I recorded this song for my Grandma, Minnie Fae Griffin, on her 95th birthday. Happy birthday, Grandma!

I'll fly away

This one’s for my Granny, Myrtle McAnally.  Happy 94th birthday, Granny!

when the saints go marching in

“Immensity”

Written by Elizabeth McAnally and Sam Mickey
Recorded with Richard Wormstall

Dedicated to Kelleen Nicholson (1972-2010)

Lyrics:

The wandering seabird crosses the ocean
Lights upon a rock to rest his wings for a moment
Looks back on the wilderness of waves behind
Onward to the wilderness of waters before
Back on the wilderness of waves behind
And onward to the wilderness of waters before

So we stand perched upon this rock of time
Arrived out of the immensity of the past
Bound and ready to plunge into immensity again
Again
Bound and ready to plunge
Bound and ready to plunge into immensity
Bound and ready to plunge into immensity again
Bound and ready to plunge into immensity again


Original text:

“As the wandering seabird which crossing the ocean lights on some rock or islet to rest for a moment its wings, and to look back on the wilderness of waves behind, and onward to the wilderness of waters before, so stand we perched on this rock or shoal of time, arrived out of the immensity of the Past and bound and roadready to plunge into immensity again.”

~ Ralph Waldo Emerson, “The Present Age” (Qtd. in Robert D. Richardson Jr., Emerson: The Mind on Fire, University of California Press, 1995, p. 336)