JAN 29 — Grammy winner Carole King’s hit song, You’ve Got A Friend, should be the unofficial theme of Malaysia because good friends are hard to come by these days and the need to spread friendship has become crucial.

In the 1970’s when times were really tough, I used to crank up James Taylor’s version of the song on my prized portable turntable and sing loudly, if only to believe everyone listening to me was my friend.

My rendition of You’ve Got A Friend must have been infectious, going by the second and third placings I got at talent contests. In the preliminary rounds, I would do another timeless Carole King breakup song So Far Away, which I now interpret to the current sorrowful mood in the country. We know Malaysians are not close to each other today as we were yesterday.

This line is the strongest for me: “Long ago I reached for you and there you stood, Holding you again could only do me good, Oh, how I wish, but you are so far away”.

Connect that to the current break-up of relationships among Malaysians and you will feel the earth move.

At the Grammys on Sunday,   King ended her performance with a rousing performance of I Feel the Earth Move, and the opening lyrics say it all about Malaysia today:

“I feel the earth move under my feet, I feel the sky tumbling down, I feel my heart start trembling, Whenever you’re around”. ‘You’ refers to the rabble-rousers who have thrust beloved Malaysia into societal ruins.

King always got the better of me because my interpretation of her songs was always about family.

In our case, we are suffering ‘familial’ relationship because people don’t have a clue about togetherness anymore. Only if we accept that the person next to you would help make one big Malaysian family, would we start believing we have got a friend.

Respect unleashes us to conduct ourselves with integrity. Disrespect will cause hate and consume the offenders. So, it pays to see the opposing viewpoint. So, show respect for opinions.

The 1970s band Chicago and singer/songwriter Robin Thicke at the Grammys make a lot of sense.

It just means that when Thicke and Chicago started out old-school with a medley of the band’s music, the song Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is? was a reminder that Malaysians these days really don’t care what time it is, “if so I can’t imagine why”.

If Malaysia were a band, we must expect the same as what Dave Grohl – the drummer of Nirvana and founder member of the Foo Fighters — described his meeting with ex-Beatle Sir Paul McCartney, after picking up a Grammy: “Within seconds, he makes you feel like the greatest thing in the world.”

Malaysia, saddled with political and societal train wrecks, should show more spunk than Beyonce did in her opening number at the Grammys.

And doing it like the Doobie Brothers backing up Daft Punk on Get Lucky just doesn’t cut it. Or like the Recording Academy pairing of Keith Urban with Gary Clark Jr Both situations seem out of their elements.

Malaysia has to regain its lyrical lustre as nation on song with a multi-racial lineup and not look soft as country balladeer Urban. Clark Jr, on the other hand, can outshine almost any contemporary guitarist but like Malaysia faces problems in selling a song.

If the country were a band, our performance would be snubbed even if we were to trendset by wearing something like Urban’s deep V-neck tee or sporting that Kate Gosselin hairstyle to steal the show.

How do we introduce Malaysia to the world today? Surely, not in the mould of the unsteady Ringo Starr intro by Ozzy Osbourne at the Grammys: Strangely, it’s the same Ozzy who had done more than 50 tour dates with Black Sabbath the past year. Pitifully, Malaysia, in her 50s, is stuttering.

The Grammys seemed edgy when French electronic duo Daft Punk was awarded with Album of the Year. Perhaps, it was in line with the Grammy tradition of awarding elder statesmen, even if they are ‘robots’. Funny isn’t it that robotic thinking rules in elder state Malaysia?

The best rock song at the Grammys was Cut Me Some Slack recorded by McCartney  with Grohl, Kris Novoselic and Pat Smear.

I improvised the lyrics of the song. Call it the Malaysian version:

Dear Malaysia, set me free,

Malaysia, watch me run,

Malaysia, I wanna have some fun (yeah),

If you want me to stick around,

I want to give ‘em some slack.

Wooo, wooo, wooo, woo.

* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malay Mail Online.