Sweet Chariot

Once again I found myself surrounded by a group of young song writers who gave the outward appearance of happiness, and likely that appearance was both accurate and genuine. Everyone of them was a much better musician than am I. Nearly everyone had a better voice, yet their lyrics could not have been more alien to me had they been in Aztec.

They sing enthusiastically about human relationships. They sing as if relationships were a mystery or a journey into the unknown. The unspoken refrain is an optimistic "what if?"

There is no mystery in human relationships. They are perfectly predictable. Since the beginning of time human relationships have ended in one of three ways: death, desertion or forced separation. I find no meaning in songs about walking in the rain with your girlfriend to your favorite restaurant. I prefer songs that cut directly to the chase and explain whether the end came from death, desertion or forced separation.

As I was playing my set I realized that each dealt with that end. One was optimistic, "Moon Can Still Shine Through the Clouds" about overcoming alcoholism but the other two examined death. I don't know as many songs as Daddy. He knows over 500. I doubt if I even know 250, but last night I could not think of a single song that I really like that did not deal with death, desertion, or forced separation.

Those songs have gravitas, a realness about them. They are like getting up in the morning and putting on your work clothes. The other songs are like playing dress up. They come in varying degrees of frivolity.

Townes Van Zandt said that there are only two kinds of music, "the blues and zip-a-dee-do-da."

I do not know the secret to happiness but I am finding the secret to pain reduction. The fewer close human relationships one has the fewer times one will be exposed to the termination of those relationships. Being alone is infinitely superior to becoming lonely.

Which brings me back to the horse. Every death in my life has brought me back to the horse. Every funeral makes me want to hurry up and get home and saddle up.

Every mile that I ride deep into the woods reminds me that there is still another mile that I can go.