I Am Weary, Let Me Rest

There are points in life where simplicity is necessary.  Often we find ourselves beset by a multitude of stimuli and our bodies grow weary.  I’ve sort of reached that point myself lately.  I feel as if I spend most days staring at something digital, whether it’s contracts at work or actresses on the big screen.  My eyes feel heavy and tired, almost pained from the stress I seem to inflict upon them.  I’m no Darwin and, despite being raised in Arkansas, am certainly no outdoorsman.  But this doesn’t deny me the simple pleasures of a backyard or a mountain vista.  I might like showering most every day, but I can enjoy nature. Can appreciate roughing it here and there.  I know I can certainly use more breaks from the computer screen.  But it’s another few days until the weekend rolls around and I can actually make that separation.  So, I rely on some tunes that make me crave something beyond a desk or a couch.

Certain songs are able to evoke affecting images with minimal words.  Last Night I Dreamt of Mississippi, the opening track on Nicolai Dunger’s Tranquil Isolation album, does just that.  I see sunsets sinking back behind hills; I see drinks continue to sweat even as night comes.

Last Night I Dreamt Of Mississippi – Nicolai Dunger

On a whole, the Tranquil Isolation album is a shock to the system.  It seems to come forth from a wellspring of embedded Americana, but Dunger is Sweedish.  I suppose this makes the accomplishment that much more amazing.  I continue to seek solace in the music time and again after all these years.  Not much more can be said in praise of a work than that.

There have been many works of art go unnoticed at the time of their creation, only to find themselves championed in later years.  Van Gogh, Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Moby Dick…there are plenty of examples, but none really reach the spiritual heights of Blind Willie Johnson’s aching gospel-blues track, Dark Was the Night, Cold Was the Ground.  I don’t want to get too effusive here, but it was chosen as one of the 27 musical samples to be included on the Voyager Golden Record that was launched into space in 1977 to “represent the diversity of human life.”  Johnson’s track was chosen as the personification of human loneliness in song.  It’s an aching song and features some of the best slide guitar work ever recorded.  That’s pretty effusive, right?

Dark Was The Night, Cold Was The Ground – Blind Willie Johnson

David Allan Coe is a pretty divisive figure.  With questionable claims regarding jail time and two albums filled with crass, misogynistic and racist songs, he certainly hasn’t endeared himself to a lot of folks.  The garbage that has come out of his mouth is hard to forget, but I try to judge people at their finer moments.  Coe’s had a few of those, but for my money, none has been finer than I Still Sing the Old Songs.

I Still Sing the Old Songs – David Allan Coe

It is a deeply regional work with a striking weariness.  And despite the Christian connotations, the song seems to be pining for an almost Dharmic release: Lord, I’d give my life to find the freedom lost within the old songs that you sung

My own Dharmic release will come around closing time on Friday.  Until then, kiddos, stay rested and have a Wonderful Wednesday