lyrics
she brings me shining things that she pulled out of the river
knee deep in shimmering
i hear her whisper to her
sisters on the wind
the winter steals my breath
but she says
that spring
is coming
yes she says
that spring
is coming
and the seeds you sow will reach out for the sun
your heart will beat again
the blood will run
so sleep right now in the arms of the cold cold moon
sleep right now but remember
spring is coming
she lights her secondhand world with stolen constellations
says a cold rosary of stars
she sings me strangers’ songs
late
into the midnight
orion rules the sky
but she says
that spring
is coming
yes she says
that spring
is coming
and the seeds you sow will reach out for the sun
your heart will beat again
the blood will run
so sleep right now in the arms of the cold cold moon
sleep right now but remember
spring is coming
my fire is burning low and I pull you close again
wait for the spark to come on
oh sun won’t you come again
come and shine the way you was
the winter steals my breath
but she says
that spring
is coming
yes she says
that spring
is coming
yes she says
hold tight / hold on
hold on through this cold cold night
hold on now
but remember
spring is coming
and the seeds you sow will reach out for the sun
your heart will beat again
the blood will run
so sleep right now in the arms of the cold cold moon
sleep right now but remember
spring is coming
story
The origins of this track date back a few years to a wintertime field trip that my friend Jeffrey and I took to the coast. A huge storm was thumping Northern California, and we wanted to go see the waves in Pacifica, or Princeton, where we’d heard they were sweeping small dogs and inattentive meter maids out to sea.
We made it to Princeton, where the waves were indeed impressive, pushing boldly up from the shore into the center of town, nosing into businesses and restaurants.
On the way back, Jeffrey played me a song by one of his favorite up-and-coming singer/songwriters, and I was really taken by an acoustic guitar loop and repetitive mellotron chord that created a very melancholy atmosphere: I resolved to steal that trick as soon as possible.
The storm kept up for several days, and by the end I was feeling very done with winter, especially as I was crouched over the piano in my unheated music lair one night experimenting with the kind of loops and sounds I’d heard on Jeffrey’s CD. As it got later, and colder, the recurrent drone coming out of my speakers and the deepening night created kind of a trance state, and the first verse of the song came steadily into focus, with the last two lines feeling especially right.