In the sunburnt hills of Petaluma, California, I learned something about music: there are songs written about farms, and then there are songs written by farmers. Once you get to the farm, all those tunes about packin' in and headin' up to the country aren't as useful. You're there. You did it. We're not tending to produce and chickens all day, then singing about tending to produce and chickens all night! No. It's now that things get beautiful and weird.
A day of work on a small, diverse farm is like a tour of rhythms. You're weeding, you're harvesting, you're washing, you're tilling... everything brings its own little dance, its own monotonous pattern. And often, you're in solitude. And often, you're surrounded by breathtaking beauty, and cuss-provoking challenges. Death is there, and birth. Could conditions be more ripe for a song to germinate? And not just "farm songs." "From-the-farm songs." Things can get strange and abstract out there as you're playing god, seeding and weeding. Farm thoughts put to music are like postcards from another territory. Here are two of mine. (Click on the "Farm Tunes" links at the top of this page).
(Thanks to Kevin Cole and Josh Bruner for accompaniment!)
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1 comment:
I blogged recently asking what song's in your head at the moment of reading....I find that when I'm in the middle of labor of any kind, songs are essential. I'm currently listening to "Bitter Greens"--when can you get this picked up by some hip SF station? It's as good or better than a lot of things out there.
Music and labor definitely go together--but you're right, not the same subjects. I clean to disco, for example. :-)
p.s. Mom and M. like the song, too!
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