Get all 15 Seth Mountain 이산 releases available on Bandcamp and save 45%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Hush: Songs for Christmas, songs that sing me, Vol. 2, songs that sing me, Vol. I: a personal anthology, THROUGH DARK VALLEYS / 이산 II, "Please Come Home": Menders! Live at Circle of Hope (8.18. 2013), 이산 Live at No Country: An Introduction to Seth Mountain, 이산: This Mountain, Halfway Home, and 7 more.
1. |
Morning in Seattle
02:06
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The journey resumes.
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2. |
April 1st (Rusty Rows)
10:05
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Now I've got fingers slipping through
the concrete blocks outside
that wall my memories in again
and metal boat-wheels worn so thin
the blood beneath my skin‘s begun to leak begins to leak
I heard my mother's thoughts today out in the wind again, again
like drying clothes and ice tea warming in a shiny jar oh no
she's rattling pans again and asking where I been so long
and in the din there comes to mind again
a battered tin all scratched inside and filled with men
and smiles and eyes and everyone's got missing limbs
I nod hello and with a nail in my nose I stoop to hoe a rusty row
and what I'm trying to say
what I'm trying to say I don't know
I don't know I don't know I don't know I don't know
Why words come in and then come out
and everything sticks in my mouth
oh I sometimes swear I sometimes pray
and why oh god my favorite uncle died today
the only one in a family large and loud and proud
who had the poverty and pain
live close enough to keep him sane
and one small joke away from tears
and one cheap gag away
from all the lies the rest of us keep living
the rest of us keep living by
Or why I thought all day about
the way my other uncle found him
laying there and never had a chance to win
or lose their year-long argument
about some moldy cheese
and pink flamingos bullshit grown so ripe up round
like thorny bushes full of unbloomed roses in their brains
and suddenly I'm a continent away a thousand miles,
miles, miles now, and I'm crying like a little child
Or why I smoke so much these days
but feel so god-damned healthy
every way and every time I light a match I think of how
my friend says pretty death each time he sees a--
each time he sees a cigarette
What I'm trying to say is
that I don't know, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know
Why I live in the most beautiful place I've ever seen
with a woman who I think might really be a tiger queen and everything
she touches blooms and bursts with song and colors here we are now
surrounded by the rising concrete
castles and cockroaches
and no refrigerator and no tv
yes I'm bragging now I'm sad
but I'm in love of course
So why I can't stop thinking of my hometown friend and enemy?
I loved you and I also envied you so honestly
when you jumped in front of a train last year
or fell or just as likely you were pushed there
no one knows and fewer care
and when we heard the news
on April 1st of course we all thought
you were pulling off some shitty prank
and still I think maybe you were
and in this case it was the boldest
and the humblest joke you ever told
and left us with ourselves
to hear the punchline growing cold
Oh and all I know for sure is you were an arrogant ass
but I loved you much more than I ever hated you
and I'll always know it was a grave mistake to not attend
your funeral however in my own defense I wanted so badly
to believe that you'd show up again like some old manic
Tom Sawyer and we could laugh for years about it
after we beat you senseless
Or why a friend... or why a friend felt God?
I don't know I don't know I don't know I don't know
Why a friend felt drawn by God knows what today
to kindly tell me that I hated Jesus and the USA
and all white people but before I had a chance
to say you lie or maybe to agree a young man next to me
ram rode his knee completely through a thick glass window pane
oh my God to protest--his blood!--
the recent schoolroom lunch code
and of course we all knew that
he thrust his limb through a glass door
for something on the other side
something deep something wide
something on the other side much heavier
than a plate of god-damned pasta
Or why this past week it's been raining
every day and hotter than my coffee
and I'm always sweating
trying to catch my breath
and I don't want to hear any more shit
about God and love from you right now
or how nice your new batch of soap turned out
or why you think the family members
of murdered Black men are just trying to get attention
and further division and strife
and god bless the fucking police and I'm sorry
but all god's lives matter
and Indians aren't even real Indians anymore
they just want to take land
from hard-working people
and make an entire generation
feel guilty for being white
but hey I never got it easy
my boots are always muddy
and god bless my guns and penis
and Jesus Muhammud murder lies banks
you know life is blah blah tough for all of us
ha ha l o l r o f l
and these lazy people only make it harder
you know what I'm saying?
and I have decided
I have decided to follow shitty empire
speak Jeevus Christus I'm angry
that you don't tell me
I'm doing such a good job
please tell me that I'm doing a good job
don't you know I'm doing the best I can?
I'm angry that you don't tell me
that I'm doing a good job
please go away!
Oh why my god, my god, I love you god! I really do!
and every time I try to tell or hear the simplest story
of someone doing something kind I start to cry
I start to cry, oh I am tired and sad and wonder how it is
that we can smile and speak and laugh so well when all we know
we all know that we feel so bad
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3. |
Mother, Sister / 엄마야 누나야
03:11
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Mother, Sister (엄마야 누나야 강변 살자)
By Kim So-Wol (김소월 시), Korean independence poet under Japanese colonization.
"Oh mother and older sister,
Let's go and live together beside the river,
Where the golden sand sparkles in the grass.
Outside our back door, [we can listen to] the leaves' song.
Mother, older sister,
Let's go and live beside the river."
엄마야 누나야 강변 살자.
뜰에는 반깍이는 금모래 빛.
뒷문 밖에는 갈잎의 노래.
엄마야 누나야 강변 살자.
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4. |
Don't Forget It
09:26
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The bear went over the mountain
The bear went over the mountain
The bear went over the mountain
To see what she could see
And all that she could see
And all that she could see
Was the other side of the mountain
The other side of the mountain
The other side of the mountain
Was all that she could see
There's a lot of sadness,
There's a lot of sadness,
So much sadness all around.
And it gets so heavy,
Gets too damn heavy,
It gets so heavy
I think I'm gonna drown.
Got a lot of history,
We've got a lot of bad history,
We've got this history
But I need you now.
You can say you're sorry,
I can say I'm sorry,
We can say we're sorry,
I don't care.
But when you say I love you,
When you say I love you,
When you say I love you,
I like the way it sounds.
Well you know I love you too.
I said I love you too,
Yeah, I love you too--
Don't forget it.
There's a lot of shouting,
Whole lot of shouting,
Why all this shouting
When there should be silence?
There's too much silence,
Whole lot of silence,
Why all this silence
When there should be shouting?
We're all broken, baby,
Baby, we're all broken,
And the water down below us
It's raging and it's terrible
It's swiftly running
And it is so cold...
You got a lot of pain here
Got a lot of pain here
So much pain here,
Why you trying to carry it
Alone?
The stakes are way too high now
They're way too high now
Way too high now
To stop believing you
To stop believing me
Or to let you go.
So you know I'll be there
I said I'll be there
Yeah I'll be there
When the storm clouds start rolling
And the dark winds begin to blow...
Such a long and hard road
Such a long and hard road
Long and hard road
And I know you've got to
Walk your own--
But who told you
You had to walk alone?
Cause there's a lot of sadness
There's a lot of sadness
So much sadness
All around
And it gets too heavy
Gets too damn heavy
It gets so heavy
To carry around
But when you say I love you
When you say I love you
When you say I love you
I like the way it sounds
Well you know I love you too
I said I love you too
Yeah I love you too--
Don't forget it.
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5. |
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Going Across The Mountain/"Little Giant"
Traditional American Ballad, originally popularized by Frank Proffitt, who claimed it was written by a family member. The ballad is telling the story of a lone farmer from the South who decides to cross the mountains during the Civil War to join the Union Army, and "to give [Jefferson Davis'] men a little of my rifle ball." The song is sung by the soldier-farmer, it seems, more to steel his own nerves and confidence than it is to calm his lover. We never learn if he returns.
"Frank's grandfather, a great admirer of Abe Lincoln, chose to go the hard way--he went 'across the mountain to join the boys in blue'. (Once, separated from his outfit, he wandered into a camp of Confederate soldiers and found himself face to face with his own brother, who had made the other decision. By feigning insanity, he managed to escape and rejoin his own unit, but one can well imagine the anxious moments experienced by the two brothers in the interim.) Frank learned this song, which describes the farewell of a 'Southern Yankee' to his sweetheart, from his father. Frank is not sure, but it seems likely that his father had it, in turn from his father,"
-Sandy Paton, 1962, Folk-Legacy LP "Frank Proffitt, Reese, N.C."
Jo Yong-boon halmoni ran the "Little Giant"/작은거인 food and drink mini-diner for decades across the street from the famous Ahyeon outdoor market in Seoul. Her shop, along with many others on the same street, were mercilessly bulldozed by the local government in response to the complaints of citizens living in the nearby newtown apartments. The newtown parasites got the clean, widened street without independent merchants that they wanted, but they couldn't kill the Little Giant. After spending a few years in a temporary location protected by anti-development activists, Jo Yong-boon halmoni has re-opened her shop, now inside the Ahyeon traditional market. The Little Giant survived the fickle and vindictive greed of the higher classes in the area bent on development and destruction of everything old in the region, thanks to Jo halmoni's resistance and the widespread support for her from locals and activists. Many of her close friends and neighbor merchants have not been so fortunate.
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6. |
Climbing High Mountains
04:01
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Traditional American Spiritual. This version is most heavily inspired by Bernice Johnson Reagon's live rendition at Joe's Pub in New York City, on January 20th, 2013, but it is also shaped by Sacred Harp and Old Regular Baptist influence.
I've been climbing high mountains trying to get home.
I've been wading deep waters trying to get home.
I've been burying my loved ones trying to get home.
I've been climbing high mountains trying to get home.
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7. |
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Selections from "45 Voices Overheard in an American Graveyard during the first 100 Days of a new regime", by S. P. Martin.
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8. |
Ballad of Eric Garner
04:41
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Tune: 900 Miles (Traditional American Train/Work song)
Out in famous New York City
Famous for its lack of pity
That's where a man named Eric Garner used to live
He was big and Black and proud
Had friends and family all around
And despite so many hassles with police
Garner's neighbors knew him as a man of peace
Eric Garner was in town
So the cops all gathered round
They said he tried to sell some untaxed cigarettes
Garner said it wasn't true
But he broke a bigger rule
In a land where if you're Black then you're a threat
The cops showed everyone Black Lives don't matter yet
Well he told the cops I'm tired,
I'm so tired of being harassed
It was a brave thing for a poor Black man to say
And before he died he cried
I can't breathe eleven times
Pantaleo grabbed his neck and pulled him down
And the other cops helped smash his face into the ground
After Garner stopped resisting,
well the cops just stood there watching
They picked his pockets and they rolled him on his side
Several minutes slowly passed
EMTs they came at last
No CPR, they said he still was breathing then
An hour later Garner'd never breathe again
And the medical report said it was a homicide
Said they killed him when they wouldn't let him breathe
but there was no murder charge
seems it was never in the cards
Despite the testimonies and the video
the judge and jury said the cops were free to go
Yeah Eric Garner couldn't breathe
with a system round his neck
That kills a Black man just for holding cigarettes
Home of the brave, land of the free
Well, what's this mean for you and me?
It's all a sham if Black folks' lives don't matter yet
If you're not white or rich then you don't matter yet
Some kind of Freedom if the people here can't breathe
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9. |
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Ferryboat and Passenger (나룻배와 행인)
Lyrics from Buddhist Korean Independence activist Manhae's famous poem of the same name in his book of poetry, The Lover's Silence.
"I am the boat that carried you
across the river...
You pressed your dirty feet
against my sides,
while I kept you safe and dry.
When you reached the other side
and began to walk away,
you did not look back.
Every day,
every day,
I am still here
waiting for you to return..."
*For the Noryangjin Traditional Fish Market Merchants, who continue to struggle for their lives against the lies, corruption and brutal violence of joint public and private pro-development forces in the heart of Seoul.
************************************
"The Noryangjin overpass is now a cliff’s edge to nowhere, a lookout to a massive new construction site that may result in an expanded modern entertainment center. Solidarity gatherings continue under COVID-19 social distancing regulations. During continued negotiations with Seoul City and the local district office, the market tents have been removed and the square lays quiet. Local officials regularly inspect for any “illegal” demonstrations and gatherings. Yet the merchants, their tents and their equipment are still there on the overpass. They prepare and serve home-cooked meals, generously sharing with activists on a weekly basis. During the night watch, the elderly merchants can hardly sleep as the subway and commuter trains pass underneath them and construction continues in the dark hours. Sooner or later, the tents are likely to be forcibly evicted. Until that day, the original Noryangjin Fish Market merchants and their diverse supporters will remain at Noryangjin Station exits 1 and 2.
"What do decolonization and liberation mean for Noryangjin Fish Market and other redevelopment struggles? As a longtime physical and forever spiritual resident of the city of Gwangju, I see the May spirit reflected in the tenacity of the several dozen aunties and grandmothers of the overpass. I also see the spirit of Peace Market garment worker Jeon Tae-il who self-immolated in martyrdom on November 13, 1970. This year is the 50th anniversary of this ‘single spark’ that set off the militancy of Korea’s labor movement. When Jeon and the Gwangju freedom fighters sacrificed their lives, perhaps their minds were already purified and liberated from the colonization of industrial capitalism and the myth of progress under redevelopment. Decades later, in a whole new era, the Noryangjin merchants show that sadly and inevitably, the struggle for a better world is not yet over. They continue their fight for their right to livelihood outside of the new market and for recognition of their place in Korea’s modern history. Until that day comes."
-Ana Traynin, October 2020 (from "Redevelopment Resistance in the heart of Seoul" in Rock! Paper! Scissors! online journal Vol 2, No 3)
X. Smoke Break During a Practice Air Raid Siren in Seoul
The unforgotten "forever war" in Korea has now continued for 70 years.
"I was wading in the river. I was with others. It was before the break of dawn. And as the sun started to rise, a light started to flow down the river. And that's when that light morphed into families embracing each other. It was so beautiful and profound. But I just needed to see where the source of the light was coming from. So I kept going up the river. And that's when I came to a circle of women. And they were stirring something that they then poured into little vessels, which then became the light that flowed down the river. And that's when I woke up and I said, I know who will end the war. It will be women that end this war."
-Christine Ahn (from "It will be women that end this war" in Rock! Paper! Scissors! online journal Vol 2, No 3)
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10. |
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Grown Up Soul (These Dark Valleys)
Hui Tzu said to Chuang:
I have a big tree,
The kind they call a “stinktree.”
The trunk is so distorted,
So full of knots,
No one can get a straight plank
Out of it. The branches are so crooked
You cannot cut them up
In any way that makes sense.
There it stands beside the road.
No carpenter will even look at it.
Such is your teaching–
big and useless.
Chuang Tzu replied:
Have you ever watched the wildcat
Crouching, watching his prey–
This way it leaps, and that way,
Hight and low, and at last
Lands in the trap.
But have you seen the yak?
Great as a thundercloud
He stands in his might.
Big? Sure.
He can’t catch mice!
So for your big tree. No use?
Then plant it in the wasteland
In emptiness.
Walk idly around,
Rest under the shadow;
No axe or bill prepares its end.
No one will ever cut it down.
Useless? You should worry!
-Chuang Tzu, translated by Thomas Merton
******************************************************************
I've been walking these dark valleys
trying to find a place called home
And everywhere I laid my head
I felt so cold and all alone
Never had a word to say
but i kept talking on and on
Never had a verse to sing
until I lost it in your song
And I've been walking these dark valleys
trying to find a place called home
And everywhere I laid my head
I felt so cold and all alone
Looking for a grown-up soul
to teach me how to be a child
Like the boulder-breaking flowers
small and worthless meek and mild
The wisest tree in all the land
too gnarled for saws or human hands
And in her ugliness a wisdom
beauty never understands
oh I want to understand
Been looking for a grown-up soul
show me how to be a child
Like the boulder-breaking dandelions
small and worthless meek and mild
wild and joyful like a child
And when I reached the mountain top
I was amazed at what I found
Each side as far as I could see
well, there were mountains all around
there were mountains all around!
Been looking for a grown-up soul
to teach me how to be a child
Like the boulder-breaking weeds
small and worthless meek and mild
wild and joyful like a child
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Seth Mountain 이산 South Korea
Seth Martin (aka Seth Mountain or 이산), is a roots musician originally from the Pacific Northwest
(US).
Continuing in the radical tradition of artists like Pete Seeger, Woody Guthrie, and Utah Phillips, Martin has been living in Seoul since 2015. He regularly performs with Korean and foreign folk, indie and rock acts.
"Quite possibly the closest thing we have to Woody Guthrie."
--Bill Mallonee
... more
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