Category: Blue, Black, Silver, Water, Moons, Death & Ghosts

Poleman

When I hear this song, I think of the Ohio River that separated Kentucky from Indiana. I see Indiana at night, shining with green lights like the Emerald City, and me standing in Kentucky, filled with longing. I see ghosts crossing the river, leaving Indiana to reach Kentucky, wearing long lace dresses that flutter in the breeze. I think of myself, all alone on the shore, bombarded by ghosts, and wishing there was a way to reach that Land of Dreams on the other side of the river.

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Tags ghosts, Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio river, poleman

Blue, Black, Silver, Water, Moons, Death & Ghosts Music & Songs

Hunger and Thirst

One afternoon, this blue wave washed over me, and suddenly life felt like an endless sea of longing that could never be satisfied. Or as the Buddhists say (from Wikipedia):

A basic unsatisfactoriness pervades all forms of existence, due to the fact that all forms of life are changing, impermanent and without any inner core or substance. There is, therefore, a lack of satisfaction, a sense that things never measure up to our expectations or standards.

But the feeling passed, and I think Buddhists are pretty silly to claim that one emotion, one shade of blue, is the underlying nature of all reality.

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Tags blue, Buddhism, Hunger and Thirst, longing

Blue, Black, Silver, Water, Moons, Death & Ghosts Music & Songs

Masterful Blue

Sometimes the only way of escaping an unbearable situation is through your own imagination. Or, as the magician in “Electric Company”(one of my favorite childhood tv shows), used to say: “Change your point of view. Look at things in a way that’s fresh and new. Strange, but yes it’s true… you can never be stopped if you change your point of view.”

Good advice? Maybe, but it can make you dizzy if you take it too far.

Download MP3: Blue Eyes

Tags blue, Blue Eyes, imagination

Blue, Black, Silver, Water, Moons, Death & Ghosts Music & Songs

Silver Moon

I wrote this song while living in Nashville, where it always seemed so dark and cold, maybe because I only went out at night. To make matters worse, I tried to wear only white and silver clothes and eat only white foods… why??? I don’t know what I was thinking, but I do know it cast a cold and lonely feeling over my time there. Just thinking back on it gives me the shivers.

Julien singing Blue Sky Cafe, Nashville in white hat and white boots. — Me in Nashville, playing my silver guitar.

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Tags Nashville, silver, Silver Moon, white

Blue, Black, Silver, Water, Moons, Death & Ghosts Music & Songs New Hampshire

Cool Hands

A song about strangulation. Because when faced with too much meanness, we can build up defense systems so suffocating that it can be hard to know if we died by somebody else’s hand or our own.

Ominous hand strangling a woman.

Download MP3: Cool Hands.mp3

Tags Cool Hands, minerals, music