The winter solstice has always been a time of song for me. My family was raised in a Christian tradition, and while we didn’t attend services we had our own vigil and made plenty of music around the wood stove - a mix of Christmas favorites and my father’s original songs.
I could scour my brain for hours and produce no contribution. Except that the first album I personally "owned," which defined my 90s more than any other, offers nothing but affirmations and laments.
Tennessee -
Lord, I've really been real stressed, down and out, losing ground
Although I am black and proud, problems got me pessimistic
Brothers and sisters keep messin' up, why does it have to be so damn tuff?
I don't know where I can go to let these ghosts out of my skull
My grandma past my brother's gone, I never at once felt so alone
I know you're supposed to be my steering wheel, not just my spare tire (Home!)
But Lord, I ask you (Home!)
to be my guiding force and truth (Home!)
For some strange reason it had to be (Home!)
He guided me to Tennessee (Home!)
Take me to another place, take me to another land
Make me forget all that hurts me, let me understand Your plan
Take me to another place, take me to another land
Make me forget all that hurts me, let me understand Your plan
Lord it's obvious we got a relationship
Talkin' to each other every night and day
Although you're superior over me
We talk to each other in a friendship way
Then outta nowhere, you tell me to break
Outta the country, and into more country
Past Dyesburg into Ripley
Where the ghost of childhood haunts me
Walk the roads my forefathers walked
Climb the trees my forefathers hung from
Ask those trees for all their wisdom
They tell me my ears are so young (Home!)
Go back, from whence you came (Home!)
My family tree, my family name (Home!)
For some strange reason it had to be (Home!)
He guided me to Tennessee (Home!)
Take me to another place, take me to another land
Make me forget all that hurts me, let me understand your plan
Take me to another place, take me to another land
Make me forget all that hurts me, let me understand your plan
(Ishee? She went down to Holland Spring.
Rasadan and Babba? They went down to P St.
Headliner? I challenge you to a game of Horseshoe -
A game of horseshoes!)
Now I see the importance of history
Why my people be in the mess that they be
Many journeys to freedom made in vain
By brothers on the corner playin' ghetto games
I ask you, Lord why you enlightened me
Without the enlightenment of all my folks
He said, cuz I set myself on a quest for truth
And He was there to quench my thirst
But I am still thirsty
The Lord allowed me to drink some more
He said what I am searching for are
The answers to all which are in front of me
The ultimate truth started to get blurry
For some strange reason it had to be
It was all a dream about Tennessee
Take me to another place (home...), take me to another land (home...)
Make me forget all that hurts me (home...), let me understand your plan (yeah...)
Take me to another place (home...), take me to another land (home...)
Make me forget all that hurts me (home...), let me understand your plan (yeah...)
I'm late to post here, but thanks for this post, Mark. Some lovely music you've shared that I hadn't heard before. My contribution for a Song of Participation would be "Carpet of the Sun" by the 1970's progressive rock group Renaissance. The combination of Betty Thatcher's simple but lovely lyrics written about her own home garden, and the sweeping and swelling orchestration and arrangement, and the amazing vocals of Annie Haslam, combine to make this song a perfect tribute to the contributions we give to the world by growing our own 'carpets of the sun.'
As for Songs of Lamentation, a surprisingly large share of music in the black metal genre is dedicated to taking awe in our natural landscapes and decrying the world that us humans have created in it's stead. Maybe strange for a genre built on electric guitars and banshee vocals, but an awe for nature and it's solitude and mysteries lies at the heart of many black metallers and black metal fans (me included). See "Banished," for instance, by the band Falls of Rauros (and the song that leads into it, "Earth's Old Timid Grace," which has played in my head when on a couple backpacking trips into the mountainous wilderness of the western US).
I could scour my brain for hours and produce no contribution. Except that the first album I personally "owned," which defined my 90s more than any other, offers nothing but affirmations and laments.
Tennessee -
Lord, I've really been real stressed, down and out, losing ground
Although I am black and proud, problems got me pessimistic
Brothers and sisters keep messin' up, why does it have to be so damn tuff?
I don't know where I can go to let these ghosts out of my skull
My grandma past my brother's gone, I never at once felt so alone
I know you're supposed to be my steering wheel, not just my spare tire (Home!)
But Lord, I ask you (Home!)
to be my guiding force and truth (Home!)
For some strange reason it had to be (Home!)
He guided me to Tennessee (Home!)
Take me to another place, take me to another land
Make me forget all that hurts me, let me understand Your plan
Take me to another place, take me to another land
Make me forget all that hurts me, let me understand Your plan
Lord it's obvious we got a relationship
Talkin' to each other every night and day
Although you're superior over me
We talk to each other in a friendship way
Then outta nowhere, you tell me to break
Outta the country, and into more country
Past Dyesburg into Ripley
Where the ghost of childhood haunts me
Walk the roads my forefathers walked
Climb the trees my forefathers hung from
Ask those trees for all their wisdom
They tell me my ears are so young (Home!)
Go back, from whence you came (Home!)
My family tree, my family name (Home!)
For some strange reason it had to be (Home!)
He guided me to Tennessee (Home!)
Take me to another place, take me to another land
Make me forget all that hurts me, let me understand your plan
Take me to another place, take me to another land
Make me forget all that hurts me, let me understand your plan
(Ishee? She went down to Holland Spring.
Rasadan and Babba? They went down to P St.
Headliner? I challenge you to a game of Horseshoe -
A game of horseshoes!)
Now I see the importance of history
Why my people be in the mess that they be
Many journeys to freedom made in vain
By brothers on the corner playin' ghetto games
I ask you, Lord why you enlightened me
Without the enlightenment of all my folks
He said, cuz I set myself on a quest for truth
And He was there to quench my thirst
But I am still thirsty
The Lord allowed me to drink some more
He said what I am searching for are
The answers to all which are in front of me
The ultimate truth started to get blurry
For some strange reason it had to be
It was all a dream about Tennessee
Take me to another place (home...), take me to another land (home...)
Make me forget all that hurts me (home...), let me understand your plan (yeah...)
Take me to another place (home...), take me to another land (home...)
Make me forget all that hurts me (home...), let me understand your plan (yeah...)
Oh, won't you let me, won't you help me
won't you help me understand your plan...
Take me home,
Take me home, home,
Take me to another place
Take me home,
Woah, you know I need to go home, yeah...
I'm late to post here, but thanks for this post, Mark. Some lovely music you've shared that I hadn't heard before. My contribution for a Song of Participation would be "Carpet of the Sun" by the 1970's progressive rock group Renaissance. The combination of Betty Thatcher's simple but lovely lyrics written about her own home garden, and the sweeping and swelling orchestration and arrangement, and the amazing vocals of Annie Haslam, combine to make this song a perfect tribute to the contributions we give to the world by growing our own 'carpets of the sun.'
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6VaN45sVEQw
[Verse 1]
Come along with me
Down into the world of seeing
Come and you'll be free
Take the time to find the feeling
[Pre Chorus]
See everything on it's own
And you'll find you know the way
And you'll know the things you're shown
Owe everything to the day
[Chorus]
See the carpet of the sun
The green grass soft and sweet
Sands upon the shores of time
Of oceans mountains steep
Part of the world that you live in
You are the part that you're giving
[Verse 2]
Come into the day
Feel the sunshine warmth around you
Sounds from far away
Music of the love that found you
[Pre Chorus]
The seed that you plant today
Tomorrow will be a tree
And living goes on this way
It's all part of you and me
[Chorus]
See the carpet of the sun
The green grass soft and sweet
Sands upon the shores of time
Of oceans mountains steep
Part of the world that you live in
You are the part that you're giving
As for Songs of Lamentation, a surprisingly large share of music in the black metal genre is dedicated to taking awe in our natural landscapes and decrying the world that us humans have created in it's stead. Maybe strange for a genre built on electric guitars and banshee vocals, but an awe for nature and it's solitude and mysteries lies at the heart of many black metallers and black metal fans (me included). See "Banished," for instance, by the band Falls of Rauros (and the song that leads into it, "Earth's Old Timid Grace," which has played in my head when on a couple backpacking trips into the mountainous wilderness of the western US).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ax7qTj0aA9A
Barren. hollow. desolate.
Burdened by the weight of emptiness and failure.
I thought I heard them whisper..
"Come home to us and sleep once more blanketed by stars
and breathe again the air uncorrupted
and tread upon the footpaths of those you've cast aside.
Wade into the waters flowing, winding
never to contemplate these cursed thoughts again..."
This is sorrow. This in no way defines us.
How can we be so careless?
The vision is calling, is piercing our hearts.
We cannot dwell here idle while this violence goes on.
Banished. Driven out of existence. A curse upon the earth.
Always under the banner of progress and feigned elevation.
Know that this culture will dissolve. It is the natural conclusion.
This cannot persist much longer.
One day we'll build upon the ruins of this dead world.
Here's the one that I wrote for this Solstice, based on conditions in the towns and community where I live: https://andrewbwatt.com/2021/12/20/song-goshen-yule/
Here's another one: The Bristlecone Pine. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gTu18pgDwY
Way up in the mountains
On the high timberline
Lives a twisted old tree
Called the bristlecone pine
The wind there is bitter
It cuts like a knife
And it keeps that tree holding
On for dear life
But hold on it does
Standing it's ground
Standing as empires
Rise and fall down
When Jesus was gathering
Lambs to his fold
This tree was already
A thousand years old
Now the way I have lived
There ain't no way to tell
When I die if I'm going
To heaven or hell
So when I'm laid to rest
It would suit me just fine
To sleep at the feet of
The bristlecone pine
For as I would slowly
Return to the earth
What little this body
Of mine might be worth
Would soon start to nourish
The roots of that tree
And it would partake of
The essence of me
And who knows but that as
The centuries turn
A small spark of me might
Continue to burn
As long as the sun did
Continue to shine
Down on the limbs of
The bristlecone pine
Now the way I have lived
There ain't no way to tell
When I die if I'm going
To heaven or hell
So I'd just as soon serve out
Eternity's time
Asleep at the feet of
The bristlecone pine
Asleep at the feet of
The bristlecone pine
(Sorry, had to delete and repost because half the lyrics got cut off...)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpU01KQIUJM
Now the green blade riseth from the buried grain,
wheat that in dark earth many days has lain;
love lives again, that with the dead has been:
Love is come again like wheat that springeth green.
In the grave they laid him, Love whom hate had slain,
thinking that never he would wake again,
laid in the earth like grain that sleeps unseen:
Love is come again like wheat that springeth green.
Forth he came at Easter, like the risen grain,
He that for three days in the grave had lain,
quick from the dead my risen Lord is seen:
Love is come again like wheat that springeth green.
When our hearts are wintry, grieving, or in pain,
thy touch can call us back to life again,
fields of our hearts that dead and bare have been:
Love is come again like wheat that springeth green.
thank you, friend! for the heart, from the heart