03-04-19
This song has stood as a waypoint in my memory. It represents the unyielding prospect of youth and potential. In 2010 when I first started listening to Freelance Whales thanks to the late Sasquatch! Music Festival, I was immediately drawn into their melodic rhythms built on the full band’s choir-like harmonies.
Driving 20+ hours from Arizona to Washington to my first Sasquatch! In 2010 with two friends, this quickly became a favorite. On our travel mix, whenever it would pop-up, we would switch between joyfully singing along, and quiet introspection, that usually left the three of us chanting by the end. Despite the vast amount of fantastic music and songs we were cycling through on our drive, I remember this one’s power growing exponentially throughout the experience.
I didn’t know at the time, but in a car, hundreds of miles away from my future wife, she would be sharing the same experience with her friends too. Though our groups were separated by time and distance, we were still slowly building our future connections through the power of this song.
For that weekend, nothing was wrong. No matter what complication would arise, or would trouble would beset us, we wouldn’t pay much concern we would “worry about it on Tuesday,” as this is the day we had to be off the festival grounds. Every moment felt like the world we were occupying was the best possible world. It was optimism incarnate.
The image from today comes from the very first image I ever had the privilege of taking with my wife. At that moment we had no clue what laid before us, and in fact, if you told either one of us what was to come, I think safe money would have been on one of us running away as fast as possible, (if not both.) Neither one of us were in pursuit of forging new love, yet we were both individually in pursuit of our own optimistic lives, which would ultimately leave us open to a world of possibilities.
Individually we both relinquished control over that which we couldn’t control and ultimately found ourselves on paths that continue to result in unbelievable greatness. Hard-work and dedication are pillars to these successes, but optimism was one of the main active forces in the process.
Lyrics:
[Verse 1: Judah Dadone]
We get up early just to start cranking the generator
Our limbs have been asleep, we need to get the blood back in ’em
We’re finding every day, several ways that we can be friends
[Verse 2]
We keep on churning and the lights inside the house turn on
And in our native language we are chanting ancient songs
And when we quiet down, the house chants on without us