TODAY'S INSPIRATIONAL LYRICS: Indigo Girls
When I made my way to Sautee, GA this past weekend to see the Indigo Girls show, I had no idea how different things would be. The Sautee Jamboree is a yearly fundraiser for the Historical Society. The site was the size of a softball field, with a ramshackle stage built within a small barn. The box office was three ladies who looked up our names on a guest list, then handed us our wrist bands, rather than snapping them tight on our wrists. With a wink and a drawl, the ladies told us that "if you lose the band tonight, just come back tomorrow and we'll give you another. We're on the honor system, here".
I was most certainly no longer in the Northeast. Even the smallest show of theirs I had seen (a free show in New Haven in 1989) had a larger crowd. I scanned the audience and estimated no more than 600. It was so incredible.
The opening act, Roxie Watson, are friends of my hosts for the weekend; they are an all-female "alterna-grass" band; with complicated musicality and lush harmonies. They definitely set the stage for the Indigo Girls. (most definitely, look them up and love them!)
The song I'm attaching is most likely the highlight of the show. Give me a 3/4 time signature, and I'm already in love - waltzes, sea shanties, carnival music, oom-pah-pahs, what have you. Plus, it's a wonderful song of self-discovery, sort of bittersweet yet hopeful. The harmony is chilling. It takes your breath away.
Hearing it live in that tiny, landlocked North Georgia village gave it a little something extra. The vocals soared into the warm Southern night. I did, indeed, cry a little while I was singing along. It was completely beautiful to me.
At the end of the show, I spoke with the sound guy and got the tech set list. I've glanced down at that song more than once, and remembered just how amazing that evening was.
Click to viewThe fisherman comes up
puts his two poles in the sand
he stares out at the sea
just exactly like me
but I've got a book in my hand
we will have caught on to something by the end of the day
but mostly we think about the one that got away.
I've seen like a bird
what pleasures the surface can bring
I've lost my best craft
going foolishly back
to where to Sirens sing
I've stared up at the place where the water meets the sky
and though I stopped breathing I still believe I should try
maybe a boat in search of lost treasures will pass by.
'Cause the fleet of hope is so pretty
when she's shining in the port
and the harbor clings to the jetty
for protection and support
out in the choppy waters the sharks swim and play
you're all washed up when Poseidon has his day.
I've walked through the desert
climbed over mountains so high
through jungles and plains
I took buses and trains
and airplanes across the sky
but none as seductive as ocean before me alone
and now I know why
you layered your pockets with stones.
'Cause the fleet of hope is so pretty
when she's shining in the port
and the harbor clings to the jetty
for protection and support
out in the choppy waters the sharks swim and play
you're all washed up when Poseidon has his day.
When I was a girl
all of my fancy took flight
and I had this dream
Could outshine anything
even the darkest night
now I wait like a widow for someone to come back from sea
I've always known
I was waiting for me
'Cause the fleet of hope is so pretty
when she's shining in the port
and the harbor clings to the jetty
for protection and support
out in the choppy waters the sharks swim and play
you're all washed up when Poseidon has his day.