"Hunt the Self" was only an album track, so it's harder to find people who still remember it. I am always pleased when someone else takes a liking to it, though I do tend to cringe a bit when it is treated merely as another one of those trite "self-motivation" songs, where we are told that we can be anything we want to be, do anything we want to do.
Perhaps it is possible to become a pop star or to make it big on Wall Street, but is that really where my attention should be directed? Why am I looking to changing my circumstances, when the real work is in changing my mindset? Whether or not I "win the girl", what matters first and foremost is being a kind and decent man.
Oh, the years wasted on messing around with affectations, as if how I seemed mattered more than who I was! How easy it is to say it happens to be right and good when the crowd nod their heads; how challenging it is to finally think for oneself!
When this song came out, I thankfully had no idea what it meant to get drunk on cheap wine. Once I did indeed suffer through such an ordeal, I knew how Mr. Jones was perfectly describing the selling of one's soul. Besides the splitting headache, there was only shame and regret. I am always learning to do better next time. Courage!
I was impressed by the drums near the end of this song, and I was told that Rupert Hine, the album's producer, had added them in. This began my long appreciation for Mr. Hine, as I listened to his other fine work for The Fixx, Saga, Camel, Chris De Burgh, Thompson Twins, and Rush.
Yes, I even made a point of staying through the end credits for Better off Dead in 1985 to hear the full version of "With One Look" by Cy Curnin and Rupert Hine.
Your real friends never leave you when you choose to become better. Remember that.
—4/2007
A few words of commentary from Howard Jones:
And the song itself:
Howard Jones, "Hunt the Self" from Human's Lib (1984)
Listening to friends who keep filling me up with ideas
Having deep talks with scholars who sound so fine
Hearing this sham is like getting drunk on cheap wine
Well it's time for a change
I've got to move on
There's got to be more than this
The feeling is strong
Look in better places gonna look inside
Gonna get higher something is pulling me on
Breaking down the old ways feeling no regret
Gone are the shaky sands I've been building on
Well it's time for a change
Well I've lost lots of friends
I've got to move on
By sticking to my ground
There's got to be more than this
I don't give a damn
The feeling is strong
Just look what I've found
Here I come now got no time to frown
Nothing in my way now nothing can bring me down
Feel that surge open the doors around
Higher and higher the world is my hunting ground
Well it's time for a change
I've got to move on
There's got to be more than this
The feeling is strong
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