Albatross

the lady comes to the gate dressed in lavender and leather
looking north to the sea she finds the weather fine
she hears the steeple bells ringing through the orchard
all the way from town
she watches seagulls fly
silver on the ocean stitching through the waves
the edges of the sky
many people wander up the hills
from all around you
making up your memories and thinking they have found you
they cover you with veils of wonder as if you were a bride
young men holding violets are curious to know if you have cried
and tell you why
and ask you why
any way you answer
lace around the collars of the blouses of the ladies
flowers from a spanish friend of the family
the embroidery of your life holds you in
and keeps you out but you survive
imprisoned in your bones
behind the isinglass windows of your eyes
and in the night the iron wheels rolling through the rain
down the hills through the long grass to the sea
and in the dark the hard bells ringing with pain
come away alone
even now by the gate with you long hair blowing
and the colors of the day that lie along your arms
you must barter your life to make sure you are living
and the crowd that has come
you give them the colors
and the bells and wind and the dream
will there never be a prince who rides along the sea and the mountains
scattering the sand and foam into amethyst fountains
riding up the hills from the beach in the long summer grass
holding the sun in his hands and shattering the isinglass?
day and night and day again and people come and go away forever
while the shining summer sea dances in the glass of your mirror
while you search the waves for love and your visions for a sign
the knot of tears around your throat is crystallizing into your design
and in the night the iron wheels rolling through the rain
down the hills through the long grass to the sea
and in the dark the hard bells ringing with pain
come away alone
come away alone...with me

--judy collins
albatross

Eagles Cry

John DeBoer

"Eagles Cry"

She Wants So Many Things

she wants so many things
brought to her feet
cover every inch of
the world in concrete
you better do it
it's only your fate
she can't wait any longer
don't make her wait

Graham Parker
She Wants So Many Things

Shipbuilding

Elvis Costello

Shipbuilding

with all the will in the world
diving for dear life
when we could be
diving for pearls

Embryonic Journey

Suppose we were
to drink only
the yellow birch sap
and mix its bark
with our bread,
would not its
yellow curls sprout
from our foreheads,
and our breath
and persons exhale
its sweet aroma?
What sappy vigor
there would be
in our limbs!
What sense
we should have
to explore the swamps with!
--Henry David Thoreau
(journal entry for April 25, 1857)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Newton Butte from outside Cremation Canyon
Jefferson Airplane: "Embryonic Journey"
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Brother, Can You Spare A Dime?

Tim O'Brian

Brother, Can You
Spare A Dime?

5/28/08


Democracy must be something more than two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for dinner.
--Benjamin Franklin

Hazel Dickens (6/1/35--4/22/11)

Hazel Dickens
from It's Hard to Tell the Singer From the Song
Pretty Bird

fly away little pretty bird
fly, fly away
fly away little pretty bird
and pretty you'll always stay

fly far beyond the dark mountains
to where you'll be free evermore
fly away little pretty bird
where the cold winter winds don't blow

Buffalo Skinners

come all you
old time cowboys
and listen
to my song
please do not
grow weary
i will not
detain you long
concerning
some wild cowboys
who did agree
to go spend
a summer pleasant
on the range
of the buffalo

---------------------------------------------------------------
Ramblin' Jack Elliott: "Buffalo Skinners"

Broken Arrow

Robbie Robertson

Broken Arrow


do you feel what i feel?
can we make that
so it's part of the deal?

Gordon Lightfoot In Concert 1972

Gordon Lightfoot

BBC LIVE MUSIC
1972

65 minutes in two parts
with Red Shea and Richard Haynes



--------------------------------------------------------------------
1
summer side of life
saturday clothes
for lovin' me
did she mention my name
affair on 8th avenue
if you could read my mind
steel rail blues
your love's return
ten degrees and getting colder
early morning rain
2
farewell nova scotia
miguel
me & bobby mcgee
nous vivons ensemble
minstrel of the dawn
talking in your sleep
canadian railroad trilogy

Salut À La Compagnie

kind friends and companions
come join me in rhyme
come lift up your voices
in chorus
with mine
let us drink
and be merry
all grief
to refrain
for we may
and might
never
all meet
here again

---------------------------------------------------------------------
Chieftains: "Salut À La Compagnie"

Black Wind Blowing

Billy Bragg
Black Wind Blowing
BBC 9/7/98

Strange Rivers

there are voices
in the mirror.
faces at the door
that open
on the rivers
we've never
seen before.
are there choices
for the sparrow
or does he only fly
high above the rivers
that are pulling
you and i?





Kathleen's Nipple from outside Clear Creek Canyon
Joan Baez: "Strange Rivers" 1/11/92
Hermit and Granite Rapid from Whites Butte

He's A Rebel

The Crystals:
"He's A Rebel"

he's a rebel and
he'll never be any good
he's a rebel 'cause
he never does what he should

Ramblin' Jack Elliott: "Don't Think Twice"

Ramblin' Jack Elliott

Don't Think Twice, It's All Right

New Orleans, La.

12/17/05

Winter's Come And Gone

Gillian Welch:
Winter's Come And Gone

Whiskey In The Jar

Jerry Garcia and David Grisman

Whiskey In The Jar

Fantasias For Guitar And Banjo

Herschel Galaxy
Sandy Bull: "Fantasias for Guitar and Banjo"
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
The hardest thing of all is to find a black cat in a dark room,
especially if there is no cat.
--Confucius

Dress Rehearsal Rag

Leonard Cohen: "Dress Rehearsal Rag" (1968)



As gratuitous pychic discombobulation one includes an excerpt from a most recent consultation ofThe I Ching :


Hexagram 47: K'un / Oppression (Exhaustion)

above TUI THE JOYOUS, LAKE
below K'AN THE ABYSMAL, WATER

The lake is above, water below; the lake is empty, dried up. Exhaustion is
expressed in yet another way: at the top, a dark line is holding down two lightlines; below, a light line is hemmed in between two dark ones. The upper trigram belongs to the principle of darkness, the lower to the principle of light. Thus everywhere superior men are oppressed and held in restraint by inferior men.

THE JUDGMENT
Oppression. Success. Perseverance.
The great man brings about good fortune.
No blame.
When one has something to say,
It is not believed.

Times of adversity are the reverse of times of success, but they can lead to success if they; befall the right man. When a strong man meets with
adversity, he remains cheerful despite all danger, and this cheerfulness is the source of later successes; it is that stability which is stronger than fate. He who lets his spirit be broken by exhaustion certainly has no success. But if adversity only bends a man, it creates in him a power to react that is bound in time to manifest itself. No inferior man is capable of this. Only the great man brings about goof fortune and remains blameless. It is true that for the time being outward influence is denied him, because his words have no effect.
Therefore in times of adversity it is important to be strong within and sparing of words.

THE IMAGE
There is not water in the lake:
The image of EXHAUSTION.
Thus the superior man stakes his life
On following his will.

When the water has flowed out below, the lake must dry up and become
exhausted. That is fate. This symbolizes an adverse fate in human life. In
such times there is nothing a man can do but acquiesce in his fate and remain true to himself. This concerns the deepest stratum of his being, for this alone is superior to all external fate.

THE LINES
Six at the beginning means:
One sits oppressed under a bare tree
And strays into a gloomy valley.
For three years one sees nothing.

When adversity befalls a man, it is important above all things for him to be
strong and to overcome the trouble inwardly. If he is weak, the trouble
overwhelms him. Instead of proceeding on his way, he remains sitting under a bare tree and falls ever more deeply into gloom and melancholy. This makes the situation only more and more hopeless. Such an attitude comes from an inner delusion that he must by all means overcome.

Six at the top means:
He is oppressed by creeping vines.
He moves uncertainly and says, "Movement brings remorse."
If one feels remorse over this and makes a start,
Good fortune comes.

A man is oppressed by bonds that can easily be broken. The distress is
drawing to an end. But he is still irresolute; he is still influenced by the
previous condition and fears that he may have cause for regret if he makes a move. But as soon as he grasps the situation, changes this mental attitude, and makes a firm decision, he masters the oppression.

The Song Of Chief Joseph

James Talley:

"The Song of Chief Joseph "

The End Of The World

He walked out in the gray light and stood and he saw for a brief moment the absolute truth of the world. The cold relentless circling of the intestate earth. Darkness implacable. The blind dogs of the sun in their running. The crushing black vacuum of the universe. And somewhere two hunted animals trembling like ground-foxes in their cover. Borrowed time and borrowed world and borrowed eyes with which to sorrow it.
--Cormac McCarthy (from The Road)
---------------------------------------------------

Skeeter Davis
The End of the World
8/2/65