Writing "The Emigrant"

Road Essay - November 2009
October 14th 2009

Writing "The Emigrant"

Last night something caught my eye on Facebook. A little blue square in the corner of the screen was a link to John Gorka’s site. Having not known what he’d been up to for a while I clicked on it. What appeared was the cover art of his new CD, a beautiful pastoral winter with a bright blue sky. His last entry began something like, “it’s snowing in the north.” It touched off a series of scenes in my head that I began scribbling down in words. Four verses came out in sequence and after a couple of revisions I came up with this:

The Emigrant

I hear about it snowing in the north
It’s warm here down in Santa Fe – I’m pulled back and forth
The aspen are like angels and they’re waiting by the door
I hear about it snowing in the north

I’ve heard tell about the council of the pines
The grey wolf and the chickadee are there and doing fine
And all around the campfire the stories are sublime
I’ve heard about the council of the pines
--
They say there will be drought upon the land
We will vanish like vapor from a wicked slight of hand
We’ll blow down from the San Joaquin to the Rio Grande
They say there will be drought upon the land

Soon I will be taking to the road
The grass is always greener where the rivers always flow
A dusty wind’s upon my back and the sun is sinking low
Soon I will be taking to the road

The place of “Santa Fe” came through the cadence of the words as I was writing them. It probably emerged from the soulful old Van Morrison song, Santa Fe, I loved long ago. I suppose I was looking for a polarity to snowy Minnesota, and I found it in the desert. Then I first wrote the “birches are like angels,” thinking that had a nice Bill Morrissey ring to it, but when I looked at the old school room map of the United States I keep above my desk I noticed that Colorado is north of New Mexico and I thought aspen would be more consistent with the setting. Besides, aspen have a nice alliteration with angels, so I was happy with the switch.

For the second verse there came a couple of Dave Carter references. I’ve always loved his image of “Council of the Pines” he used in his song “When I Go,” where he also mentions a grey wolf. The song by then had taken on a mystical quality and it was easy envisioning a gathering of wood folk around a campfire in a snowy aspen and tamarack grove. The sense of warmth and communal security represents a thing that I have been in search of for myself, especially now with the season changing and as we’re on the verge of leaving to see familiar faces and vistas in the West.

Then I had to bring the words back down to earth. Sue and I spend a lot of time talking about her work with public policy in the environmental field. California, the Southwest, and water scarcity is always on our minds. There are simply too many people in a place that is basically desert and loosing both its snow pack and its ground water. It is easy to envision the eventual migration of entire populations to the north and to the east where water will be more plentiful. A new generation of dustbowl transplants is likely on the horizon and we probably won’t be aware of it as a nation until it’s actually happening.

I was blissfully unaware that I was actually writing a song until it was mostly done and I began searching for rhymes and editing. Prior to that I was just noodling with my writing. When I finally reached for my guitar I let the cadence of the words dictate the melody and the chord changes. What evolved was a straightforward ballad structure with an abbreviated intro, a full verse break, and an abbreviated outro.

Well, I thought I’d share the process of writing that with you. In Taos I was introduced to a great radio show called, “The Art of Song,” and I’ve been enjoying the interviews and the “Songwriters Toolbox” section. Check it out. I think it’s great that folks are discussing and teaching the nuts and bolts of songwriting and celebrating both the divine mystery of its process and the actual craft involved.

I've uploaded a live version of "The Emigrant" on our Myspace page. It was recorded in Redding, California on November 20th 2009. It's a bit rough as the song was very new then, but I liked its spirit. Check it out.... enjoy!