PUTALITTLEMORELOVEINTHEWORLD:
Songs about authenticity, peace and connectedness
Bob Sima
[ CD Baby, 2014 ]
Bob Sima’s latest album may be called putalittlemoreloveintheworld, but it’s not one of those cliché albums that’s just about love. The songs throughout also focus on other common themes related to mindful and engaged living, such as getting in touch with our real, authentic, immaterial selves; letting go of pain and relaxing in the present moment; and recognizing that we’re connected with everything and everyone else within an energy-infused universe.
Bob has a fairly deep, yet soft and soothing voice that, within his songs, is backed by subtly uplifting folkish beats and melodies. His music has actually been likened to that of John Lennon, and while it’s unclear whether he’s the “second coming” of the famous Beatle or not, a similar sound is apparent. Lennon sometimes rocked harder, but Sima is spreading the same positive messages related to connectedness, love, peace and inspiration.
Four of the most resonant songs from putalittlemoreloveintheworld include “I Am,” “Queen of the Forest,” “Happening for You,” and “Bit My Tongue.” The message that Sima delivers listeners through “I Am” is that we’re not really our given names, our material possessions, or the roles we’re forced to play on a daily basis. Once these are stripped away, just our soul’s essences or, in other words, who we really are, lie bare. Within the flow of the universe’s constant energy and movement, none of these essences are truly separate from one another. This same theme comes up within another track, “Center of You, Center of Me,” in which Sima sings about how believing that we’re all separate entities causes conflict and discord, while recognizing our connectedness promotes harmony.
“Bit My Tongue” is a song that many people can relate to. It’s about a trap that we humans tend to get ourselves into within relationships. Often, we try to guess what another person desires or expects us to be, and then we attempt to change ourselves in order to please that person, whether they’re an authority figure, a family member, a friend, or a romantic partner. Within the song, Sima encourages us to fight this kind of behaviour and instead reveal our authentic selves to others whom we interact with. He says, as part of the refrain, “The ones who matter really don’t mind / And the ones who mind, they really don’t matter to me.”
In the last verse, Sima closes off “Bit My Tongue” with an intense proclamation, specifically, “This is who I am right here and now, the realest real I can be / I’m gonna do my thing and be myself and set the both of us here free.” These two lines best represent the purpose and scope of the entire album, since through his music, Sima is revealing the depths of his soul to each listener and encouraging each listener to explore their own soul. With this, he is setting both himself and the listener free to begin (or continue) living peacefully and authentically, with self-acceptance.
Sima’s music will strongly appeal to people who engage in yoga and meditation practices, due to its lyrical focus on the breath and living peacefully within the present moment. Nevertheless, even people of completely different spiritual orientations (or none at all) who want to inject a bit of genuine serenity and love into their lives and the world as a whole will appreciate the soft, yet inspiring and joy-filled tunes. Perhaps we may still be listening to Bob’s music in 40 years, just as many of us are still listening to John Lennon’s music now.
