Jumping in the way back machine for this one. For some reason watching the snow today put this one in my head and reminded me of a time when IRL things were soooo, not good. But, I remember looking out the back window of a '73 Nova as the miles markers passed by in a blur, and when this well-loved song came on the radio I swore that one day I'd see a mountain, too, because my God didn't live in a cloud in the sky. My God wasn't an invisible, moody bad guy who jumped out to scare little kids and send them to burn in hot places because the grown ups said they'd been bad. No, my God was right outside my front door; in the grass, and the trees, every flower, field and animal all around me. And, I knew that one day, if I made it out of being 12, one day I'd find God living in the mountains and the oceans and the lands and states and countries I'd yet to see; in the history and the future of everything.
God couldn't be who everyone said he was because anyone that mean and cranky, anyone who sentence you to burn alive in some blistery, screaming hell after living here just a little while compared to forever would never have the heart to make the miraculous, artistically perfect, serene beauty I saw all around me. That guy couldn't have had created the songs of the birds, and the whisper of gentle, warm breezes, and the mesmerizing, hypnotic allure of the moon, and the sun and the planets and stars. Nah, they couldn't be right about this whole God thing they way they said it was. Just another thing they could shove right up their crazy asses because the God I wanted to meet was right here, out there, everywhere.
Neither of these songs have anything to do with God at all. They're not religious, they don't speak of grander things, or make promises you can't depend on. They aren't fantastic, or probably even remembered by anyone but me. But they're simple, and clear, real and true.
Michael Martin Murphy and John Denver knew where God lives, I think. At least that's what I get from them when I still listen to their songs. They were part of the world that I wanted to know, and see and experience one day; the world that lived in my mind where no one marred it or muddied it up with...complicated things; and there were no one else's footprints in the snow, but mine.
Snow. I still think freshly falling snow is pretty magical stuff. Think if I look hard enough I could see the Fae sliding down icicles on the trees?
Carolina in the Pines ~ Michael Martin Murphey
She came to me, said she knew me
Said she'd known me a long time
And she spoke of being in love
With every mountain she had climbed
And she talked of trails she'd walked up
Far above the timberline
From that night on I knew I'd write songs
With Carolina in the pines
There's a new moon on the fourteenth
First quarter, the twenty first
And the full moon in the last week
Brings a fullness to this earth
There's no guesswork in the clockwork
On the worlds heart or mine
There are nights I only feel right
With Carolina in the pines
When the frost shows on the windows
And the wood stove smokes and glows
As the fire grows, we will warm our souls
Watching rainbows in the cove
And we'll talk of trails we've walked up
Far above the timberline
There are nights I only feel right
With Carolina in the pines
Rocky Mountain High ~ John Denver
He was born in the summer of his twenty-seventh year
Coming home to a place he'd never been before
Left yesterday behind him, you might say he was born again
Might say he found a key for ev'ry door
When he first came to the mountains his life was far away
On the road and hangin' by a song
But the string's already broken and he doesn't really care
Keeps changin' fast, it don't last for long
Colorado Rocky Mountain high
I've seen it rainin' fire in the sky
The shadow from the starlight
Is softer than a lullaby
Rocky Mountain high
Rocky Mountain high
He climbed cathedral mountains
Saw silver clouds below
Saw everything as far as you can see
And they say that he got crazy once
And he tried to touch the sun
And he lost a friend but kept his memory
Now, he walks in quiet solitude
The forests and the streams
Seeking grace in every step he takes
His sight has turned inside
Himself to try and understand
The serenity of a clear blue mountain lake
The Colorado Rocky Mountain high
I've seen it rainin' fire in the sky
You talk to God, listen to the casual reply
Rocky Mountain high
Rocky Mountain high
Now his life is full of wonder
But his heart still knows some fear
Of a simple thing he cannot comprehend
Why they try to tear the mountains down
To bring in a couple more
More people, more scars upon the land
And the Colorado Rocky Mountain high
I've seen it rainin' fire in the sky
He know he'd be a poorer man
If he never saw an eagle fly
Rocky Mountain high
It's the Colorado Rocky Mountain high
I've seen it rainin' fire in the sky
Friends around the campfire
Everybody's high
Rocky Mountain high
Rocky Mountain high
Rocky Mountain high
Rocky Mountain high