{"id":24,"date":"2020-08-11T20:39:54","date_gmt":"2020-08-11T20:39:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/billdeasy.com\/wp\/?page_id=24"},"modified":"2020-08-30T21:15:23","modified_gmt":"2020-08-30T21:15:23","slug":"spotlights","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/billdeasy.com\/wp\/?page_id=24","title":{"rendered":"Midnight Ghost"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-youtube aligncenter wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Midnight Ghost\" width=\"819\" height=\"461\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/f5DDaNjpYyc?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-left\">A question often asked of songwriters is &#8220;What comes first, the words or the music?&#8221; A more compelling question, for me at least, might be, &#8220;What comes first, the song or the wisdom?&#8221;\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Take &#8220;Midnight Ghost&#8221; for example.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Midnight Ghost&#8221; is unusual as a composition in that it was originally an entirely different lyric, lifted lightly and gratefully from a Jack Kerouac novel. When the Kerouac estate said, &#8220;Yo, dudes, NOT cool&#8221; (after we asked) I scrambled to create lyrics of my own as we (Gathering Field) recorded Lost in America in beautiful Germantown, New York. The result is more of a poem than a song and not my usual approach to writing (I like to write the words and music simultaneously, generally speaking.) Here&#8217;s what I came up with back then:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Destitute, desolation&nbsp;<em>(reference, to Kerouac&#8217;s Desolation Angels)<\/em><br>Angels eyes shine upon my curse<br>From this mountain I make my way<br>Along the railroad earth&nbsp;<em>(another flagrant Kerouac reference)<\/em><br>Steam train blazing a lonely hill<br>Damaged cargo am I<br>But not so damaged as not to see<br>The magic in the sky<br><br>Oh Midnight, Midnight Ghost<br>Old zipper rolling down the line<br>Oh Midnight, Midnight Ghost<br>Rolling down the line<br><br>Without a memory, without a heartache<br>Ain&#8217;t no comfort in happiness<br>Tidings whispered and merciful<br>Are tidings I like best<br>Predawn twilight, skyline glowing<br>Mountain wind blowing through, blowing through<br>And I tug upon the jug of my redemption<br>Nothing much else to do<br><br>Oh Midnight, Midnight Ghost<br>Old zipper rolling down the line<br>Oh Midnight, Midnight Ghost<br>Rolling down the line<br><br>In a sense, my innocence<br>Been waiting here all along<br>Thought I traveled so far away<br>But I was never even gone<br>Pray for me my sweet Marie<br>I&#8217;m searching still for to see my sign<br>Rolling onto the new day<br>Down my midnight line<br><br>Oh Midnight, Midnight Ghost<br>Old zipper rolling down the line<br>Oh Midnight, Midnight Ghost<br>Rolling down the line<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><br>Really not bad, when you look at it. Though I never dwelled too much on the meaning of the words as I (like you) was always happily distracted by Dave&#8217;s incredible guitar work. Truthfully, the lyrics lived a bit closer to my surface than my heart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Cut to a recent Saturday morning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I had just finished a conference call with a group of fellow travelers on the Broad Highway and felt a swoosh of light shoot from my toes up though my whole body and out through my eyes which got just a little teary as the last verse of Midnight Ghost popped into my brain. &#8220;Thought I traveled so far away but I was never even gone.&#8221; Grabbed a guitar and recorded what you see here.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Song &#8211; written and recorded in 1995.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Wisdom &#8211; felt, finally, in 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-9d6595d7 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/music.apple.com\/us\/album\/midnight-ghost\/62164193?i=62164141\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"216\" height=\"78\" src=\"http:\/\/billdeasy.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/applemusic-1.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-190\"\/><\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/track\/3Bi1rPBeWfyiV90mbXR9h0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"216\" height=\"87\" src=\"http:\/\/billdeasy.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/spotify-1.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-191\"\/><\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A question often asked of songwriters is &#8220;What comes first, the words or the music?&#8221; A more compelling question, for me at least, might be, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-24","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/billdeasy.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/24","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/billdeasy.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/billdeasy.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/billdeasy.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/billdeasy.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=24"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"http:\/\/billdeasy.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/24\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":273,"href":"http:\/\/billdeasy.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/24\/revisions\/273"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/billdeasy.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=24"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}