Wonder Valley

(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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Song: Black Fox
Artist: Heather Dale
Album: Road To Santiago

As we were out a-hunting,
One morning in the spring
Both hounds and horses running well
Made the hills and the valleys ring

But to our great misfortune
No fox there could be found
Our huntsmen cursed and swore but still
No fox moved over the ground

And up spoke our master huntsman
The master of the chase
If only the devil himself come by
We’d run him such a race

And up there sprung like lightning
A fox from out of his hole
His fur was the colour of a starless night
And his eyes like burning coals

And they chased him over the valley
And they chased him over the fields
They chased him down to the river bank
But never would he yield

And he’s jumped into the water
And he’s swum to the other side
And he’s laughed so loud that the greenwoods shook
Then he’s turned to the huntsmen and cried

Ride on my gallant huntsman
When must I come again
For you should never want for a fox
To chase all over the glen

And when your need is greatest
Just call upon my name
And I will come, and you shall have
The best of sport and game

And the men looked up in wonder
And the hounds run back to hide
For the fox it changed to the devil himself
Where he stood on the other side

And the men, the hounds, the horses
Went flying back to town
And hard on their heels come a little black fox
Laughing as he ran

Ride on my gallant huntsman
When must I come again
For you should never want for a fox
To chase all over the glen

And when your need is greatest
Just call upon my name
And I will come, and you shall have
The best of sport and game

Ride on my gallant huntsman
When must I come again
For you should never want for a fox
To chase all over the glen

Duration : 0:3:6

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