffentlich-Rechtlichen Rundfunkanstalten war. Als Reith den ersten Öffentlich-Rechtlichen Rundfunk der Welt plante, hatte er die Vision, ein Programm zu entwickeln, welches bildet und unterhält und zwar alle. Durch Gebühren sollte sichergestellt werden, dass auch Minderheiten auf ihre Kosten kommen und ihre Sendungen nicht aufgrund von kommerziellen Wettkämpfen gestrichen werden müssen. Doch was John Reith vor über 80 Jahren zu verhindern versuchte, ist jetzt mit Radio MultiKulti geschehen. Trotz GEZ-Gebühren wurde ein wichtiges Integrationselement wegen finanzieller Probleme einfach ausgelöscht. „Keine Ausländer-raus Politik beim RBB“ hießen die Forderungen von Politikern. Die Staatsministerin für Integration, Maria Böhmer (CDU), sagte, die Schließung des Senders wäre „aus integrationspolitischer Sicht das falsche Signal“. Doch jetzt sind die deutschen Medien wieder monokulturell.

Auf jedem Sender kommt das gleiche Pop-Gequake. Daran ändert auch das Funkhaus Europa nichts, das als Alternative zur Verfügung gestellt wurde. Dem Sender des WDR, mit einer Zentrale in Köln, ist es nicht möglich, regionale Informationen an die Berliner und Brandenburger weiterzugeben. Radio MultiKulti war für die Metropole Berlin perfekt zugeschnitten – der neue Sender, Funkhaus Europa, ist da nur ein Abklatsch. „Einige Formate von Radio Multikulti wurden übernommen, nicht jedoch sein Geist“, schrieb Anetta Kahane im Tagesspiegel Anfang Januar über den Ersatz. Akzente gibt es beim Funkhaus nicht. Und Politik erst recht nicht. Beim Radio MultiKulti waren andere Ansichten erlaubt, es wurde viel gestritten und diskutiert. Die gesetzten Schwerpunkte waren ungewöhnlich, es wurde gegen den Strich gebürstet. Das Funkhaus Europa ist dagegen einfach nur langweilig.

Ein kleiner Trost: Einige ehemalige Mitarbeiter des Senders führen Teile des Programms im Internet in der Plattform Multicult 2.0 weiter. Doch das bringt Radio MultiKulti trotzdem nicht wieder zurück. Anstatt ein paar Programme der 0815-Sender zu drosseln, musste ein einzigartiges, aber leider zu unbekannter, Sender weg. Auch bei den Öffentlich-Rechtlichen geht es nur um Geldmacherei. Schade, denn „Radio MultiKulti war die ganze Welt in einer Nussschale – ein tönender Globus, auf dem man im Bruchteil einer Sekunde von Alaska nach Patagonien reisen könnte“ um es mit Henryk M. Broders Worten im Tagesspiegel auszudrücken.

So feiert die Queen Weihnachten

Artikel erschienen im Blicklicht, Januar 2009

Übel schmeckende Würstchen mit Schinken umrollt, brennender Kuchen und Metallstücke im Abendessen. Nein, ganz so schlimm ist meine Kochkunst auch nicht. Man muss all dies jedoch ertragen, wenn man bei einem Engländer zu Weihnachten zu Besuch is(s)t.

Die Briten fangen schon am 1. November mit dem Weihnachtsshopping an. Das ist auch die Zeit, in der die ersten Weihnachtslieder im Radio gespielt werden – und in der Disko. Und die meisten finden das sogar noch cool.

Während man im Supermarkt oft vergebens nach langen Reihen voller Schokoladenweihnachtsmänner und Lebkuchen sucht, machen die vielen Karten-Geschäfte Millionen-Gewinne. In England gibt es in jeder Straße mindestens drei Geschäfte, in denen man ausschließlich Karten für jede Gelegenheit kaufen kann. Zur Weihnachtszeit beginnt dann der Karten-Wettlauf. Wer bekommt die erste Karte? Wer bekommt die meisten? Die Errungenschaften werden im ganzen Haus auf Wäscheleinen gehangen.

Aber dies ist nicht die einzige Verunstaltung der englischen Wohnungseinrichtung zur Weihnachtszeit. Den Tannenbaum gibt es auf der Insel noch gar nicht so lange. Erst der deutsche Mann von Königin Viktoria hat diese Tradition mitgebracht. Der Baum wird also erst seit knapp zwei Jahrhunderten furchtbar kitschig beschmückt. Aber dabei bleibt es nicht. Wenn der Engländer an dem Punkt angelangt ist, dass nichts mehr auf den Tannenbaum passt, geht es in der gesamten Wohnung weiter. So wimmelt es im ganzen Haus und sogar im Garten nur so von glänzenden Kugeln, Ketten und Papierschlangen. Papierschlangen?

Die angeblich so zurückhaltenden Briten lassen Ende Dezember ganz schön die Sau raus. Nicht nur mit Papierschlangen, aber auch mit Papierhüten und Feuerwerk wird Sylvester schon mal eine Woche vorverlegt. Außerdem werden überall Mistelzweige aufgehängt. Treffen sich Mann und Frau unter einem dieser Zweige, müssen sie sich küssen. Das gibt ein Rumgeknutsche. Von wegen prüde Engländer.

Der 24. Dezember, in Deutschland der aufregendste aller Weihnachtstage, ist dagegen in England eher öde. Die Geschäfte haben bis nachts offen, damit noch schnell die letzten Besorgungen gemacht werden können. Die Engländer haben es nämlich nicht so mit der Pünktlichkeit, auch wenn allgemein das Gegenteil behauptet wird.

Deswegen gibt es die Geschenke verspätet, am 25. Dezember. Aber vielleicht braucht der Weihnachtsmann auch so lange bis nach England. Da kommt er nämlich erst früh um 2 Uhr an und muss durch sämtliche Schornsteine kriechen um seine Geschenke in den am Kamin hängenden Strümpfen zu verteilen. Weil er so einen langen Weg hatte, hat ihm jedes Kind einen Portwein und eine Schale Gebäck auf den Tisch gestellt.

Die Geschenke werden von den Kindern traditionell am 25. Dezember um 6 Uhr früh noch im Schlafanzug aufgefetzt, bevor sie der übermüdete Vater, noch betrunken vom Portwein, zur Weihnachtsmesse zerrt. Die Mutter bereitet währenddessen das spektakuläre Weihnachtsessen vor. Dieses besteht aus einem mit Maronen gefüllten Truthahn, Sojabohnen, Rosenkohl, Kartoffeln, Bratensoße, Preiselbehrsoße und Mini-Würstchen, die mit deutschen Wienern überhaupt nicht zu vergleichen sind, mit Schinken umrollt. Als Dessert gibt es das Highlight: Den brennenden Kuchen, auch Plumpudding genannt, der aus Früchten, Rosinen und Nierenfett hergestellt, mit Brandy übergossen und angezündet wird. Wer dann beim Verzehren ein Pence-Stück im Essen findet, darf sich was wünschen. Das ist ja wohl auch das Mindeste, was man erwarten kann, für den ausgebissenen Zahn.

Den Höhepunkt bildet die Weihnachtsrede der Queen, die von allen Engländern vor dem Fernseher verfolgt wird. Danach tanzen Kinder und Jugendliche maskiert im Wohnzimmer, während die Erwachsenen vor dem Kamin Gruselgeschichten lesen. Das war’s dann wohl mit der stillen Nacht, heiligen Nacht.

Angel by Sarah Mclachlan

photo taken from 121musicblog

It would just be wrong finishing this series of features without mentioning Sarah McLachlan. Even though she is Canadian, she is a reasonable competitor to Paula Cole, Jewel, Tori Amos and Aimee Mann. That is why she should definitely be mentioned here.

Sarah McLachlan sounds like walking alone through the dark night. She sounds like a peaceful day out on a cemetery. She sounds like drinking wine out of a bottle. She sounds . . . like an angel.

Michelle Goldberg wrote in her feature on McLachlan's music: "It's like the best friend who hides out with you when you're at your lowest, the friend who makes you tea, puts you to bed and takes care of everything while you sob into a pillow."

She hit the nail on the head. Especially Sarah's song "Angel" is often used in emotional scenes in films such as "City of Angels" and TV- series such as "Dawson's Creek" and "Alias".

Sarah performed the song at Live 8 in Philadelphia in 2005 and on "Concert for Linda", a concert in memory of Linda McCartney.

I have mentioned the song in my post about "wander" in my group blog wandersee, but I want to go into more detail this time.

The song is musically very simplistic. Broken up piano chords and her voice singing a thought out melody with many variations is all the song consists of. It is fascinating that it does not get boring. It never does. Not after listening the song thousands of times. The singer just puts so much emotion in word and melody that you can't help but get goose bumps.

There is no official music video for this song, but the most watched is a life version of her singing the song. The video is as simple as the music, but by seeing her emotions in her face and her eyes, this video can't get boring.



The lyrics are one of the saddest in the world - but cheer you up at the same time. They tell you that even when your life is at its worst, you can still escape in "the arms of an angel".

How this angel looks like varies from person to person. On the internet platform SongMeanings, people share their feelings and memories of past ones that they think of when they listen to "Angel". They imagine that they will be taken by their dead loved ones when they feel bad and spend some time with them as a comfort.

Even the day dream of such a thing happening can be the angel, Sarah Mchlachlan is talking about. For me, the angel is a day dream - a dream world where you go in your imagination when you can't handle reality anymore.

Sarah McLachlan herself explained that the song was about Jonathan Melvoin, the Smashing Pumpkins' touring keyboarder, who died in 1996 due to an overdose on heroin. What Sarah meant by the angel was obviously heroin - another way from escaping from the real world.

As so often this week, here I conclude again that a song can mean so many different things to different people - which are the beauty of well-written lyrics as they seem to be written just for you.

photo taken from Neverlend

Wise Up by Aimee Mann

photo published in The Independent

We all have bad habits. People smoke too much, drink too much, get too moody all the time or don't want to let go of people, even though they are long gone. Most of us are aware of our bad habits, but it is so hard to stop them. Often it is a vicious circle and suddenly all your life is related to this one problem you have got. It determines who you are. Aimee Mann gives a solution to that problem, singing: "It's not going to stop, so just . . . give up."

"Wise Up" by Aimee Mann is best known through the American drama film "Magnolia". The film connects stories of nine different people that all have a problem, either a drug addiction, guilt or the inability to forgive.

The song plays an essential role in this movie, as the characters start to sing it, when they realize that their problems are not going to stop - until they wise up.



To be honest, I am not into Aimee Mann's music at all. I do not like her broken lines, she sings as if she is about to fall asleep, the lyrics are too straightforward and her voice annoys me. "Wise Up" still sounds like Aimee is speaking in a clipped manner, the text is as simplistic as "Knocking on heaven's door" and song consists of one piano pattern. However, the piano is a musical device, Aimee Mann does not use in other songs. Most of her songs are dominated by a guitar. But in "Wise Up" Aimee Mann is just accompanied by a piano, which I prefer to her guitar sound, because it is more emotional.

The reason why I like this song is because I love the lyrics. They might be straightforward, but so true. Since I am suffering from depression for more than six years now, I know how hard it is to give up.

Being depressed becomes something you get used to. It's like lying in bed and not wanting to get up and start the day. I feel more comfortable with my self-pity.

The second verse goes like this:

You think
One drink
Will shrink you 'til you're underground
and living down
but it's not going to stop
'til you wise up

This is an allusion to Alice in Wonderland. She was on this adventure, discovering a new world. What she found out was that grass is not greener on the other side. I felt like Alice in Wonderland when I came to England. But, of course, it did not take me long to realize that I can't run away from my problems. So I had to wise up, give up running away, give up my self-pity and change the way I think and the way I was.

Giving up, letting go, forgiving - no one says that this is easy. You don't do it once. No, you have to do it over and over again. Aimee Mann's "Wise Up" gives me the power to give up every day. Because she is right.

Taxi Ride by Tori Amos

photo taken from Amazon

People listening to Tori Amos are not really listening to the music, but to the lyrics. Even though this singer-songwriter is a great pianist, who can play on two pianos at the same time, the songs are all about the lyrics. Tori Amos' poetry is not straightforward, but twisted. They are puzzles and riddles.

The beauty of her songs lies in the mysteriousness. They seem to be like a crossword puzzle, impossible to solve. It sometimes takes years to understand the lyrics. It only dawns on you how deep a song goes if you are in a certain situation that is described in a Tori Amos song.

On the internet platform SongMeanings, Fans discuss the meaning of songs very enthusiastically. By following up some of the comments, it soon becomes clear that the lyrics are so open that it can mean different things to different people.

"Taxi Ride" from the Album "Scarlet's Walk" is my personal favourite. That is maybe because it can applies to feelings I often have, especially after parties. For me this song is about loneliness.

I do not have many friends, which does not mean that I do not go out. In today's society you have to be sociable. You often have parties with people that you don't really care about, or they don't care about you. It is all fine when you get drunk and have fun with them, but when you sit in the taxi on your way home, you have got time to reflect on your night and it is then, when you realize that you are lonely.

A fan commented on the lyrics, that you can get the feeling of the song easier when you sit in a taxi in New York. She then said: "Tori songs are more feelings than real words."

Some people assume that the song is about Tori's gay friend, the make-up artist Kevyn Aucoin, who died in May 2002 due to brain cancer, as she sings: "just another dead fag to you, that's all". One interpretation is that Tori settles up with Kevyn's mother, who couldn't care less about her son. Others say it is just Tori's way to deal with the funeral and the aftermath of his death in general.

At the end of the day that does not matter. Tori's songs are written so that they fit into everyone's life. She seems to do that on purpose, which is probably an art in itself.

Tori Amos never produced a music video for this song. However, she let other people make one for her within the context of a contest called "Taxi Vision". The winner video seemed to have disappeared from the internet, but there are a lot of other films out there that did not win but are still great.

My favourite "Taxi Ride"-video is featuring an old woman in an old people's home. She seems to be really lonely and in her rocking chair - in her mind on that Taxi Ride, she realizes that she has got no one after all these years she attend this party called life. The nurse notices the old woman's sadness and takes care of her.

This is my interpretation. The video got very good comments, but people also said that it was not related to the song. I think it is. People were also mentioning that it was more an allusion to other Tori Amos videos.



Here again, it is up to the audience to decide. I have to admit that I do not even like the voice of Tori Amos and most of her songs are far too slow. But still, she is one of my favourite musicians, because she has got the ability to write magical songs. It is always so much fun to interpret so many different things in her songs.

Down so long by Jewel

single cover taken from Mattcdsingles

A cute, young voice is singing poems to simple guitar rhythms. That is exactly how Jewel sounds like. Her name puts it into context: Very simple - but brilliant. When you hear the first guitar motif of "down so long" with a "budubiduda"-fill in, you just know that it is a Jewel-song.

In the song Jewel describes her depressive state of mind and how bad she is feeling. She has literally been down too long and is fed up with it. In the chorus she thinks much more positive, hoping that her misery will soon be over, when she sings: "I have been down so long, that the end must be drawing near."

The lyrics of the song are very straight forward, but poetic at the same time. Jewel uses many comparisons such as "my pocketbook and my heart both just got stolen, and the sun acts like she don't even care," or "it feels like someone's face is stuck to the bottom of my shoe".

The cheery guitar rhythm that makes you whistle to the song and wiggle your hips seem to be a contradiction to the content of the song. In the music video you can even see Jewel dancing to the lines "I have been down so long".

But rhythm and melody play a central part in the interpretation of the song. "Down so long" is not another depressing song that we listen to when we are lovesick and cry our eyes out. The song should give hope and send out the message that there is always light at the end of the tunnel.

In the second verse Jewel sings: "I looked to everybody but me to answer my prayers, 'til I saw an angel in a bathroom who said she saw no one worth saving anywhere." These lines, together with the mood of the song, tells the listener to take destiny in his own hands.

We can either lay down in bed and feel miserable, or do something about it, get up and be happy about the amazing time that is coming, because: There is always light at the end of the tunnel.

The music video is quite dull as it just shows her sitting, lying or playing with the band. Like other Jewel-music videos it just about her singing in front of the camera. But that doesn't matter that much, because the music as well as the lyrics are great.