Wonder Valley

Jan. 29- To move the world, we must move ourselves. ~Socrates
Feb. 5- We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children. ~Native American Proverb
Feb. 12- Adopt the pace of nature; her secret is patience. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson
Feb. 19- Every individual has a place to fill in the world, and is important. ~Nathaniel Hawthorne
Feb. 26- Nature always wears the colors of the spirit. Ralph Waldo Emerson
Mar. 5- Nothing which we can imagine about Nature is incredible. ~Pliny the Elder
Apr. 2- A piece of the sky and a chunk of the earth lie lodged in the heart of every human being. ~Thomas Moore
Apr. 9- How great is the wonder of heavenly and earthly things. ~Cicero
Apr. 16- Nature produces the greatest results with the simplest means sun, flowers, water, and love. ~Heinrich Heine
May 14- Man must go back to nature for information. ~Thomas Paine
May 21- Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us, or we find it not. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson
May 28- Natures peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. ~John Muir
June 4- The richness I achieve comes from Nature, the source of my inspiration. ~Claude Monet
June 18- This world is but canvas to our imaginations. ~Henry David Thoreau
June 25- That beautiful season the Summer! Filled was the air with a dreamy and magical light. ~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
July 2- Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better. ~Albert Einstein
July 9- Nature is painting for us, day after day, pictures of infinite beauty if only we have the eyes to see them. ~John Ruskin
July 16- Everything is simpler than you think and yet more complex than you imagine. ~Anonymous
July 23- Touch the earth, love the earth, her plains, her valleys, her hills, and her seas; rest your spirit in her solitary places. For the gifts of life are the earths and they are given to all. ~Henry Beston
July 30- The future is purchased by the present. ~Samuel Johnson
Aug. 13- Art is the child of Nature. ~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Sept. 10- One touch of nature makes the whole world kin. ~William Shakespeare
Oct. 8- Human subtlety will never devise an invention more beautiful, more simple or more direct than does nature because in her inventions nothing is lacking, and nothing is superfluous. ~Leonardo da Vinci
Nov. 12- We never know the worth of water till the well is dry. ~Thomas Fuller
Nov. 26- If future generations are to remember us with gratitude rather than contempt, we must leave them more than the miracles of technology. We must leave them a glimpse of the world as it was in the beginning, not just after we got through with it. ~Lyndon B. Johnson
Dec. 10- We shall require a substantially new manner of thinking if mankind is to survive. ~Albert Einstein
Dec. 24- Nature is pleased with simplicity. ~Isaac Newton
Dec. 31- And now with purpose, full and clear, We turn to meet another year. ~Robert Browning

Duration : 0:7:53

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(Click THIS SENTENCE, or “MORE INFO” for song notes and LYRICS) — This is the final song on my Takoma Records debut album “One More Highway” (produced by John Fahey). Elsewhere on my You Tube channel ( http://www.youtube.com/user/randybrook77 )there are other songs from the album, and in the notes accompanying those songs I have already told about the album and how it came to be. Several of the fotos are from a 6-page Life Magazine article about my hitch-hiking exploits which was published shortly before the album was recorded.
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This song called for a choir on the last verse, so we just gathered up everyone who was hanging around the sessions, including the sound engineer and his wife, and threw them all in front of a microphone. I was amazed at how well their performance turned out. They sound like the Mormon Tabernacle Choir or something.
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True story – during recording I was thinking how nice a country-style slide guitar lead would sound. I went outside during a break and there was a guy sitting on the sidewalk playing a slide dobro (it was Hollywood, after all). I asked him to come in, and we gave him a few bucks to play on the recording. I think his music MAKES the song. Sadly, I lost his name and when it came time for credits I had to just call him “The Phantom Slide-Dobro Player”.
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I have no idea why i used the gospel-standard “Will The Circle Be Unbroken” at the end, or why I jokingly said “Take it, Jesus” right before the verse began. At the time I did not believe in God, Jesus or the Bible – in fact I was an agnostic. A long time later I had some personal revelations – not unlike some of the imagery towards the end of the video – and they completely turned me around. Now I believe, but at the time I didn’t. Maybe the whole inspiration for the song was given to me by the God and His Son who I later came to embrace. Life is funny that way (No pun intended).
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I’m not saying if that was Jesus or not who said “Easy” right after I said “Take it Jesus”, but if it was he has a better sense of humor than I gave him credit for. (Get it? “Take it , Jesus” – “Easy” – “Take it…easy”? Get it? Get it? SIgh…never mind.)
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With this song I have now finished posting what I consider to be the best songs from the album, so there’s really no need for you to go out and buy it (I know…I know…it’s a good thing I told you…you were just about to rush out the door to go get a copy, right?). I have done myself out of any future sales royalties (It’s ok, I’m used to it. I never got a dime from all the previous sales anyway. Look up “chump” in the dictionary…you’ll see my picture next to it. Oh well…”That’s show biz”).
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CAN YOU HEAR IT?
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Can you hear it?
Can you see it?
Do you know it to be real?
Can you touch it?
Can you taste it?
C’mon and tell me how you feel.
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When the morning sun is breaking,
And a new day is coming in,
Lift your head, leave your sleeping,
Let me tell you where I’ve been.
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To the valley,
Wet with wonder,
Watched a rolling river run.
You have been there,
In a vision,
Sitting golden in the sun.
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BRIDGE – Well, I’ve been
Searching such a lonely time,
Please won’t you tell me?
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Other faces,
Other places,
Know a softer side of you.
Can the ones,
Who touch you now,
Ever know what you’ve been through?
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Leaving madness,
Mournful sadness,
Broken beauty – now unmasked,
Let the stillness,
Make its answer,
For the questions you have asked.
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BRIDGE
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Will the circle,
Be unbroken,
By and by, Lord, by and by.
There’s a better,
Home a’waitin’
In the sky, Lord, in the sky.
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Song and video copyright – Randy Brook 2010

Duration : 0:5:8

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