Sisyphus was a king in Greek mythology. After he tricked the gods (of Mount Olympus) several times, the gods became angry and punished him by making him roll a heavy boulder up a steep mountain. But Zeus, King of the Gods, enchanted the boulder so that every time it got near the summit, it would roll away from Sisyphus and roll back down the mountain. So Sisyphus had to start over, again and again, forever. The punishment of Sisyphus was unending, meaningless work.
The following video is a short clip from Avicii’s music video Levels. (I have removed the sound.) In the music video, a man has a job that he hates. But then he becomes infected with dancing mania. He is taken to a hospital and put in restraints to prevent him from dancing. He dreams he has the same unending, meaningless job Sisyphus had. But at the same time, he is mouthing the words we hear Etta James sing at the beginning of Something’s Got A Hold On Me.
“Ohhh, sometimes, I get a good feeling, yeah
I get a feeling that I never never never never had before, no no
I get a good feeling, yeah”
Why does this man have a good feeling even while doing a difficult task that seems endless and unfulfilling?
In 1957, Albert Camus wrote a philosophical essay titled The Myth of Sisyphus. Camus imagined that Sisyphus’ fate and endless toil were not futile. He wrote, “If the descent [i.e., Sisyphus' returning to the bottom of the mountain to start pushing the rock upward all over again] is sometimes performed in sorrow, it can also take place in joy." And "The struggle itself toward the heights is enough to fill a man's heart. One must imagine Sisyphus happy.”
At the video’s end, the man escapes from his restraints and infects others with dancing mania. Soon, everyone has a feeling they never, never had before.
What does the music video mean? Avicii seems to say that with the right attitude you can have joy, even in the midst of a day-to-day routine that appears unrewarding and repetitive. And that joy can be contagious.
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