sometimes i think about...

Three songs keep running around my head this morning - and I'm wondering if they might fit together - and what story that would tell? The first is a 1966 relic from the Blues Magoos: "Sometimes I Think About." From time to time my high school garage band, Creepin' Jesus, used to play this one in all its haunting, angst-ridden, and bluesy-ness that only those in a mid-60s psychedelic mode could accomplish. I'm wondering what it might sound like now with upright bass, piano and electric guitar?



The second involves Cartlon Maiaa II's jazz arrangement of "Shalom Chaverim" with my addition of the Islamic greeting, "As-Salaam-Alaikum" interwoven as a pre-figurative prayer.  It uses a similar descending bass riff. I wonder if it fits?
And the third is an arrangement we created of the William Billings' choral tune, "When Jesus Wept" for our John Coltrane Good Friday two years ago. It, too, uses an extended jazz blues improvisation built on a descending bass line but climaxes in a haunting a capella round interspersed with sound clusters and percussion. (I am searching for this clip and will post later today.)

Like Frederick Buechner advises about our lives, the same is true with songs:
  
Listen to your life. See it for the fathomless mystery it is. In the boredom and pain of it, no less than in the excitement and gladness: touch, taste, smell your way to the holy and hidden heart of it, because in the last analysis all moments are key moments, and life itself is grace.

Sometimes the insight is immediate, other days require more time for the haze to burn away and the wisdom to come into focus. Today is an inwardly hazy day for me. I'm just going to let those songs swim around inside for a spell and not try to force any clarity to the surface. It feels melancholic and vulnerable, but there's more going on, too. Apparently, this is a time for waiting...