“Far” by Canopy Climbers, Friday, January 8, 2021(partial repost)

Back in college and a little after I used to get a bunch of free music from NoiseTrade. This song was on 2012 Holiday Road Trip Mix. In the mix there were artists from different states. None of the songs in the mix are tailored to a particular holiday, and I find that this song works just as well in the spring or fall as much as the winter. Canopy Climbers contributed to the mix with the song “Far” from their debut album, Distances. 

THROUGH ALL THE NOISE AND THE LACK OF SILENCE. Canopy Climbers’ debut album Distances was released in 2011. Besides the NoiseTrade sampler 2012 Holiday Road Trip Mix, they were featured on JesusFreakHideout.com’s 2012 compilation Songs We’ve Been Trying to Tell You About (And Others We Haven’t), Volume 2.  The band’s most recent EP Fever was released in 2017. Today’s song, “Far,” is the band’s second most-streamed song. Like many NoiseTrade samplers I acquired in college, I didn’t take the time to look up the artists I didn’t know. However, 2012 Holiday Road Trip Mix was released my first holiday season in Korea. It was a hard time before I made friends and I felt that I was struggling as teacher. Somehow “Far,” in particular was a song that I imagined myself as the subject of a film montage. The sequence shows me walking home from school every day as the seasons change. I think that the reason for the sequence is to show me enjoying a moment of solitude after the chaos of teaching school—elementary at the time. It's quite arrogant to think that my life is worthy of a movie, but I'm going to recount this montage. Maybe “Far” is a montage for you and your story is more interesting.

IF HOME IS WHERE MY HEART IS SAFE, WHY DO YOU LEAD ME AWAY? I'm walking home from work under the shade of the ginkgo trees. First it's spring. The warm sunlight filters through foliage on to the sidewalk and the air is fresh. Traffic is crazy around me. Next it's later spring. I'm carrying my jacket in my hands. The light is stronger. Next it's summer and I'm in a short sleeve shirt button shirt, clean. The next shot I'm covered in sweat because it's bloody hot, even though it's six in the evening. Next, the light begins to shift and weaken. Fall is coming. The ginkgoes start turning yellow and the awful smelling fruit begins to drop. I play a game to avoid stepping on them. I lift my dress shoes to see if I stepped on any. The leaves start to thin more and more. Soon the trees are bare. The song slows down. Snow begins to fall. I shiver in a thin coat. "Where you lead, I will go" comes in. I'm in a thicker coat more sure of myself. "Where you go, I will follow." I'm looking at my phone and I slip on the ice. I catch my footing. A middle aged store owner is sweeping the sidewalk in front of his store. The snow starts piling up. —Yes, in Korea, they sweep snow away.  

Read the lyrics on Genius.




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

"Photograph" Ed Sheeran, Saturday, February 3, 2024 (updated repost)

Image
  Before " Shape of You ," Ed Sheeran was known primarily as a singer-songwriter. His albums + and X took clear influence from The Beatles , Carole King , Elton John , James Taylor , and the ballad writers of yesteryear. But he had a knack for throwing in a few rap bars along the way. With every record, Sheeran gained more acclaim. His sophomore record produced the mega Billboard #2 hit , " Thinking Out Loud ," which won two Grammys including Song of the Year. The final single from the album, " Photograph " was written in collaboration with Snow Patrol 's Johnny McDaid . Sheeran drew inspiration from his long distance relationship with singer/songwriter Nina Nesbitt (the featured musician on Kodaline ’s acoustic version of “Brand New Day” ). The two spent five months apart. They would eventually break up, but the song remains a gem on Sheeran's second best-selling record.  LOVING CAN HURT . "Photograph" was the song that introduced m
Read more

“Teenage Dream” by Katy Perry (reworked post), Tuesday, February 27, 2024

Image
When I was a Christian teenager, a book started circulating in my church youth group. Joshua Harris wrote about youth with wisdom and authority that seemed logical and categorical for every situation to the young women who read I Kissed Dating Goodbye . The book’s thesis argued that dating was a worldly alternative to the more purposeful Christian concept of courtship. Dating fueled erotic passions, which must be saved for a heterosexual marriage. Dating is casual, even preteens dates. Courtship was about vetting a marriage partner and would happen in the late teen years or early adulthood.  YOU THINK I'M PRETTY WITHOUT ANY MAKEUP ON .  Josh Harris’s I Kissed Dating Goodbye was part of a movement I’ve written about a lot: purity culture. How much this movement influenced young Katy Hudson, a pastor’s daughter in Southern California, touring with a slew of Christian rockers on the heels of her debut, self-titled album , I can only speculate what went through the 17-year-old star’s
Read more

"All of Me Wants All of You" (Helado Negro Remix) by Sufjan Stevens, Sunday, February 27, 2022

Image
I've talked about how Carrie & Lowell , Sufjan Steven 's 2015 masterpiece, is a quintessential portrait of dealing with grief and forgiveness when I wrote about the first two tracks, " Death with Dignity ," and " Should Have Known Better ." By the third track on the record, " All of Me Wants All of You ," explores grief in a different way from the previous two tracks. As with most songs on the album, "All of Me" appears to be deeply personal to the artist. But being personal doesn't stop this track's language from being the most obscured with allusions to geography and possibly an allegory from a little-known Spanish play. ALL OF ME THINKS LESS OF YOU.  There's a debate   on Lyrics Genius about the meaning of this song, especially surrounding the identity of the only other character mentioned by name in this song, Manelich. Is he the one the song is about? Stevens has written vaguely about homosexual attraction throughout
Read more