Everybody on this planet has some kind of ambition.  Some are more ambitious than others, but everyone has it.  Whether you have the lofty goal of being the president, or you have the simple, yet ubiquitous goal to be happy whatever that may or may not look like for you.  The details don’t matter.

We all have ambitions.

Over the years my ambitions seemed to have grown with every passing moment.  It was a strange transformation for me, because I never really felt it coming.  It seemed to increase in tiny little increments that flew under the radar until they built up to a level that you just couldn’t ignore any longer.

Next thing I know I’ve turned into my own personal slave driver.  Keep going, keep writing, keep working, keep striving.

I don’t really know where it came from, and chances are there’s no way in hell that it came from only one source.  Things like that just don’t happen.

What brought all of this to mind you ask?

This song:

I’m going to admit, I’m not usually into the type of music that Robert DeLong makes, but there’s just something about his random and eclectic style that gets me. The effect was only multiplied once I saw the video.

Take a minute to check it out.  Get a good look at him.  He’s playing a whole electronica’s band worth of instruments and devices all by himself.  At one point, he actually throws his drum stick at the cymbal so that he could reach it in time.  Now don’t get me wrong, I know it’s a music video and that the guy is probably not even playing the music we’re hearing in the video.

I understand that.  But just take it at face value, take it at the sense of all of this was purposely done to send a message.  It’s really just as big a piece of the performance as his vocals and the music accompanying him.  In that sense he’s a one man show, he refuses to be stopped.  He will get this done, no matter what.

Moving on to the other details, take a look at the setting.  He’s in the desert somewhere alone.  He’s sweaty from the day time sun and now probably freezing due to the desert night.  He’s exhausted with filthy finger nails and yet he’s still cracking on.

Add that in with the lyrics and I hear only one thing, a man’s tribute to his own ambition.

Scanning through the comments as I usually do, because I’ll admit, most YouTube comments usually entertain me for one reason or another, I see people speculating on what they think the songs about.

I remember seeing things about how they thought it was about self acceptance.  When he’s telling someone not to wait up, it’s probably referring to a girlfriend or some other person as he goes into the desert to find himself.

And while that’s a very good and interesting conclusion, I think people have missed the point.

The road toward success is a lonely one.  You’ll often times be mocked, spit on and you’ll definitely get screwed over more than once.  Wouldn’t you say that’s like a desert?  Wouldn’t you say, striving for greatness in anything is like trekking through a desert looking for your own personal oasis?

In my opinion, I think this whole performance is more about not only the man’s ambition to succeed, but the fact that being extremely ambitious is often a lonely and terrifying road to walk.  Think about all the time you’re tying up just beating on your craft, over and over.

Think about all the blood, sweat and tears!

Before this post turns into more of a rant than anything else I’ll wrap it up as I feel I’ve made my point, but I do want to say one last thing.

I know what it’s like to be restless, to never be satisfied.  I’m constantly on a mad dash toward the next task, the next thing to do to further my own agenda and hopefully one day it will pay off in the form of my success.

So don’t bother waiting up, because I’m either going to come back with my shield or be on it as the Spartans used to say.  And I hope all of you with ambition do the same.

So what do you think?  Agree?  Disagree?  Think I’m nuts?  Whatever you do think, please leave your thoughts in the comments below.

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Featured Image courtesy of the Blue Diamond Gallery under CC BY-SA 3.0