Ironic Advent 2016 MediCATION #14: Songs of Our Roots

Willie Nelson's guitar

Roots. I’ve been chewin’ on roots, as Ben Camino would say. Some tasty, some bitter. All of ‘em covered in snow after that storm last night. This won’t be a long meditation (because I’m watching Westworld right now). I was listening to a book the other day that said something along the lines of “speech is the language of mortal man, singing is the language of the spirit” (Women Who Run with the Wolves is the name of it). Well, I recorded a song. It’s the song I’ve been writing about. It’s a song I discovered while dating my first long-term girlfriend at 16-17 and became part of my life again when I went through some hard times at 28-29. I’m not saying it’s a great song. It’s teenage-ish, angsty. But that’s alright. Ain’t nothing wrong with a little angst now and again. Angst is a part of Advent. It's part looking for the coming kingdom. It's a part of winter storms, chewin' on roots, and the fumes of turpentine. And it's absolutely, no doubt about it, 100% a part of repenting, which you'd better do, since the kingdom of God is at hand.

The tuning Dashboard Confessional uses is DADDDD according to the music I found in my Google search. So I dumbed it down, put a capo on the 2nd fret, and strummed out some G, C, and D chords. I make a few mistakes. I bumble some lyrics. Oh, well. Adds to the charm. I’ve never claimed to be much good at this.

Before I go, I’ve got a question for you: what are the songs of your roots? Maybe chew on ‘em and see what you find. Do you have a first kiss song? (I do). A song you listened to with old friends? (No doubt!) Or a song you heard at a funeral? (Yes, my grandpa’s). Maybe I'll tell these stories (we’ve still got 14 days until Christmas). Maybe I'll record a few more songs. But no Christmas songs. Definitely no literal Christmas songs but also no songs that serve up any sort of Christmas spirit. No, we're still in Advent. We're figuring out what it means to wait and keep waiting. Are we there yet? No. Are we there yet? No. Are we th- NO. I'm tired of waiting, too. I've been exhausted since I start this project. But that's the challenge of it, I guess. No one said Advent was supposed to be easy.

Anyways, here’s me playing “Turpentine Chaser.” It took 2 takes. I played it once without the capo but I preferred this.

Happy 3rd Sunday of Advent. Thanks for reading...and listening.