look for me another day

There's a feeling that I remember - a feeling that I hope everyone remembers. The feeling of comfort. The feeling of being wrapped up in goodness. When someone literally holds you and allows you to lean your head against their heart and weep. It's difficult to describe, but it's the only way that I know how to explain this feeling that I'm having right now . . . only on a completely different level. That feeling is what surrounds me when I listen to the innocence mission. it's as if the song is taking my soul, wrapping it in its arms and allowing it to weep. allowing it to open up emotionally and weep. one song in particular has brought this thought process about. "Lakes of Canada". There have been several nights in my life when I have just put this song on repeat and gone into a state of comfort. Tonight was a particularly rough night and as I drove home from a 13 hour day, ate a late dinner, wrapped up the day and prepared for bed, "our harry" popped into my head. I'm glad it did. I feel much better now . . . but mainly thanks to this one beautiful, sorrowful yet hopeful song. Sufjan Stevens put it much better than I can:

"I'm in awe of big songs, national anthems, rock opera, the Broadway musical. But what I always come back to, after the din and drum roll, is the small song that makes careful observations about everyday life. This is what makes the music by The Innocence Mission so moving and profound. 'Lakes of Canada' creates an environment both terrifying and familiar using sensory language: incandescent bulbs and rowboats are made palpable by careful rhythms, unobtrusive rhyme schemes, and specificity of language. What is so remarkable about Karen Peris' lyrics are the economy of words, concrete nouns - fish, flashlight, laughing man - which come to life with melodies that dance around the scale like sea creatures. Panic and joy, a terrible sense of awe, the dark indentations of memory all come together at once, accompanied by the joyful strum of an acoustic guitar. This is a song in which everyday objects begin to have tremendous meaning.

It is a beautiful song. You can hear a clip of it here in quicktime or the full song here.

"Look for me another time, give me another day. I feel that I could change."