At the end of a long nap while in a hotel room for a conference, I dreamed another song. In the dream, I was hanging out with someone who looked like a young, bearded Levon Helm. We were in his house or trailer, and his father, an elderly man, asked the bearded young man to sing this hymn with him. Because I didn't have a guitar or piano with me at the time, I used notation software to get it down before I forgot it. The lyrics were partly inspired by the dream version's lyrics (especially the first verse), but they were completed after I awoke.
lyrics
Well the devil can take
And the devil can break
I was once seventeen
And lost and in-between, it seems
Just sittin’ around
With my feet off the ground
How people can be
So low and mean, cruel and green, in dreams
I’ll fly away in the morning
I’ll fly away overnight
Wherever I seek
All the pickings are bleak
My stock is strong
But I can’t keep hangin’ on, for long
I found a savior, or I want to
I’ll trust a neighbor as a friend, oh, they say that he
Taketh his time
And then, then does the crime
What a fine kind of frame of mind
credits
from Country Hymn,
released September 17, 2016
words by Sumanth Gopinath, music by The Gated Community
copyright 2016
Paul Hatlelid: lead vocals, acoustic guitar
Rosie Harris: banjo, backing vocals
Sumanth Gopinath: piano, backing vocals
Beth Hartman: backing vocals
Teresa Gowan: fiddle
Johnny Becker: electric bass
Cody Johnson: drums
The Gated Community is a country/bluegrass/Americana band with rock influences based in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area in
Minnesota and has been in existence since early 2006.
Bandmembers: Sumanth Gopinath
Rosie Harris
Beth Hartman
Paul Hatlelid
Cody Johnson
Nate Knutson...more
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