So, as the autumn of the year finds me more reflective and introspective, I find turning inward provides opportunities to field dreams and harvest inspirations.
And, as a result, my autumn compilation CD for 2009, "Sugar Boy," flows with songs about maturing, aging and passing.

I stumbled on two different songs about these themes. The first is Emmylou Harris's "Sailing Around The Room," from her "All I Intended To Be" CD. The second is John Mellencamp's "Longest Days."
These songs resonate strongly now as I witness my own folks aging and my father, specifically, dealing with frontal lobe dementia and, likely, Alzheimer's. They make me appreciate him more, fear death less and prepare for the ultimate transition that we all face.
Last night, or late this early morning, I had a dream about apparently dying or having a near death experience. It was in color - which is rare - and included a cast of near 30 or more people including family - virtual and real - co-workers, Emmylou Harris, my guitar, my 'passing out' on a couch in California and my 'waking,' evidently, in a 'passed' state. I was flying . . .
In fact, in my waking hours, I remember so vividly the sensations of flying that I swear I've done it. In fact, I was surprised today everytime I thought about alighting and then realizing I couldn't. The funny thing is I'm more frustrated by my inability to soar and fly, as I do in my dreams, now that I can 'feel' what it's like in my waking hours.
So, it is the dream coming to life . . . the passing from one plane to the next.
And, it's Emmylou Harris's "Sailing Around The Room" that brought this, or perhaps, coalesced this all for me, all of a sudden.
Here's the video followed by the lyrics.
"Sailing Around The Room" (video)
Sailing Around The Room
One last gaze upon the sun
Bid farewell to everyone
Kicked that bucket out the door
Where I'm goin I won't need it anymore
Gonna lay my burden down
Take a birdseye look around
From the tall pines of Carolina
All the way to the Wall of China
So I go sailing round the room
Through my window, cross the silver moon
No flesh and bone to hold me
I'll finally set my soul free
When I go sailing round the room
Life may be just but a dream
Rode my boat on down the stream
To wake up on a different shore
Wind up as something I aint never been before
I could be a drop of summer rain
Fallin down on an Oklahoma plain
Gonna leave the world behind me
Look around and you will find me
So I go sailing round the room
Through my window, cross the silver moon
No flesh and bone to hold me
I'll finally set my soul free
When I go sailing round the room
[I.....will be.....]
In the smoke from Mauna Loa
Morning mist on the Shenandoah
[I.....will be.....]
Grain of sand in the Kalahari
Magnolia by the Mississippi
[I.....will be.....]
Bird song when the day is breaking
Words of love when your heart is aching
Blue bonnet by the highway
I'll be everywhere and always
When I go sailing round the room
Through my window, cross the silver moon
No flesh and bone to hold me
I'll finally set my soul free
When I go sailing round the room
Through my window, cross the silver moon
No flesh and bone to hold me
I'll finally set my soul free
When I go sailing round the room









