Tag: Walk On

The Copper Sea

I was playing this one again last week and think I got it pretty good, at least better than the other times I’ve posted it here on the blog. See the Oct 10, 20011 post and the sept 3, 2012 post. I keep working on the lyrics to this song, and I keep playing it slower and slower. Currently the words are:

We sailed the copper sea

We played out our destiny

We walked together in the sand

You were my woman and I was your man

Walk on, Walk on

The letters came a-tumbling from the sky

And the people walked away and didn’t wonder why

And the letters cast their shadows on the land

You were my woman and I was your man

Walk on, Walk on

We sailed the copper sea

There’s a song that you sang for you and me

And we crossed to the silver land
You were my woman and I was your man
Walk on, walk on

sunrise_over_mediterranean_sea

Here’s to brave Odysseus again
It’s an image, an archetype, that calls to us all. Such is the power of the classics.
The story of Oydsseus calls forth so many images – at least for me.
I’ve read the Illiad in the Lattimore translation and read The Odyssey in the Fitzgerald translation.
A good friend a long time ago recommended the Lattimore translation to me, and insisted that I needed to read the Illiad (and a good translation, he pointed out) in order to obtain a perspective on the rest of literature. He was quite right. The rest of literature pales in comparison.
The Homeric images, the feel from the book, are something that stays with you. Similarly the story of Jean Valjean is part of my personal world. Tolstoy’s characters as well. Let’s not be so hard on the rest of literature.

Walk On

http://bloodinkdiary.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/mashaal.jpgShaheen Sultan Dhanji, writing as Mashaal Ana’hita, in her beautiful and illuminating blog often addresses and confronts difficult social issues. With bravery she peers deeply into our collective sorrow and shame, as she confronts the violence and cruelty of this world. Particularly the exploitation of the “Third World”. Most people turn their eyes from this reality of exploitation and cruelty that underlies American/Western prosperity. Most people busy themselves with thoughts about themselves, which is natural of course. When they think about the larger society, they relate to the glossy gossip news, the fads, the nonsense that the powers that be (whoever they be) dispense or rather pour down upon us. It is harder than ever to remain socially conscious. But the fight for social justice has always been an uphill struggle. Always will be.

Each of us plays his part. Each of us contributes to the whole. Each of us does what she or he can to further the cause of peace. We walk on. We continue the fight. So here’s to continuing the good fight. I am somehow enamored of the expression “walk on”. Brownie Mc Gee and Sonny Terry have a great song with that title. Check it out on UTube:

“Your mind gets weary when your shoes get thin.
I don’t know where I’m going but I do know where I been.
I walk on.
Walk on.
Gonna keep on walkin’ til I find my way back home.”

I recently wrote one that uses the words Walk On in the chorus. It is a personal song, which I posted several months ago. I called it Copper Sea, an image that is also stuck in my mind. After reading Shaheen’s blog I sung it again and changed the words (again). I hope it is a sort of encouragement to us.
We sailed the copper sea.
Our lives, they are like a memory.
And we walked together in the sand.
You were my woman and I was your man
Walk On, Walk On

The letters came a’tumblin’ from the sky.
And the people walked away. They did not wonder why.
And the letters cast their shadows on the sand.
And you were my woman and I was your man.
Walk On, Walk On

We sailed the copper sea.
We played out our little destiny.
Still we walk together in the sand.
You’re my woman and I’m your man.
Walk On, Walk On.

We sailed the copper sea.
We live out our destiny
But we’re playing it all out on the sand.
Our shadows fly across the sand.
Walk On, Walk On