49 - But in the Dark I Have No Name

Two ideas, thoughts, things I cling to with all my heart are:  Hope and Wandering.

Hope is a powerful concept.  It can give you wings to soar through the sky, or give you the grit to put one foot in front of the other when you have nothing left.  Then do it again.  It will surround your heart with joy at the goodness that you encounter, or bolster you up when the darkness threatens to engulf you.

Hope is the warmth of light in the good times, and the flicker of illumination in utter night.  I'm not going to preach but there is a specific hope I have that supplements all the rest I have.


Wandering is something altogether different.  I can find hope in wandering.  I don't like staying in one place for too long.  I get the appeal of putting down roots, and settling in.  There is a part of me that desires that.  But the larger part of me needs to keep moving.  Not because I am compelled to, or feel driven to, but a desire to see and experience something...different.

Wandering give you the chance to just keep going, keep seeing, and keep meeting new folks and places.

Today's song catches both those ideas.

Song 49
        "Hopeless Wanderer" from Mumford & Sons latest, Babel.

There is so much in each of their songs.  It's been hard to not just do every song off this album.  And their first.  They are pretty much definitive of the season for me, but also work year round too.  The intro piano just hooks me in like a current.  Before you know it the river is pulling you further and faster, until you hit the chorus that turns into thrilling white water.

I love the lyrics in the bridge the most:

So when your hope's on fire
But you know your desire
Don't hold a glass over the flame
Don't let your heart grow cold
I will call you by name
I will share your road

For me this feels like someone else is speaking.  Encouraging and challenging the voice of the rest of the song.  There is such a hopefulness to this song that just lifts me up, and pulls me a long...depending on the day.

grace, peace & hope
-Jesse

13 - All the Same 'ole Cliches

The Concept:  Feature a song a day for every day of the most magnificent season of Autumn.  The songs are ones that capture the thoughts/ideas/images/feelings of the season for me. 

It's my "Autumnal Playlist" if you will.

It was November 1998 when I heard this song.  Once again, Evangel days.  I could be found hanging out with my good friends of Sc1N.  Erik, Josh, Brendan, Nate, and Stu.  Good guys.  I had listened to some of this band's music in high school, but had given it up for what would be a long and dis-interesting story for this post.  Suffice it to say, I was well acquainted with the band when I heard this tune.  But this track had a slightly different feel to it.  Possibly because it was a cover.  And to this day, I don't recall ever listening to the original straight through.

I remember going to Best Buy and picking up this intense two-disc set.  Yes, there was no downloading with this song.  Well, not for me.  Much to the band's chagrin there has been lots of downloading...back in those days...thanks to places like Napster.

Song 13/Day13

"Turn the Page," as covered by Metallica from their album, Garage Inc.

Like a lot of the songs in this series, it too has a slow mournful beginning with a steady intense build up the breaking of the song.  Say what you will about Metallica, until St. Anger, they knew how to put an album together.  Garage Inc. has several songs like this cover of Bob Seger's classic, and Lynyrd Skynyrd's, Tuesday's Gone.

While I can't give them the recognition for the lyrics, I do love the delivery of them.  There isn't a voice in metal/hard rock that growls as good as James Hetfield.  Even when I first heard it I knew it was a cover (that was the point of this album,) but it felt like a personal song for him.  As it's about life on the road for touring musicians...it's easy to translate that empathy/sympathy between just about any act.  Well, maybe not Disney Pop acts.

This song works great for the Fall because of the "road" feel of it.  I can visualize a band traveling during the verses and bridge.  The slow times at a lonely hotel in the middle of nowhere.  Bad weather.  Maybe one of the band is leaning over some spiral notebook jotting down lyrics in the tour bus.  The choruses, with the change in music, fits well with images of them performing, giving everything they've got into their music.  Wanting to make a connection with their fans.

That's what I see.

And as stated in previous posts, Autumn really stirs up my wanderlust.  It's difficult to hold it back sometimes, this year in particular, but it's always there.  Waiting for some great tunes, and a road to strike out on.  I really dig these lyrics (the whole 2nd verse):

You walk into a restaurant, strung out from the road
And you feel the eyes upon you, as you're shaking off the cold
You pretend it doesn't bother you, but you just want to explode
And most times you can't hear 'em talk, other times you can
All the same 'ole cliches: is it woman? Is it man?
And you always seem outnumbered, you dare not make a stand, make your stand.

Also, the whole concept of 'turning a page' for whatever reason, conjures up images and feelings of Fall.  It's my favorite time of year to read.  Reading and Road Trips.  Maybe that's a blog series for next year...

But curling up with a good book as the weather starts to cool, the night comes on quicker...imagination gets to run a little freer.  At least mine does...and it's rarely on the leash anyway.  While many people think of Spring as the beginning of new life and all that pastel nonsense, for me it's Autumn.  Yes, the leaves and grass die.  But they are the incubators of the new to come.  If Spring is birth, Autumn is conception.


So, if you're planning any long road trips (maybe we can still catch New England before the leaves are done?) take a listen to Turn the Page.

Here's the link to "Turn the Page" from Metallica.

enjoy!
-Jesse