Waukee came to life during the period of time that my Aunt Kathy was fighting cancer. It reminded me of the feelings I had after Sue passed away from cancer when I was about seventeen. She was the first sibling of my Mom's to pass away. The song touches on the importance of family and shares memories from my Mom's generation as well as my own (yes, my mom 'lit the family car on fire'). Growing up as an only child my cousins, aunts and uncles have always meant a lot to me. Regardless of our differences we all still love each other dearly.
As family members pass away it's like feeling what was once a very whole and complete entity start to dissipate, just as an ember might as it drifts off into the air. Letting go of this whole for me, albeit sad in the moment, feels gentle and full of wisdom. Waukee taps into the discovery that time is not something we can hold on to or touch and especially not something we can control. Rather, it is floating in the ether as it passes by, it contracts and it expands however an imprint of someone is never lost and is something we all hold so dear.
'Because time is such a rebellious bird, flying under the wings of a dream I didn't believe in, there's a soft spoken angel flying over Waukee, drifting so fast to a place that I knew when I was seventeen.' Waukee was Kathy's hometown and is where many of her kids still reside.
lyrics
Like a story you told me on the way to Hy-Vee,
five inches just fell in only half of a day
It’s like a treasure map I drew when I was young
to bury and pretend that I had found something fun
Ooo, ships are passing in the night
Lookout guards are sleeping, they’re losing their sight
Ooo, ships are passing in the night
Lookout guards are sleeping, they’re losing their sight
We always need reminding of what we haven’t lost
They’re gonna tear my old condo down but it’s never gonna fall
Because time is such a rebellious bird
flying under the wings of a dream I didn’t believe in
There’s a soft spoken angel flying over Waukee
drifting so fast to a place that I knew when I was seventeen
Well, it’s funny having double digit numbers in the family
or I guess it’s just a teacher in some summer pool of glory
Oh, you lit the family car on fire with your dead end cigarette
and Raymond came out to look at you and said ‘go on, get to bed’
Ooo, ships are passing in the night
Lookout guards are sleeping, they’re losing their sight
Ooo, ships are passing in the night
Lookout guards are sleeping, they’re losing their sight
Because time is such a rebellious bird
flying under the wings of a dream I didn’t believe in
There’s a soft spoken angel flying over Waukee
drifting so fast to a place that I knew when I was seventeen
Because time, it’s always quick to pass us by
and the beauty of it all is that we can’t control the tides
It’ll bring up the sea bottom like some southern hurricane
Something in our blood that we find so comforting
Oh there’s something in our blood
that we find so comforting
credits
from Ten Thousand Years,
released August 7, 2020
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