Up to the Mountain
There’s this Patty Griffin song that really grabbed a hold of me. It’s called Up to the Mountain. American Idol fans would most recently recognize this song from Crystal Bowersox’s finale performance. Others will more fondly remember this rendition, which is actually what drove me to look for everything than Patty Griffin has ever recorded.
Lyrics:
I went up to the mountain
Because you asked me to
Up over the clouds
To where the sky was blue
I could see all around me
Everywhere
I could see all around me
Everywhere
Sometimes I feel like
I’ve never been nothing but tired
And I’ll be walking
Till the day I expire
Sometimes I lay down
No more can I do
But then I go on again
Because you ask me to
Some days I look down
Afraid I will fall
And though the sun shines
I see nothing at all
Then I hear your sweet voice, oh
Oh, come and then go, come and then go
Telling me softly
You love me so
The peaceful valley
Just over the mountain
The peaceful valley
Few come to know
I may never get there
Ever in this lifetime
But sooner or later
It’s there I will go
Sooner or later
It’s there I will go
I think it’s one of the most beautiful songs ever written. But I do get to think that with every song that I love. Anyway, it’s apparently written as a tribute for Martin Luther King, but those lyrics can resonate to different people in many different ways. Patty Griffin is an amazing singer-songwriter. (I linked Kelly’s version because she’s an amazing interpreter of songs). If it doesn’t sound so sad, I’ll make it a ring tone. Which will make me sadder because I only get phone calls from those disability insurance agents these days.