Sometimes when I think about what I don’t know what to think about, I think about “The Mountain Song.” It was recorded during the PERRO Sessions, a fascinating time in the late ‘60s/early ‘70s led by David Crosby — while he lived on a boat outside of San Francisco — that eventually produced his iconic solo album If I Can Only Remember My Name (a record I wrote about at length last year for its 50th anniversary). PERRO stands for Planet Earth Rock & Roll Orchestra, which is a very funny name for a band, and I guess it was made up of — although never anything official — members of The Dead, CSNY, Jefferson Airplane, Joni Mitchell, and a whole swath of other cool cats from those times. If interested, you can read more about the PERRO sessions here or here.
There are multiple recordings of “The Mountain Song” but the one I’m drawn to most is embedded below. Through various tapes over the years, this version is labeled “v2&3,” which I would assume is maybe right but also maybe wrong.
“I’m gonna make the mountains be my home,” Jerry Garcia sings lightly and sweetly enough. Behind him, there’s David. “I wanna breathe!”
There’s a lost sense of wonder in our world these days. Is it gone forever? I don’t know how to bring it back, how to show that magic still matters. No one does and it sucks. Maybe it’s because we have the answers to everything in the computers we carry around in our pockets. Or maybe it’s not that complicated; it’s not a product of technology. It’s just the natural evolution of our species — growing until we don’t know how to grow further and so then we grow into each other, getting closer and closer to absorbing each other’s souls. Embrace the information. More information than ever. Did you read the news today? Did you read the news tomorrow? Scream. Scream! Or maybe it all really is just the vibecession.
Do you ever listen to a song on repeat until it makes perfect sense and you understand the universe but then it sails beyond that and no longer makes sense and you no longer understand the universe?
I stare at the Rocky Mountains and think I will one day live at the top of one of them. The very tip-top. I will float above the tree lines where the rocks are from the moon and the air is so thin it will kill you. Up there where lakes are so cold that touching water may cause spiritual awakenings. Don’t mess around. Who knows what will be unlocked?
Moments offer change. Don’t let epiphanies slip through your fingers. The world doesn’t make any sense and it never will. Stop bothering. The sky above is gold. Run to the end of the dock and jump. The trees will cheer you on. The answers you’re searching for will never appear. Don’t stop searching, though. Put on your saddle and ride. What’s stopping us?
Gonna make the mountains be my home, I’ve been thinking about…