What is measured or far away?

[viet_ghat]

If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music he hears, however measured or far away.



What is the meaning of this sentence?

Could anyone explain it?

[Tdol]

If you march to a different beat, you think and/or act differently to people around you, so the idea is that we should accept people who do things differently, even when the diffeencesx are great.

[Ayuda-Tulong]

This is an extremely profound (deep) metaphor.

If a man does not keep pace with his companions,
This person is most likely a non-conformist. He or she does not follow the crowd, does not do things the same way everyone else does them. To "keep pace with his companions" means that he is exactly like everyone else.


perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer
The speaker is speculating as to why the subject is not like everyone else. Imagine a parade or a military unit marching down the street. In order to keep them "in step," a the drummer beats a drum loudly enough to be heard by all of them. If the subject is not in step with the other marchers, he may be listening to a different drum (this drum is imaginary).


Let him step to the music he hears,
When you encounter this person, do not stop him from being the way he wants to be. Allow him to march differently than the other people.

however measured or far away.
This part refers to sheet music, or written music. A beat, a measure, a line, a stanza, etc. The music that the subject hears is not the same as what the others hear. Far away refers to the distance, as if the person is daydreaming.


I hope this isn't confusing you more, ok?

[ian2]

This is an extremely profound (deep) metaphor.

If a man does not keep pace with his companions,
This person is most likely a non-conformist. He or she does not follow the crowd, does not do things the same way everyone else does them. To "keep pace with his companions" means that he is exactly like everyone else.


perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer
The speaker is speculating as to why the subject is not like everyone else. Imagine a parade or a military unit marching down the street. In order to keep them "in step," a the drummer beats a drum loudly enough to be heard by all of them. If the subject is not in step with the other marchers, he may be listening to a different drum (this drum is imaginary).


Let him step to the music he hears,
When you encounter this person, do not stop him from being the way he wants to be. Allow him to march differently than the other people.

however measured or far away.
This part refers to sheet music, or written music. A beat, a measure, a line, a stanza, etc. The music that the subject hears is not the same as what the others hear. Far away refers to the distance, as if the person is daydreaming.


I hope this isn't confusing you more, ok?

Thanks for the explanation. Even though this is not my question, I also benefit a lot from the explanation.

[viet_ghat]

This is an extremely profound (deep) metaphor.

If a man does not keep pace with his companions,
This person is most likely a non-conformist. He or she does not follow the crowd, does not do things the same way everyone else does them. To "keep pace with his companions" means that he is exactly like everyone else.


perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer
The speaker is speculating as to why the subject is not like everyone else. Imagine a parade or a military unit marching down the street. In order to keep them "in step," a the drummer beats a drum loudly enough to be heard by all of them. If the subject is not in step with the other marchers, he may be listening to a different drum (this drum is imaginary).


Let him step to the music he hears,
When you encounter this person, do not stop him from being the way he wants to be. Allow him to march differently than the other people.

however measured or far away.
This part refers to sheet music, or written music. A beat, a measure, a line, a stanza, etc. The music that the subject hears is not the same as what the others hear. Far away refers to the distance, as if the person is daydreaming.


I hope this isn't confusing you more, ok?

Thank you very much.
Really it helped me a lot.

[viet_ghat]

I understood everything,

but what is the meaning of `measured and far away'?

[user_gary]

I have the same doubt. What does "however measured or far away" means?

Could anyone help us with this?

[susiedqq]

measured or far away

however it is supposed to be, or wherever he goes

[louhevly]

I have the same doubt. What does "however measured or far away" means?

Could anyone help us with this?

The metaphor is someone listening to a different drummer, who provides the rythm for the way they walk (i.e, live their lives). So "however measured" means "no matter how this music happens to be written" (the drummer I keep pace with may be beating a 5/4 rythm, whereas normal people move to a 4/4 rythm). "however far away" means "at whatever distance this drummer happens to be", implying that distant drummers are more difficult for the rest of the world to hear than drummers that are relatively close.

Lou

[user_gary]

Thank you friends.
But I am so stupid that still I could not understand your explanation.

Particularly because I don't know what is 5/4 rythm, 4/4 rythm. I don't know what you mean by "rythm" here.