Truth Rock 'n' Roll Style

by Swami Beyondananda

Ever since I can remember, I've been asking questions. At first, they were very simple questions like: "Could you change my diaper?" and "Can I try that other breast for a while?" But as my natural curiosity about the world awakened, I began to ask deeper questions: "When did time begin? When will it end? Do you turn the clock backward or forward for daylight savings time? Do we have any time-outs left, or will the clock just keep running?" And, of course, I pondered the meaning of Life. Did life have any true significance, or were we simply the Comedy Channel for the Gods?

And so I began my search for someone wiser than myself, which was pretty easy in those days, for I was a young Oklahoma farm boy still wet behind the ears (this was before guys used hair dryers). I knew enough to know I didn't know much but not enough to know how much I didn't know. I developed a ravenous appetite for knowledge, and had eaten nearly half the philosophy books in the local library when my first mentor, the great Native American shaman Broken Wind, took me aside to tell me I was going about it the wrong way. "Your hunger for knowledge is admirable, young one, and it must be preceded by the thirst for wisdom."

I was on the verge of giving up seeking entirely and just getting a regular job at the local karma wash when I heard about a spiritual master who used rock 'n' roll to teach life's great truths. Perhaps you've heard of him, Baba Oom Mow Mow.

In Baba Oom Mow Mow, I found an individual whose spiritual journey could inspire my own. Born Zach Lee Wright in Knoxville, Tennessee, he was the son of the noted preacher Soul Wright.

After leaving home, he drifted from one rock band to another leading the honky-tonk life. One night, Zach was playing at a bar in Louisville as lead guitarist for the heavy metal band Meaty Ochre, (not to be confused with the even more obscure Cajun Zydeco band "Meaty Okra"), and he accidentally slobbered some beer onto his amplifier cord. The resulting shock blew all of his circuits, and for once his lack of ability saved his life. Had he been a better conductor, he would have died for sure.

Life was never the same after that. As Zach would say later, "Some folks have been touched by the hand of God. Me, He knocked upside the head." Then and there he gave up the smoky bar scene and foreswore hard drink (easy drink he still partakes of, however). He moved to a simple cabin made of earth and wood (his friend Johnny B. Goode had recently left it to go to the city) and began to formulate what he calls the Golden Rule of Rock 'n' Roll, which can be summed up as "Do wop unto others as you would have them do wop unto you." Taking the name "Baba Oom Mow Mow", he is known for composing and performing popular tunes that leave no chakra unturned. His best known hits include: "Love Is Like An I Ching In My Heart", "Everybody Needs Samadhi Sometime", "B'hai B'hai Love," "Swami Said There'll Be Days Like This", "Zen He Kissed Me", "Yanni Get Angry", "You Ascend Me", and "Hang On Sufi".

By the time I met Baba Oom Mow Mow, he was living in semi-retirement devoting most of his time to putting the Akashic records on CD. The rest of the time he and several other old guys were playing in a 50's revival band called Ancient Grease. When I told him I was seeking the answers to Life's Great Mystery, he scratched his pompadour and said, "You know, once at a Fabian Society meeting, Georgie Shaw told me if you repeat a question enough the answer will come." He excused himself and went into his archives of 45's.He came out with a copy of "Who Put the Bomp In The Bomp-Ba Bomp-Ba Romp?" and instructed me to listen to it until I discovered the Meaning of Life. Three weeks later, after nearly 10,000 spins, the record was worn out and so was I.

I stumbled into Baba Oom Mow Mows sanctum and babbled the mantra that had worn a permanent groove in my consciousness: "Bomp-ba-bompba-bomp, rama-lama-dingdong, dipda-dip-da-dip, boogety-boogetyshoo."

"That's it," said the Great Master. "You got it."

"That's it? 'Bomp-ba-bomp-ba-bomp, ramalama-ding-dong, dip-da-dip-dadip, boogetyboogety-shoo' is the meaning of life? It just doesn't make any sense.

"Exactly right", he nodded. "That's the brilliance of rock 'n' roll. In a society that hasn't made any sense for at least two generations, rock has given us the language to tell it like it is. I mean, imagine you're a kid back there in the 50's and you're in school and they're having a shelter drill where you put your head under your desk and that's supposed to save you from nuclear attack. Do you see where 'Sha-na-na-na, sha-na-na-na-na' or 'Yada-da-da- da-dada-da-da-do sh-boom, sh-boom' might make more sense than anything your teacher might tell you?"

I couldn't argue with his logic, and yet there was something missing. "Well," I said, "if life's meaning can be summed up in a series of nonsense syllables, does life have any purpose? Is there any reason why we are here in the first place?"

"Well, that's a slightly different question," he said. Baba Oom Mow Mow once again went deep within his archives and emerged with a dusty LP. "Here you will find your answer," he said, handing me a copy of Liberace Plays Little Richard.

I listened to this obscure album religiously for months. And then one night it came to me, just as the Prince of Glitter was putting a final glissando on "Tutti Frutti". The secret of life is astoundingly simple. Every human being secretly wants to be a great piano player.

To test my hypothesis, I asked everyone I knew. Sure enough, each and every one would have given their last Haagen Dasz bar to be another Arthur Rubinstein, Bruce Hornsby, or even a Fats Domino. Excitedly, I rushed into Baba Oom Mow Mows quarters to tell him of my discovery. I had to wait in silence until the "Hullabaloo" re-run he was watching was over, and then I spilled it. "Oh, Hollied One," I shouted. "I have found the secret of life, I've found the secret of life! See, every human being wants to be a great piano player!"

The grizzled rocker looked at me with quiet bemusement and said, "Calm down, calm down. Your discovery is nothing new. Sigmund Freud came up with the same thing back in 1905.He called it Pianist Envy."

This was a shock to me since I'd always heard Freud was hung up on sax. Guess I'd have to go back and listen to my Pink Freud ("Obviously, a Floydian slip! - Ed.") albums. At any rate, I sensed that my time with Baba Oom Mow Mow was coming to an end. This suspicion was confirmed when he played one final record for me, "Hit The Road, Jack."

"Well I guess if you say so," I said reluctantly, "I'll have to pack my things and go."

"That's right," he said. And he closed the door behind me.

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The above was excerpted with permission by Steve Bhaerman, and is from Swami Beyondananda's book, "When You See A Sacred Cow, Milk It For All Its Worth"; ©1993, published by Aslan Publishing, P.O. Box 108, Lower Lake, CA 95457. 

About the Author

Hear the Swami’s wisdom with your own ears -- just click onto www.beyondananda.com. To find out more about Swami’s products and appearances on the "outernet", call 1-800-SWAMI-BE.

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