Digital Program
Original Music inspired by William Least Heat-Moon’s Blue Highways
Original Music inspired by William Least Heat-Moon’s Blue Highways
The Bushwick Book Club Seattle
presents
Original Music Inspired by
William Least Heat-Moon’s Blue Highways
June 3, 2023
at Town Hall Seattle
Hosted by Emily Persha & Wes Weddell
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Featuring Musical & Spoken Word Performances from
(Click name for primary link, * = first Bushwick appearance, ^ = lyrics included below)
Rights to all song lyrics ©/℗ the individual artists, reprinted here with permission
Aaron Starkey
Instagram 1 Instagram 2
Daniel Tam-Claiborne*
Facebook Instagram
LaVon Hardison^
Facebook Instagram Bushwick Feature
Sheryl Wiser^
Instagram YouTube Soundcloud
Reggie Garrett & Christine Gunn*
Reggie: Facebook Twitter YouTube
Shaudi Bianca Vahdat^
Facebook Instagram YouTube Bandcamp Spotify
Chris Poage
Facebook Instagram Bandcamp
Plus the Bushwick Quiz, and more!
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Connect with Bushwick
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2022-2023 “Full-Spectrum” Mainstage Season at Town Hall Seattle & Hugo House
Original Music Inspired by William Least Heat-Moon’s Blue Highways
PERFORMER-PROVIDED LYRICS
Rights to all song lyrics ©/℗ the individual artists, reprinted here—exactly as submitted—with permission
Butterfly kite, no strings no flight
sail over bent and narrow roads things pinched shut /things squeezed closed
wait to become something lighter
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travel the bent and narrow roads back of beyond without a thrill. Where are you from? Why are you still here?
on empty with a heavy load,
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back of beyond without a thrill
tires roll and whine and so do you can’t take anymore/feels so true
you’ll stop caring if you just stay still
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tires roll and whine and so do you Road before under and behind
drink the water comes up of its own mind
Road is you sign posts are few
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Butterfly kite, no strings no flight sail over bent and narrow roads things pinched shut /things squeezed closed
wait to become something lighter
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LaVon Hardison
Ghost Dancing
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Goodbye was a fire in the house
And I jumped and fell through a broken window
Had no one to blame but myself
It’s just my heart, it feels a little bit tender
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Chorus:
I’m runnin’ ‘cross this land, so tough so broken
And the highway is the cradle for my soul
And the wheels they’ll take you to the truth or they’ll leave you in the dark
I’m looking for that grail, you see, if you see a ghost that looks like me,
Just feed him well and send him on his way
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Somethin’ ’bout a friend who knows your name
Who can wake you from your death, to face another day
And building walls of rock feels like a rest
I guess I need those stories and old friends
Sheryl Wiser
Birdcage
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North by northwest
early afternoon
On this old blue highway
With nothing left to lose
He was standing at the roadside
thumb in the wind
He was standing at the roadside
Waiting to begin
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How far are you going?
It doesn’t matter to me.
Have you considered Jesus
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And the Lord’s strategy
Have you thought about salvation
offered up your soul
Are you a traveler looking
For heaven’s rewards? End on the C
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CHORUS
I’m a man of faith
You may not agree
my life is a story
I’m learning how to read
We are all the sons and daughters
Of travelers across this land
We are all the sons and daughters
rooted where we stand
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There’s nothing in my pockets
I’m a man without a home
I parted with my possessions
But Jesus keeps me whole
I’m on the road from sorrow
From the wreck of another life
From the snowy banks
From a slippery road
I let go and saw the light
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Now I give my life to saving
those I’ve never met
I spread the word and trust the Lord
And believe in Heaven sent
I talk to the highways
I talk to the fields and clouds
I’ll tell them all to come inside
Where the word lives out loud
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Shaudi Bianca Vahdat
Where I’ve Been
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In Brooklyn Bridge, Kentucky
The Hammonds have a dream
They’re building up a boat and they hope that it floats
Some April when the red buds bloom they’ll sail downstream
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I’ll stop awhile in Nameless
There used to be a store
But they paved the road up years ago
And it’s not there anymore
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Where I’ve been
Where I’ve been
Where I’ve been
Where I’ve been
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At Barbara’s place in Martinville
She reads Catch 22
Tells me, “make the people bored with hating instead of helping
That’s what it boils down to”
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Sundown taking color from the land
The Eldorado heat
I meet a man whose life fits in a paper bag
And I see his life’s complete
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Where I’ve been
Where I’ve been
Where I’ve been
Where I’ve been
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Think I’ve come full circle
The map tells me I’m done
With one last curve of highway
I drive into the sun
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Where I’ve been
Where I’ve been
Where I’ve been
Where I’ve been
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