Gift # 7 - Swing Low, Sweet Chariot (Cover)

Hey.

Here's the last gift I want to talk about this week.

Not doing well.  Can't sleep much. Just hours and hours in my own head. Nothing seems to help.

I'm either blunted and fatigued beyond sensation, or I'm just a ball of panic.  And I don't know what to do.

My father had a lovely singing voice. It was gentle and rich, not tinny and high-strung like mine.  He was self-conscious about pitch, though, and would only sing on car rides to the kids or at night, as we slept.

While not a religious man, he had a deep affinity for spiritual songs. I remember the first song he ever sang me, "Michael Rowed The Boat Ashore".  It's the only time I'd get chills hearing the word "Hallelujah" sung so simply, with such love and power.

At the funeral, my mother requested I play Swing Low, Sweet Chariot, one of his favorite songs.

So I learned it.

And it's so goddamned heart wrenching, you know? 

It's a song people without hope sing.

When your mortal life is spent and each moment is a unblinking terror, it's a song for people who fervently wish that the next page is a pain-free, comfortable respite.

It took me a month to get it down without shaking and weeping each time I tried to play it.  Did it okay at the funeral. I held the guitar on my knee and took deep breaths, watching the vapor strike the foggy air.

Here it is.

lyrics

chorus
swing low
sweet chariot
comin for to carry me home
swing low
sweet chariot
comin for to carry me home

first verse
you know i looked over jordan
and what did i see
comin for to carry me home
a band of angels
comin after me
coming for to carry me home

chorus

second verse
you know im sometimes up
and sometimes down
comin for to carry me home
but still my soul feels heavenly bound
comin for to carry me home

chorus

third verse
i say
if you go on and get there before i do
comin for to carry me home
tell all my friends that im coming too
comin for to carry me home

chorus

home
home
i really hope youre home