yugenro

My old friend Dell is helping me with “Earth My Body,” which is a song taught to me by this great guy Kaj (pron: “kai”) at the Kerrville Folk Festival back in, say, 1991. Simple words:

Earth my body,

water my blood,

wind my breath,

and fire my spirit.

For my first two years at Kerrville, drum circles were just kick-ass: very often, very nice, very humbling, spiritual, powerful, communal. Exactly what my soul desired at the time (and has been craving ever since). (Since the KFF is a "songwriter’s" festival, KFF, Inc. officially banned drums after my second year– quite probably as a direct result of our drumming– which was, to me, at least, and i know to most anyone who was present at this particular circle– among the most divine experiences in my life.)

One evening, on the back of Chapel Hill, the darkest, quietest, most sacred spot on the ranch…

…nice fire,

a dozen or more beautiful hippies,

clear sky, no moon.

lots of stars.

smallish fire.

Kaj starts this beat.

He’d taught me this song earlier,

so i knew it. Dropped right in with my talking drum,

got it going.

Organically, grows.

People join in as their spirit gets it–

“gets” it.

Groks it.

All of it going on: super-natural.

Kaj starts singing.

I join.

We sing in unison for quite some time,

and one by one,

people start joining in,

start singing in this unison, this one song…

Once this feeling, this communal bond, is established,

i add a harmony,

the 5th,

very quietly at first,

blending it in as just an overtone.

And it grows.

Soon others join in the harmony as well.

i add the 3rd,

quietly at first,

and soon all three parts are going,

and everyone is feeling it,

knowing,

that–

this is something special!

Everybody knows it, is singing,

playing, harmonizing,

the spirit of the song so growing organically,

moving us all

from the inside

to play as IT

–the SONG–

wants to be played, to be manifested in this plane of reality…

for she is the message,

and we, the messengers…

And i’m on fucking autopilot–

dun-dun talking away–

talking with–

–holding conversations with–

every individual musician/instrument-combination in the circle–

taking turns, listening, responding–

listen/reply–

hear/say–

joke/laugh–

cry/weep–

bless/thanks–

spit/spat–

The spirit rises–

we are all orbiting Pluto–

the stars spinning round our heads–

the gods whirling ‘twixt our souls–

hearts beat in time–

the earth throbs with us–

fire-sparks join our spirits rising–

the wind sings harmonies in the trees octaves higher–

energies race to the farthest oceans of space–

brightening the darkness

all around us,

within us

…

eventually we drop;

we feel the spirit quiet.

As one, we fade,

leaving only the crackling of the fire,

the chirping of the crickets,

the wind, still calling our universal names…

In silence, we all exhale,

for the first time in 20 minutes

(though it seems lifetimes).

i look up at the stars and think,

“wow! look at the stars!”

i hear a voice across the circle whisper:

“wow! look at the stars!”

i think to myself, “this must be God,”

another voice across the way:

“this must be God.”

i think to myself: “I am THIRSTY!!!”

someone hands me a bottle of water.

Like that.

–

Anyway, it’s such a wonderful, meditative chant on our inner connection with our world. It’s always stayed with me, and I always wanted to lay down some kind of version of it. So, finally, in the summer of ‘05, i did. But I’m not perfectly happy with it, so just a few nights ago, I was iChatting with Dell, and he brought up again how he’d like to do some collaboration over the internet, like I’m doing with Jon. So, right there I tell him about “Earth My Body,” and he says, “send send.”

So, I’m excited about music again. Lots of it going on in my life right now… just need some money to be able to keep it coming. Oh, Brotherhood of God, help me open the God-Mind connection, to manifest greatness and goodness, joy and health, for the greater good of the Universe and Everyone Concerned…