One of my favorite musical artists to work with over the years has been Kate Campbell. She and I have very similar viewpoints on life and I always have fun writing and working with her. We have tackled subjects like early air flight pioneers, Henry Ford's failed plan for a working rubber plantation in Brazil called Fordlandia, going back to the moon (since it felt like we only stayed long enough to plant a flag and hit a golf ball) and many stories about growing up Southern and what that means.
Kate's unusually humorous perspective of life comes from being raised the daughter of a Baptist preacher and fusing that experience with an educational emphasis on Southern American literature. She has the ability to relate stories with the realness of Eudora Welty and the twinkle of Rick Bragg.
I am keenly aware of my southern roots. They are probably the most important element in the chemistry of who I am. I can slide easily between conversations with the old uncles and male cousins in my family about hunting or the delicate differences in barbecue or grits. I speak southern. I feel southern. I am southern.
Having said that, I am also one of those folks of my generation who struggles to reconcile that pride with the historical smudges on the southern record. I know slavery happened and I know that people died to change that. But it is so hard to compare that with my experience of the south.
The south that I grew up in was full of lovely and courteous people who wore their geographical legacy with great pride. My south smelled like magnolias and wisteria and fresh cut grass. It was hot and full of fun and commenced at a pace I could keep up with. There were a lot of dogs and I mostly knew all of their names.
One of my favorite songs I wrote with Kate is called "Look Away" and it is all about this very thing: our view of a world we grew up in compared to how others saw it. It began with a discussion about an old mansion in my hometown that burned when I was young. It was called The Forks of Cypress and I visited it often as a child. It was an important antebellum home that was reduced to ashes when lightening struck it one night.
These are the lyrics to that song. I hope it expresses the struggle my southern friends and I have had our whole lives...
Look Away
I can still recall the night that lightening burned the mansion down
We all stood in out pajamas on that hallowed southern ground
When the flames had turned to ashes only blackened bricks remained
And sixteen stately Doric columns there beneath a veil of gray
chorus
And it's a long and slow surrender retreating from the past
It's important to remember to fly the flag half-mast
And Look Away
I was taught by elders, wiser "Southern by the grace of God"
Never saw a cross on fire, never saw an angry mob
I saw sweet magnolia blossoms, I chased lightening bugs at night
Never dreaming others saw our way of life in black and white
chorus
And it's a long and slow surrender retreating from the past
It's important to remember to fly the flag half-mast
And Look Away
Part of me hears voices crying, part of me can feel their weight
Part of me believes that mansion stood for something more than hate
chorus
And it's a long and slow surrender retreating from the past
It's important to remember to fly the flag half-mast
And Look Away
