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(The chorus and verses one and two come from the original song by the same name. In the early 1940s, composer David N. Johnson was deeply moved when he saw a solitary white bird flying hundreds of miles from shore over the South Pacific, while travelling by ship from Los Angeles to Bombay. Later, he paired a poem by Rev. Richard McFadyen called “The Lone, Wild Fowl” with an American Sacred Harp melody called “Prospect.”
I altered the melody and added several verses while in Korea in 2012, largely as a response to my experiences in Gangjeong Village, Jeju Island, with activists, villagers and religious orders defending the village against an illegal Naval Base project. I was deeply moved by the resistance, the courage of village elders, the relationship of spirituality and place, the chaos and evil of merging military-industrial profit projects, and the continual strength and joy of the resistance in spite of such devastation.
The instrumental bridge follows the melody of a popular version of Arirang, a traditional Korean folksong that embodies what many Koreans call han, or the feeling and deep-rooted memory of all of Korea’s history and sadness, brought back to the surface through music.)

lyrics

The lone wild bird, in lofty flight
Is still with thee, nor leaves thy sight
And I am thine

The ends of the earth are in thy hands
The sea’s dark deep, and far-off lands
And I am thine

I rest in thee. I rest in thee. I rest in thee, great spirit come and rest in me.

Over razor-wires, under skies of fire,
In prison cell and concrete hell,
Still I am thine.

And in the caged reserves, like human cattle herds, they cut your hair, so long, but Samson’s growing strong, singing:
I am thine.

I rest in thee. I rest in thee. I rest in thee, great spirit come and rest in me.

Dredged-out mountain spires, daughters left for hire, needle paralyzed, joining homeless choirs, crying
I am thine.

And here the rising bread, there the parched unfed, all these well-known truths that remain unsaid, while
I am thine.

And the moon and the sun, the many in the one, waves of ecstasy, kissing deepest grief, with
I am thine

We wear your seamless cloth of joy and loss, severed roots and limbs, time to start again. Start with
I am thine

I rest in thee. I rest in thee. I rest in thee, great spirit come and rest in me.

credits

from Halfway Home, released October 8, 2014

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Seth Mountain 이산 image

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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