wake me up softly
the sun comes
morning
morning

tomorrow you are
tomorrow
tomorrow you are 
home
home

love stops in a winter freeze
suspending life inside of me
shines bright are you listening
it never never leaves
pieces of a story fall
how love can last from so far
distance failed to draw
my heart to where my feet had gone

Tomorrow

the sea

slow the noise into a sound

This is a cover of Passenger's song "Patient Love". 

Patient Love - Passenger (Cover)

Speak

One Christmas, I flew to Poland through Dallas. When buying the ticket, I had assumed going south for a connecting flight would be a sure thing. Apparently, our plane, after a few hours of sitting, was one of the last to leave DFW as it shut down in the winter storm. When I arrived in Warsaw with my box, my friend greeted me at the gate. Outside, the cold air cut through my weak, knit hat and new boots. I popped my collar up and wrapped my scarf as tightly as I could to my nose. We took a train east 3 hours to visit her family. In the soviet style kitchen, enough room for one cook and two people at the table, we always ate warm soup her father had prepared. There's nothing like a hot cup of tea, a warm bowl of Pomidorówka and good friends to warm the soul after a long journey. 

"Chcesz herbatę?"
"Tak!"
"Jaką chcesz?"
"Zwykłą."

Photo: Picaro Photography 
picarophotography.com

Mountains You Meet

The guitar wasn't turned on. The roads were blocked. We were late. The sheet music had disappeared. The singer was MIA. Time signature changes felt like nails on a chalk board. The guitars weren't tuned because there was no tuner. The scripture reader boldly started before his time. We were late. Feedback had everyone holding their ears. The scripture reader didn't show. I boldly sang the wrong line at the wrong time...

The woes of a worship leader. I grew up with these moments EVERY Sunday. Sometimes, we get lost in our own small stories. Ironically, we sang this song. It's the larger story we're a part of. We are a people, redeemed and saved. Yet, we get lost in the wilderness and wander, bumbling along from moment to moment, watching the stumblings of our toes. Thank God for his mercy, grace and provision. 

O give thanks to the Lord
for he is good
for he is good

Sing to him songs of praise
for he is good
for he is good

Let the redeemed ones say
O he is good
O he is good

How he gathered us in
O he is good
O he is good
He is good

Some wandered in desert waste finding no way
Hungry and thirsty they grew faint
They cried to the Lord their souls to redeem
The Lord heard their cry and lead them by a straight way
Delivered to a city to dwell
O hear them say

Ps 107

I grew up in Memphis, TN surrounded by southern rock, soul food and music, BB King, and, of course, The King, Elvis Presley. I remember a time when I wanted to sing my favorite song from Pete’s Dragon in church. I had practiced it on my red boombox (yes, I’m that old) and microphone over and over and over again. As I stood on the bricks of our living room fireplace to prove to my mom I was ready, I passionately gripped the microphone and belted out, “I love you too!” When I finished, my mom clapped and said, “That was so good.” Then she gently informed me I couldn’t sing it in church because it wasn’t a church song, to which, I so aptly replied, “But it’s about love!” Apparently, my love for a green, cartoon dragon didn’t fit with the sermon topic for the week. 

Every time I hear the lyrics “Pearly Gates” in Trapeze Swinger, I think of Elvis’ iron gate and the stone wall of graffiti leading to it. Seriously, who can see forever? When I was standing on that fireplace, singing with my boombox about my love for Pete, I never dreamt I’d be living in Denver some day sending recordings on my phone to my Love. 

So here’s my take of Trapeze Swinger by Iron and Wine, those southerners, recorded on the futon while Memphis cat sleeps beside me. 

"Please remember me, happily
By the rosebush laughing
With bruises on my chin, the time when
We counted every black car passing

Your house beneath the hill and up until
Someone caught us in the kitchen
With maps, a mountain range, a piggy bank
A vision too removed to mention

But please remember me, fondly
I heard from someone you're still pretty
And then they went on to say that the Pearly Gates
Had some eloquent graffiti

Like 'We'll meet again' and 'Fuck the man'
And 'Tell my mother not to worry'
And angels with their great handshakes
But always done in such a hurry

And please remember me, at Halloween
Making fools of all the neighbors
Our faces painted white, by midnight
We'd forgotten one another

And when the morning came I was ashamed
Only now it seems so silly
That season left the world and then returned
And now you're lit up by the city

So please remember me, mistakenly
In the window of the tallest tower
Call, then pass us by but much too high
To see the empty road at happy hour

Gleam and resonate just like the gates
Around the Holy Kingdom
With words like, 'Lost and found' and 'Don't look down'
And 'Someone save temptation'

And please remember me as in the dream
We had as rug burned babies
Among the fallen trees and fast asleep
Beside the lions and the ladies

That called you what you like and even might
Give a gift for your behavior
A fleeting chance to see a trapeze
Swinger high as any savior

But please remember me, my misery
And how it lost me all I wanted
Those dogs that love the rain and chasing trains
The colored birds above there running

In circles round the well and where it spells
On the wall behind St. Peter
So bright on cinder gray in spray paint
'Who the hell can see forever?'

And please remember me, seldomly
In the car behind the carnival
My hand between your knees, you turn from me
And said the trapeze act was wonderful

But never meant to last, the clowns that passed
Saw me just come up with anger
When it filled with circus dogs, the parking lot
Had an element of danger

So please remember me, finally
And all my uphill clawing
My dear, but if I make the Pearly Gates
I'll do my best to make a drawing

Of God and Lucifer, a boy and girl
An angel kissin' on a sinner
A monkey and a man, a marching band
All around the frightened trapeze swinger

Nah nah nah
Nah nah nah
Nah nah nah 

Trapeze Swinger [Cover]

This is the first time I've lived west of the plains, pressed up against the jagged Rockies on the left side. When I was younger, I always imagined the West to be a bunch of people, out in the middle of nowhere, doing whatever the hell they damn well pleased. You know, like Area 51, Salvation Mountain, and Burning Man. Denver's not quite that West, but it's close. This Southerner's glad to be done with drives across them plains. 

Photo cred: SH

This Side Of Change

Lindsay Cade can most adequately sum up her music as "me, my guitar, and my harmonica." An indie folk musician from Memphis, TN, she is primarily interested in the stories that go into her songs, stories she wants to share through her music. Born into a musical family, she's been influenced by everything from Bob Dylan to Katie Herzig (and a little Patty Griffin on the side). With two CDs on the m
arket, Caterpillar Stories EP (2007) and Vertically Challenged (2008), Lindsay is busy writing new music and performing in venues everywhere from Richmond, VA to Krakow, Poland. And who knows? One day "me, my guitar, and my harmonica" may be joined by more band members... and maybe even an accordion.

[po polsku]
Lindsay Cade mówi, że na jej zespół składają się ona, jej gitara i harmonijka. Tę pochodzącą z Memphis młodą przedstawicielkę indie folku interesują głównie historie, które niosą ze sobą jej piosenki. Historie, którymi chce się dzielić za pomocą muzyki. Urodzona w muzykującej rodzinie od małego nasiąkała wszystkim, od Boba Dylana po Kate Herzig (i może trochę Patty Griffin).
Mając w dorobku już dwie płyty, Caterpillar Stories EP (2007) i Vertically Challenged (2008), Lindsay jest ciągle zajęta tworzeniem muzyki i występowaniem to tu, to tam, od Richmond po Kraków. Kto wie, czy kiedyś do tego trzyosobowego zespołu nie dołączy więcej członków… może nawet akordeon.

LindsayCade