Into the Child

I won't be the last I won't be the first Find a way to where the sky meets the earth It's all right and all wrong For me it begins at the end of the road We come and go...

I recorded this in my classroom at the end of May. Next to an open window facing the patio where about 150 children were running around. My students were in the classroom with me having their snack and thought it was quite funny to see and hear their teacher howling away like this. About a week earlier I had travelled with my class into the mountains for an end of year trip, where we set forth into various universes of nature, ourselves and each other. Nature drunk and high.

Be it no concern Point of no return Go foward in reverse This I will recall Everytime I fall Setting forth in the universe Out here, realigned A planet out of sight Nature drunk and high

Where the sky meets the earth. The horizon in disguise at El Saler.

I had spent the entire morning walking in the forests and grassy meadows of Gredos. We sketched flowers. I caught a butterfly. It was windy and cold, in the middle of May. After lunch I came back to my room, picked up my guitar sat in front of the picture window looking out into the valley and recorded this. It is the only time I ever played it all the way through without a mistake. It's perhaps the only song I've ever played all the way through without a mistake!

Such is the way of the world You can never know Just where to put all your faith And how will it grow Gonna rise up Burning black holes in dark memories Gonna rise up Turning mistakes into gold Such is the passage of time Too fast to fold Suddenly swallowed by signs Low and behold Gonna rise up Find my direction magnetically Find a horizon Stand up and walk on my own

Into the Wild is my favorite album. It was released on the day my son Thomas was born, September 17, 2007, and from the very first time I listened, I knew it was special. I never dreamed I'd be able to sing and play the songs, but this is my humble attempt. I had read about <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_McCandless">Chris McCandless</a>in Jon Krakauer's original Outside magazine article, and then read Into the Wild, the book he wrote about the young man's travels into the wild. Having experienced similar longings for adventure and spiritual journeys, and being of a similar age and background, I really related to his story and enjoyed the book very much. Into the Wild is a beautiful, bittersweet film. A few months ago, I found myself home alone, and ended up watching it again for the first time in a long time. It was then I thought about recording my own version of the album, dedicated to Tommy, and to the child inside all of us who longs for travel and adventure, knows the wide eyed curiosity and innocence of exploration, and has experienced the discovery of new worlds within ourselves. The journey within is the destination. I hope you enjoy it.

Setting Forth No Ceiling Far Behind Rise Long Nights Tuolumne Hard Sun Society The Wolf End of the Road Guaranteed

This is the first song that I recorded for this album. It was shortly after seeing the movie in April. My father had an accident in February. He fell and broke his neck and has been essentially paralyzed since. After the initial shock, of course, comes the dark realization that he will be this way for the rest of his life, needing constant care and therapy. He has made some progress, slowly, but he will never be the same. This song made me think of him and I changed the two last lines of the lyrics for him. When he heard it, he said he couldn't believe it, and that I am a better singer than he is. He was trying to be funny. That's my Dad. Thoughts of my Dad, and my childhood, and now being a Dad myself, and these relationships between fathers and sons is what inspired this whole thing. It's also a central theme of Chris McCandless' story Into the Wild, and why I've called this Into the Child. Also, Rise is a beautiful song.

Recorded on or around April 26, in my garage, on an electric guitar that my friend Ben gave to me. One of the nicest gifts I've ever received. I changed one line of the song at the end to reflect my own challenges to keep my eyes on the horizon and not far behind in the past.

I'm playing ukelele on my version of No Ceiling, though it's originally on a mandolin. I borrowed the ukelele from the music teacher at school who had planned a whole unit on ukelele for his classes and even had ordered a class set of cheap ones for the students. So for a few weeks we were playing a lot of ukelele in class, and it even became part of our end of year music festival. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=hawaiian+rollercoaster+ride">Hawaiin Roller Coaster Ride</a>. Eddie Vedder, of course, has made lots of beautiful music on ukelele. His second solo album, after Into the Wild was <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXba4byJr8o&amp;list=PL622D75D4F49B33BD">Ukelele Songs</a>, which includes this work of art. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcoE89oEHoI">Without You</a>. So, I really wanted to use the ukelele for at least one song, and No Ceiling fell in place.

When I walk beside her I am The better man When I look to leave her I always stagger back again Once I built an ivory tower So I could worship from above When I climbed down to be set free She took me in again There's a big, a big hard sun Beating on the big people In the big hard world When she comes to greet me She is mercy at my feet When I see her bitter charm She just throws it back at me Once I dug an early grave To find a better land She just smiled and laughed at me And took her blues back again There's a big, a big hard sun Beating on the big people In the big hard world Oh, there's a big, a big hard sun Beating on the big people In the big hard world When I go to cross that river She is comfort by my side When I try to understand She just opens up her hands There's a big, a big hard sun Beating on the big people In the big hard world Once I stood to lose her When I saw what I had done Bowed down and threw away The hours of her garden and her sun So I tried to warn her I turned to see her weep Forty days and forty nights And it's still coming down on me There's a big, a big hard sun Beating on the big people In a big hard world Oh, there's a big, a big hard sun Beating on the big people In the big hard world There's a big, a big hard sun Beating on the big people In the big hard world...

Oh, it's a mystery to me We have a greed, with which we have agreed And you think you have to want more than you need Until you have it all you won't be free Society, you're a crazy breed I hope you're not lonely without me When you want more than you have You think you need And when you think more than you want Your thoughts begin to bleed I think I need to find a bigger place 'Cause when you have more than you think You need more space Society, you're a crazy breed I hope you're not lonely without me Society, crazy indeed I hope you're not lonely without me There's those thinking, more or less, less is more But if less is more, how you keeping score? Means for every point you make, your level drops Kinda like you're starting from the top You can't do that Society, you're a crazy breed I hope you're not lonely without me Society, crazy indeed I hope you're not lonely without me Society, have mercy on me I hope you're not angry if I disagree Society, crazy indeed I hope you're not lonely Without me

I've climbed 45 of the mountains on this list of the <a href="https://www.peakbagger.com/list.aspx?lid=21300">highest mountains in the Lower 48 states</a>, including the top 5. I spent about ten years in the Western U.S. hiking, climbing, biking, rafting, kayaking, camping, skiing, trail running (including the <a href="https://www.pikespeakmarathon.org/">Pikes Peak Ascent and Marathon</a> six times!), snowshoeing, canyoning and lots and lots of driving across those wild, wide open spaces and mountain ranges of the great American West. I've been OUT THERE, dude. Adventures of a lifetime.

The deeply spiritual experience of being far, far, so far from civilization and society had a great effect on the person I've become, and in that experience I truly relate to what Chris McCandless was trying to find in the wild. We were following many of the same paths along a very similar journey. The "call of the wild", the rites of passage from youth to adult, the loss of innocence and connection with the purity of nature, the struggle to live in the present and leave the past behind, all these lessons learned - all those yesterdays.

A young man's quest for adventure and discovery. The search for meaning in a messed up world. Choosing paths and places to explore. The beauty of nature and love. Getting lost along the way. The journey from child to man and back again. If I only knew then what I know now. If I only knew now what I knew then. The journey happens inside. The hope for a better world. The wish to be a better man. Thank you Tommy, Chris and Eddie. Thank you <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AbBjpeYVeyU">rock and roll</a>.

Comes the morning When I can feel That there's nothing left to be concealed Moving on a scene surreal Know my heart will never Will never be far from here Sure as I am breathing Sure as I'm sad I'll keep this wisdom in my flesh I leave here believing more than I had And there's a reason I'll be A reason I'll be back As I walk the hemisphere I've got my wish to up and disappear I've been wounded I've been healed Now for landing I've been, landing I've been cleared Sure as I'm breathing Sure as I'm sad I'll keep this wisdom in my flesh I leave here believing more than I had This Love has got No ceiling

One very small detail of the Into the Wild film is that at various moments during the movie, Chris McCandless pauses whatever it is he might be doing as he catches a glimpse of a plane flying across the sky. As he stares at the plane, you can sense his thoughts drifting back to the world he left behind. Watch a plane fly overhead and wonder where it's been, where it's going, who it's carrying, and how we have all arrived at where we are.

An old Cherokee is teaching his grandson about life. “A fight is going on inside me,” he said to the boy.&nbsp;“It is a terrible fight and it is between two wolves. One is evil – he is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.” &nbsp;He continued, “The other is good – he is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith.&nbsp;The same fight is going on inside you – and inside every other person, too.” The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather, “Which wolf will win?” The old Cherokee simply replied, “The one you feed.”

I used to sing this to my son, like a lullabye. Tommy almost never slept through the night. This song and Losing my Religin, (<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwtdhWltSIg">Losing My Religion</a>), for some reason, became the songs I'd whisper sing as I held him in my arms, walking around the living room. This is a live, very long night version, recorded in the first weekend of May. Those are ducks and frogs providing backup vocals. A plane flies overhead, as well. I added some loops from Garage Band, and then, since I had already gone so far from the original version, decided to record and loop a "morning after" riff at the end. No matter how long the night, the sun always rises in the morning.

I use Garage Band on an iPad to record these songs. I can record different tracks and add different instruments and effects. I know absolutely nothing about music. For most of these songs, I've tried to be as faithful as possible to the original, but there is only one Eddie Vedder, so on other songs I've produced my own version. This is one of them. Eddie Vedder has one of the most iconic voices in the history of rock. It would be ridiculous to try to howl like he does, so I just added some yelps and huffing and puffing like a big bad wolf behind his lead and used Garage Band to put it all together. 

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