Samadhi

On Samadhi, there's a song called 'Just Friends For Now'. That title was a last minute change, actually. The original title was "El Ranchero", after a very cool little Mexican restaurant in La Jolla. I don't know if the restaurant is still there today. The title was changed to protect the identity of the eatery, which was one of Rama's hangouts when he lived in San Diego in the 80's. He and his students used to go there after public seminars on occasion and drink hot sauce and unwind. And that's the true inspiration for the song.

Samadhi's working album title was 'Amore'. Rama's idea was for us to do an album of love songs, not strictly Italian, but inspired by the great old Italian love songs of bygone eras. After the music was written, the album title was changed to Samadhi. Each song on the album was about a different experience the band had together on a day trip to San Diego to revisit some old stomping grounds. The song 'Samadhi' is actually about a moment we had when we revisited the site of the house Rama rented for a few years in La Jolla. The house had been destroyed in a fire and there was nothing left there except for a vacant lot. It was a rather profound moment, standing there and silently contemplating the transitory nature of this physical world while simultaneously sensing the eternal and timeless nature of the experiences that were had in that location. That was the inspiration for the song.

Steve

"He didn't answer.
Or perhaps, he did."