{"id":15,"date":"2007-05-02T21:09:00","date_gmt":"2007-05-02T21:09:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/moscowcoffeereview.com\/carpecakem\/?p=15"},"modified":"2007-10-24T21:27:52","modified_gmt":"2007-10-24T21:27:52","slug":"the-never-ending-road","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/moscowcoffeereview.com\/carpecakem\/2007\/05\/02\/the-never-ending-road\/","title":{"rendered":"The Never-Ending Road"},"content":{"rendered":"

I recently picked up Loreena McKennitt’s latest album “An Ancient Muse<\/a>“. Unfortunately, it’s definitely not as strong as her past works. Reviewers are calling it “The Mask and Mirror Part II” and I must agree in many regards. Nonetheless, there are some moments of sublimity and I’ve grown to like it quite a bit. The musicianship is wonderful and the exotic stringed instruments (oud, hurdy gurdy, sitar, ???) are captured with a clarity that is rarely heard when they show up on other projects. Throughout the album she continues to explore spirituality, nodding at Christian, Muslim, and Jewish ideas, sometimes all at the same time while not being willing to embrace any of them.<\/p>\n

One of the pieces is called “Never-Ending road”. Upon writing down the text, I realize it loses much of it’s energy and even meaning. LM’s lyrics and poetry is often VERY much tied to it’s music. It doesn’t usually stand on it’s own as well. You might want to listen<\/a> to part of it.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, here it is:<\/p>\n

The road now leads onward
\nAs far as can be
\nWinding lanes
\nAnd hedgerows in threes
\nBy purple mountains
\nRound every bend
\nAll roads lead to you
\nThere is no journey’s end<\/p>\n

Here is my heart, I give it to you
\nTake me with you across this land
\nThese are my dreams, so simple and few
\nDreams we hold in the palm of our hands<\/p>\n

Deep in the winter
\nAmidst falling snow
\nHigh in the air
\nWhere the bells they all toll
\nAnd now all around me
\nI feel you still here
\nSuch is the journey
\nNo mystery to fear<\/p>\n

Here is my heart, I give it to you
\nTake me with you across this land
\nThese are my dreams, so simple so few
\nDreams we hold in the palm of our hands<\/p>\n

The road now leads onward
\n I know not where
\nI feel in my heart
\nThat you will be there
\nWhenever a storm comes
\nWhatever our fears
\nThe journey goes on
\nAs your love ever nears<\/p>\n

Here is my heart, I give it to you
\nTake me with you across this land
\nThese are my dreams, so simple and few
\nDreams we hold in the palm of our hands<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And from her notes:<\/p>\n

The last song “Never-ending Road” was inspired by the tradition found within certainly the Christian, Judaic and Muslim traditions of mystics writing metaphoric poetry that is really reaching towards capturing the essence of the relationship between humanity and God. And I’ve loved this process of creating a document that speaks in this way. And in so far as this life is a journey with all its joys and sorrows and hardships, that it’s a never-ending journey, it’s a never-ending road. And that as conscious as I am of the far greater talent and vision of those who have inspired me, this song is really a modest gesture to that tradition.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Though the tone of the music is very different, in my mind this song strongly resembles “Obsession” from an early Delerious? album<\/a>:<\/p>\n

What can I do with my obsession?
\nWith the things I cannot see
\nIs there madness in my being?
\nIs it wind that blows the trees?
\nSometimes you’re further than the moon
\nSometimes you’re closer than my skin
\nAnd you surround me like a winter fog
\nYou’ve come and burned me with a kiss And my heart burns for you
\nAnd my heart burns<\/p>\n

And I’m so filthy with my sin
\nI carry pride like a disease
\nYou know I’m stubborn God and I’m longing
\nto be close
\nYou burn me deeper than I know
\nI feel lonely without hope
\nI feel desperate without vision
\nYou wrap around me like a winter coat
\nYou come and free me like a bird<\/p>\n

And my heart burns for you
\nAnd my heart burns for you<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

The later is painfully aware of our fallenness; our inability to cast the Lord aside and still live. LM may not have a very “right” theology, yet I believe she has perceived an important attribute of the character of God: Love. This isn’t the distant agnostic God watching the world spin far below. This isn’t the impersonal force in the trees and dirt. This isn’t the authoritarian task-master in the sky. This is a God of relationship with actual real humans like us. Mysterious and invisible yes, but also very near and not unknowable. You have to trust him. We resist and yet want to trust even more.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I recently picked up Loreena McKennitt’s latest album “An Ancient Muse“. Unfortunately, it’s definitely not as strong as her past works. Reviewers are calling it “The Mask and Mirror Part II” and I must agree in many regards. Nonetheless, there are some moments of sublimity and I’ve grown to like it quite a bit. The … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “The Never-Ending Road”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,40],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-music","category-mysticism"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/moscowcoffeereview.com\/carpecakem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/moscowcoffeereview.com\/carpecakem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/moscowcoffeereview.com\/carpecakem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/moscowcoffeereview.com\/carpecakem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/moscowcoffeereview.com\/carpecakem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/moscowcoffeereview.com\/carpecakem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/moscowcoffeereview.com\/carpecakem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/moscowcoffeereview.com\/carpecakem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/moscowcoffeereview.com\/carpecakem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}