Nick Soma feat. Cookie Blue - Pleasant Row
SpoilerCookie Blue and I share an interest in linguistics and the Sanskrit language. The Sanskrit part in this song is taken from the Rigveda (the rhythm is horribly butchered though), one of the oldest documents in any Indo-European language and the oldest liturgical text of what was then the Vedic religion, from which Hinduism and, indirectly, Buddhism derive. It is part of a hymn to Soma, that mystical psychoactive beverage which inspired my artist name (no, not because of the Smashing Pumpkins song, but that's a good song.)
Soma is perhaps best known as the fictitious drug of Brave New World, but it used to be a real thing in ancient India. The name means "that which has been pressed out"... but the thing is, we don't know precisely what it is from which this juice is squeezed, hence the cloud of mystery surrounding it. These hymns refer to stalks of some plant, however, and it certainly contained milk and honey. The most likely theory is that the stalks were ephedra which is indeed psychoactive but doesn't account for the wild effects described, so there might have been something else in there as well.

The title "Pleasant Row" suggested a row of trees or flowers to me first, then I had this picture of the inner garden in mind and because that's some esoteric hippie bullshit, I decided to go along with it and add a Sanskrit part to fit the vibe. The narrator of this ode to escapism is longing for some metaphorical soma in a world that feels like an Aldous Huxley novel.

Living in these troubled post-modern times
It can be hard to find some peace of mind
Sometimes the weight of the world just pulls me down
The flood has come but I won't let myself drown

To the garden of my mind I go
Along a pathway where pine trees grow
Lilies blooming in a pleasant row
I sit on the moss and watch the water flow

If only this world could be a more peaceful place
I wouldn't have to retreat into inner space

But in my mind, far away I fly
To a place where all my worries die
Pleasant clouds in a pleasant sky
There is no one there but you and I

यत्र॒ कामा॑ निका॒माश्च॒ यत्र॑ ब्र॒ध्नस्य॑ वि॒ष्टप॑म् ।
स्व॒धा च॒ यत्र॒ तृप्ति॑श्च॒ तत्र॒ माम॒मृतं॑ कृ॒धीन्द्रा॑येन्दो॒ परि॑ स्रव ॥
*Yatra kāmā nikāmāś
ca yatra bradhnasya viṣṭapam |
Svadhā ca yatra tṛptiś ca tatra mām amṛtaṁ
kṛdhīndrāyendo pari srava ||*

To the garden of my mind I go
Over the hills of green where cypress grow
Far away from this present low
I sit on the moss and watch the water flow

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Sanskrit part from the Rigveda, 9-113, 10
English translation:

Make me immortal in that realm of eager wish and strong desire,
The region of the radiant Moon, where food and full delight are found. Flow, Indu, flow for Indra's sake.