PROGRAM NOTES
This song exists because I was once airlifted off of a mountain by emergency helicopter. It was a mountain I’d hiked before, and I’m an experienced hiker. But that year there had been heavier snowfall that melted and overwatered the vegetation, which then took over the trail. It was so overgrown that I lost the trail several times, and I could only move at a fraction of normal speed, so the hike that was supposed to be 6 hours became 11, and night was falling. It was a strange and embarrassing feeling to need rescuing from a mountain where I’d felt, in years past, a comforting feeling of belonging. Even today, mountains are a great source of comfort, and I’d still say that I feel “found” between canyon walls. But the truth is the paradox that the same place, person, or group of people that can make you feel found, can also make you feel lost. Both things can be true at the same time, in the same location. It’s confusing and beautiful, and I’m endlessly fascinated by concepts that are double-sided like this. “How can beauty hold both the warm and cold/Both the hurt along with the hoping?”
And so, not only does the text to On The Mountain describe this phenomenon, I aimed to convey that in the music as well: a melody that feels in an old folk tradition, with a military-style snare for company; to me, this is found. The lost comes when the “way, way, oh” chorus becomes a repeating loop with more modern rhythm and harmonic texture. Like losing a trail and retracing your steps, this cloudy looped section is the feeling of lost to me, and the single soprano soloist rises above like a bird…or like a helicopter.
Voicing:
SATB w/ optional snare and piano
Duration:
5 minutes
Text
I was pulled down a mountain road
To the canyon walls that are calling
I was pulled down a mountain road
And I got my heart set on climbing
The wind brings wealth and the ground is gold
And the water’s made out of diamond
While the wind brings wealth and the ground is gold
There was no one else there to find me
Oh, na na na, way way oh
One old map and the folklore told
Of the only way up the mountain
There was one old map and the folklore told
And my own two legs there to guide me
The trail grew wild under bush and tree
Every rock looked just like the other
Oh the trail grew wild under bush and tree
Like an outlaw running for cover
Oh, na na na, way way oh
Never dreaded the golden hour
Like I did that day on the mountain
There I dreaded the golden hour
For it meant cold night was a-coming
I held my breath, swallowed up my pride
And I called whoever would listen
Yes I held my breath, swallowed up my pride
Before I became someone missing
Oh, na na na, way way oh
Lifted up by a miracle
Like an eagle knew how to save me
I was lifted up by a miracle
And I cried my way back to safety
How can beauty hold both the warm and cold,
Both the hurt along with the hoping?
Honey, I’ve known lost and then I’ve known found
And I knew them both on the mountain
Oh, na na na, way way oh
Honey, I’ve known lost and then I’ve known found
And I knew them both on the mountain
