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Migrations - new!
Debut::: UPCOMING SHOWS :::
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>LYRICS In order of appearence on Migrations. Black Elk Speaks Edited and added to by David Huebner, from the original text by John G. Neihardt (amazon / wikipedia regarding the book) My Friends I'll tell you the story of my life if you wish, but if it were only the story, of my life, I think I would not tell it For what is one man to make much of his winters, when so many others men have lived to become grass upon the hills. But if the vision was true and mighty As I know it is true and mighty yet For such things are of the spirit and it is the darkness of their eyes that men forget So I know it is a good thing but no good can be done alone I must first send a voice to the spirits of the world. With visible breath I am walking A voice I am sending as I walk In a sacred manner I am walking In a sacred manner I walk. I was born a Lakota, in the moon of the Popping Trees I was named for my father Black Elk, it was 1863 The summer I was nine, I had a Great Vision, the meaning of which no words can I ever tell to you, but the six Grandfathers, they gave me the power, they gave me the knowledge to Heal and to Help. With visible breath I am walking A voice I am sending as I walk In a sacred manner I am walking In a sacred manner I walk. I was at the Little Big Horn and I was at Wounded Knee I did not know how much had ended then but now I can see The butchered men, women, and children, lying scattered in heaps Were not the only dead that day, there died a Peoples Dream So hear me Great Spirit, hear me Grandfathers, with running tears I must tell to you that your tree has not flowered Hear me for my people that they may yet return to living within the sacred hoop, that they sacred tree may yet bloom In sorrow...I am sending...this feeble voice that I can give... Ohhhh Six Powers of the World, won't you make my people live. Ohhhh Six Powers of the World, won't you make my people live. --- Notes: Dedicated to the Lakota Sioux and Leonard Peltier, and all the Native People of Turtle Island. --- Western Trail by David Huebner Out on the western trail For many days we did ride Along the banks of a lonesome river Singing songs by the fireside. This way we crossed the empty prarie And we crossed the river wide And we crossed the barren desert Where so many others have died And now we stand upon the South Pass Looking west from the Great Divide All our hopes and our fortunes Lie beyond the horizon line. Oh we've got one foot in tomorrow We've got one foot in yesterday We've got one step still before us Oh Lord to you we pray. It's a hard road we've got to travel With deep ruts of despair Give us strength and give us health now Give us no trouble beyond repair And now we stand upon the South Pass Looking west from the Great Divide All our hopes and our fortunes Lie beyond the horizon line. Oh we've got one foot in tomorrow We've got one foot in yesterday We've got one step still before us Give us Hope and Give Us Strength. --- Notes: written without an instrument, just humming and singing while driving, after visiting the BLM's Trails Interperative Center in Casper, Wyoming in 2010. --- More Lyrics from the new album coming soon! In order of appearence on the Debut album. Dragonfly by David Huebner, including a short poem by Gary Snyder (Dragonfly, from the collection Left Out In the Rain) Oh along the water along the meadow's edge I see you flying with the sunlight I see you flying with the wind Old dragon where are you going Old dragon where have you been Old wisdom of your wings Tell me your stories of eternity Dragonfly how you come and go short lived wonder what did you know of this high mountain pass ----x Dragonfly you're dead on the snow how did you come so high did you leave your seed child in a mountain pool before you died ----x (poem by Gary Snyder) Now you're making love with another together you go tumbling through the air another sweet child of the valley is born another sweet child born in the dragon's lair. Story behind the song: Dave : I wrote this in the Fall one day, after paddling my surfboard in a high mountain lake to prepare for a surf trip to Baja. I was reading Gary Snyder's poetry collection, Left Out In The Rain, and came upon his short poem Dragonfly. It just sounded like an old time song lyric to me and from there I composed music to fit it, and a bunch of other lyrics to go around it. In the high sierra, you often see Dragonflies around lake shores, and meadows, and Gary's poem clearly speaks about the other random instance of finding them dead, up high on the snow, likely carried up there by winds, and searching for insects. Never Gonna Get it Right by David Huebner The same cold wind blowin' against my window The same cold wind comin' out of the dark night The same cold wind keeps cryin' and cryin' You're never gonna get it right. Don't even try you're too old and tired Don't even try you might as well lay down and die Don't even try and don't you know, You're never gonna get it right. Never gonna get it right Never gonna get it right no no You're never gonna get it right and don't ya know You're never gonna get it right. The same old time keeps roundin' and roundin' The same old rhyme "I can't never depend on you" The same old story weary with tellin' You're never gonna get it right. Never gonna get it right Never gonna get it right no no You're never gonna get it right and don't ya know You're never gonna get it right. Story behind the song: Dave: This is a simple blues. Written after a past break-up as I sat in the livingroom of a cabin during a strong winter storm and watched our big windows bend and flex with the howling gusts. Miles and Miles by David Huebner Oh this feeling is in my feet Oh this walking's in my heartbeat Oh this living's in my hands Carry it with me on my back. For Miles and Miles Strip me of my trials and Let me go. Oh I've been worried and I've been restless And I've been thinking that all the worst is Yet to come, down on me, Bend my will and bury me deep. For Miles and Miles Strip me of my trials and Let me go. Oh how this mountain fills my eyes How it throws me right through the sky into the air of another valley into the time of a timeless day. For Miles and Miles Strip me of my trials and Let me go. Story Behind the Song: Dave: This is the first song I've ever written on the cello. It's about the experience of backpacking, having troubles on your mind and letting them go down the miles and miles of trail. Elk River Blues Music by Ernie Carpenter Words by Sharon Martinson You dam my river You flood my farm You dam my river You flood my home I've got no other place I can go to So forever will I roam. The water's rising The birds are flying They're trying to get To higher ground I've got no other place I can go to So forever will I roam. You dam my river You flood my farm You dam my river You flood my home I've got no other place I can go to So forever will I roam. Oh, My Darlin' by David Huebner Oh my darlin' Oh my darlin' Oh my darlin' do you hear me call your name Gone across the mountain Gone into the sun Gone but I'm coming back again When the rivers run. Oh my darlin' Oh my darlin' Oh my darlin' do you hear me call your name Gone out on the road Dust in my face Gone but I'm coming back again When the rivers run. Oh my darlin' Oh my darlin' Oh my darlin' do you hear me call your name What a night just to hold you What a night just to laugh I've been gone too long But I'm comin' back Oh my darlin' Oh my darlin' Oh my darlin' do you hear me call your name Story Behind the Song: Dave: I came up with a melody/chord progression on my banjo while sitting on the beach in Baja, Mexico, thought it might remain an instrumental, but later came up with these lyrics to sing about what I was feeling as I played it. I wanted to write a universal old time song, playing off inspiration I had but also trying to channel universal, "dust bowl" era themes. Walkin' River by David Huebner Well this old walkin' river only rolls in the spring yeah this old walkin' river only rolls in the spring Nothin' but boulders to catch the falling leaves This old walkin' river only rolls in the spring. The cottonwoods lean on the willow and the birch sometimes Yeah the cottonwoods lean on the willow and the birch sometimes Hear their morning wind song as the sun warms up the sky The cottonwoods lean on the willow and the birch sometimes. Well a flood swept the canyon not too many years ago Yeah a flood swept the canyon not too many years ago It moved the mountains, tore out the road A flood swept the canyon not too many years ago. But the men and machines they worked all night and day The men and machines they worked all night and day They put back the mountains, rebuilt the road just the same The men and machines they worked all night and day. But the way this river talks you know it won't be long The way this river talks you know it won't be long Before she roars again, sings her swollen song The way this river talks you know it won't be long. So I'm just gonna sit and watch this river roll I'm just gonna sit and watch this river roll Let it float my mind, see what settles out below I'm just gonna sit and watch this river roll. Cause this old walkin' river only rolls in the spring This old walkin' river only rolls in the spring Nothin' but boulders to catch the falling leaves This old walkin' river only rolls in the spring. Story Behind the Song: Dave: In the summer I live not far from a river that runs out into the Great Basin - The Walker River. I work as a landscaper to pay the bills through the summer months, and one week we were working up in the town of Coleville, Nevada, and camping along the Walker River to save time commuting. I'd been listening to one of my favorite folk music albums, a CD loaded with slow straightforward folk songs, and felt a strong desire to write one of my own. So I wandered up away from my fellow camp-mates and sat along the bank of the Walker River and wrote this song in one nearly unedited stroke, in all of a half hour. The river really does trickle down to nearly boulders in the Fall, and the flood of '96/'97 was truly remarkable, destroying the canyon. Steam Engine by David Huebner I turned my back some 10 years ago And hopped the tracks down to Mexico Steam Engine, burning coal, I won't ride you no more. Across this country, across this land Children going hungry and workers going mad Steam engine, burning coal, I won't ride you no more. Tax the poor and give back to the rich It's all trickled us down into this big ditch Steam engine, burning coal, I won't ride you no more. Out on the coast I'm away from the man I find myself living on a wild piece of land Steam engine, burning coal, I won't ride you no more. Story Behind the Song: Dave: Well, this is simply a statement on our current State of the Union, and was written to be sung some ten years from now, as I find myself living on the beach in Baja, Mexico. Spring '10 by David Huebner Blue moonlight shines down upon the green leaves Flowers are budding but I know you're bound to leave Me alone, but smiling Alone, but free Nothing lasts forever on this road rolling away from me. Dreams are falling, like stars tonight I know they're nothing but trouble but for now that's just fine I ain't blind, I want double I ain't blind, I just don't want to see Nothing is forever on this road rolling away from me. City lights and mountainsides Ocean breeze and redwood trees Familiar faces and empty spaces Desert sage burns another page Abandon expectations, expectations abandon me. Spring is-a-blossomin', like a kiss upon your cheek I'm drunk on your cold clear water but I know you're bound to leave me alone, but smiling Thirsty but free Nothing lasts forever on this road rolling away from me. City lights and mountainsides Ocean breeze and redwood trees Familiar faces and empty spaces Desert sage burns another page Abandon expectations, expectations abandon me. Story Behind the Song: Dave: I wrote this song in April, out on the Volcanic Tablelands outside of Bishop, CA the night before performing a solo show at the Black Sheep Espresso Bar. I wrote it on the banjo. It is meant to be a song of two meanings - to describe a love affair with "spring" as a season, that will surely pass and leave you, but to also describe the early spring-like sensations of a new relationship, mixed with a modicum of pessimism that it won't last, because "nothing is forever". |