SONGS OF THE INLAND SEAS

ALONE [ in a burger joint on the north shore ]

MY VOICE WAS ALWAYS TRUEST

THE TRUE NORTH (ALWAYS RUNNIN')

Written, produced and performed by Nathan Wright. Guitar by Andy Zinsmeister. Mixed and Mastered by Murat Çolak

INLAND SEA

INLAND SEA [electro*beach*bounce]

LAKE SUPERIOR (Say You’ll Be There)

The Canoe: trickle, flow, run

--For Louis Majeau 
and for the girl who came to be known as Marie Majeau…

Madweyaashka           ( one can hear the waves )
Ecoutez les vagues      ( listen to the waves )
a la mer                      ( to the sea)
Gichigami                   ( The Great Sea / Lake Superior )

trickle, 
flow,
run,
run on…. 

...to the Sea!
The rushing Sea
Gichigami!
The rushing Sea
Run to the Sea!
Gichigami...

In his nearly middle aged eyes, 
she’s a fearless wave, 
running on this Inland Sea, 
sweet as the sugar cane
he once tasted as a boy,
waiting on the quay for the boats from France.

As a young man he crossed this Sweet Sea,
paddling to the North.
Full of dreaming and boyhood’s hopes,
he raced from Montreal.
North and westward-west and north- 
every youthful hope drowned with the years,
But now she’s here: 
this fearless wave...

trickle,
flow,
run,
run on….

But who was she?
In her own eyes, 
who was she? 
In her own eyes,
before she was Marie?

In her girlhood what did her eyes see? 
What visions for her life? 
Did she gaze out on Gichigami 
with the same longing, 
as the others who had left 
following these men, paddling to the East? 

Was she given and did she just go?
Or was it all her choice?
And in the rushing of waves and years
did she keep her voice?
In that moment standing there
looking at this man- pale dirty skin and hair -
did she dare dream 
of you and me? 

Together they went           (Trickle,
To the rushing Sea              flow
They paddled North           Run…. etc. )
Then to the South again. 
Always together,     
through those rushing days.
Child after child, 
Year after year...
To the Sea,
To the rushing Sea!
wave after wave,
breath after breath….  

We race through the years     
Holding tightly                   
to our belief                             
to these stories
to these shores 
hoping that they will keep us safe
stop us from flowing into 
that endless Sea 

				( Do not fear the Sea… )

Madweyaashka….

d'eau 

THE CANOE (Trickle, Flow, Run)

NATHAN WRIGHT is an interdisciplinary artist based in NYC. While he primarily focuses on theatre and songwriting, he is also a performer, vocalist, and visual creator. Great Lakes born and raised, Nathan grew up between the Minnesota North Shore of Lake Superior and the Grand Traverse Bay of Lake Michigan (with a brief stint in Utah) The Inland Seas and the region are foundational to his work as an artist and his passion for protecting wild places everywhere. Learn more about him and his work via his Instagram [nathanwrite] and InAbsentiaTheatre.com