23. Hope the High Road

 Jason Isbell is back again. I believe I mentioned in a past post that in my mind he trails only Dylan in terms of favorite songwriter. Like Dylan he masterfully crafts songs that appeal to your emotions about love and loss, happiness and joy, and like in this song, societal turmoil.  I have always been drawn to songs that have the ability to tap into a moment, capture a feeling or present a snapshot of the times in just a few minutes. It is something that I wish I could do, because when you hear one of the good ones that somehow simply states what you are thinking or feeling, it is special. 

Dylan once wrote, 

"Come senators, congressmen, please heed the call

Don't stand in the doorway, don't block up the hall

For he that gets hurt will be he who has stalled

The battle outside ragin'

Will soon shake your windows and rattle your walls

For the times they are a-changin"

These lines, like all the rest in that outstanding song, were true, but things have stalled, the order has not faded and while the times changed, they changed only just a bit. 

Fast foward to 2021. "Last year was a son of a bitch for nearly everyone I know." This is the line that got me into this song, because like much of what Isbell sings, it is true. Last year was a son of a bitch for nearly everyone I know, except for my youngest daughter. She is like a college kid in a 7 year old's body. She loved sleeping in, video calls, staying up late and moving at her own pace. She thrived during the pandemic and for her I am glad. She needed it. She had some son of a bitch years of her own at much too young an age so I am glad she got a pause, but for everyone else this song is true. 

High energy guitar and honest lyrics reflecting the stress of these times. I am glad I found a lyric video because the music can sometimes drown out the real message of this song.  Racial divide, hate, political divide, love, loss and life in the modern world.  Oddly enough it was written years before 2020, but it seems quite prescient when you hear the lyrics. I love the messages, "there can't be more of them than us", "may the high road lead you home to the world you want to live in". I love this song and all it represents. "We will ride the ship down dumping buckets overboard." Hell yes. We will make the world better than we found it or go down trying.

Like Dylan and others Isbell really can tap into the lives we all live. There are people I love that are tired and not sleeping well because circumstances of the last year, but together we can get through it. We will fight this together. We can teach our children to love everyone always. We can show those that preach hate and division there are more of us than them. We can try help those that need it for whatever reason they need it. We can make the times change and make this a world we all want to live in, and if we don't we can say we tried. 

Maybe I am channeling my youthful tye-dye wearing child of the 90s with a mind from the 60s days here, but oh well. We can be better. The Youngbloods sang, "Come on people now, smile on your brother, everybody get together, try to love one another right now." It sounds kind of stupid, but why the hell can't we?