Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Don't Look Down

"Don't Look Down" is a song on Tom Russell's release, "Blood and Candle Smoke." I first heard it on Bob Edwards' Weekend.

It's an anthem for moving on - from a job, relationship, belief, or anything else. I've decided "Don't Look Down" is the perfect theme song as I leave 2009 behind.

I am profoundly changed by the events of this year. There are some things I am eager to leave behind, but also things I'll carry with me, tucked safely in my heart, for the rest of my life. Unfortunately, some of the same things stretch across both categories, so I have to figure out how to manage that challenge. It has been a year with much grief and much gratitude.

I don't think I've ever been inspired to write down the lyrics to a song, but I made an exception with this one. It has too many wonderful turns of phrase to be ignored, and the metaphors speak to me.

Of course, you can't get the full effect without hearing Tom Russell sing it. So, go forth and get your own copy.

Don't Look Down
by Tom Russell

Have I been too far
Have I seen too much
Working in the shadows
of the big ferris wheel

Spend 10,000 nights
in these sawdust and mud shows
I been walking that tightrope
for a room and a meal

I said don't look down
the ground might be burning
we're turning the corner now
we might run into God

From the plains of the buffalo
to the wild dogs of Mexico
and the loves that have laid us low
You gotta leave that behind.

Oh the rhymes of the ranges
and the kindness of strangers
I have run all the changes
of the Chickasaw waltz

Tasted lipstick and nylons
seen your mental asylms
turned my back on that violence
before it turned into song

I said don't look down
Lord the ground might be burning
we're all turning the corner now
We might run into God

From the rivers of Idaho
to the wild dogs of Mexico
and the loves that have laid us low
You gotta leave that behind.

Saint Mary, mother of patience
Saint Joseph of the hammer and the nail
Come build me a ladder to the heart of the matter
high above the moon tonight on the carnival trail

She stood in the corner
right next to her mother
Sir Douglas her brother
since she was a child
and the difference in years
and people's cheap fear
and their matinée tears
drove us into the wild.

I said don't look down
the ground might be burning
we're all turning the corner now
we might run into God

From the plains of the buffalo
to the wild dogs of Mexico
and the loves that have laid us low
You gotta leave that behind.

Don't Look Down
Don't Look Down
Don't look down
You gotta leave that behind.