Act IV ~ Loving The Wetikó
Episode Music ~ Spiral Through Ya
Agape love is…profound concern for the well-being of another, without any desire to control that other, to be thanked by that other, or to enjoy the process.
–Madeleine L’Engle–
Agape doesn’t love somebody because they’re worthy. Agape makes them worthy by the strength and power of its love. Agape doesn’t love somebody because they’re beautiful. Agape loves in such a way that it makes them beautiful.
–Rob Bell–
In January of 2014, my friend 7 Eagle Cancer92 taught me how to play Leonard Cohen’s transcendent song, “Hallelujah,” on guitar.
Below is my favorite rendition, by Jeff Buckley….HEAVENLY guitar playing and OMG his voice…angelic!!!
AND!!!! I simply LOVE how he elongates the “jaaaaah” in “Hallelujah” at the end of the first chorus!
Please press play and enjoy the lyrics below:
I heard there was a secret chord
That David played, and it pleased the Lord
But you don’t really care for music, do you?
Well it goes like this, the fourth, the fifth
The minor fall, the major lift
The baffled king composing “Hallelujah”
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujaaaaah
Your faith was strong but you needed proof
You saw her bathing on the roof
Her beauty and the moonlight overthrew ya
She tied you to her kitchen chair
She broke your throne, and she cut your hair
And from your lips she drew the Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Baby I have been here before
I seen this room, I’ve walked this floor
Ya know, I used to live alone before I knew ya.
I’ve seen your flag on the marble arch
And love is not a victory march
It’s a cold and it’s a broken Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Cuz there was a time you let me know
What’s really going on below
But now you never show that to me, do ya?
And remember when I moved in you
And the holy dove was moving too
And every breath we drew was Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Maybe there’s a God above
But all I’ve ever learned from love
Was how to shoot somebody who outdrew ya
And it’s not a cry that you hear at night
It’s not somebody who’s seen the light
It’s a cold and it’s a broken Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
The music is timeless and modern at the same time.
-Daniel J. Levitin (Describing this song.)-
7 Eagle Cancer92 emphasized that it was important, in my guitar “learning process,” to have a “go to” song…something I could play comfortably and confidently…and would always be able to “go to,” when I was in need of a little more of the “fun” part of the guitar-playing experience!
Plus!!!…he exuberantly explained…as one plays the first verse of the song…the lyrics “call out” the specific chords being played…as you play them…which is really cool and fun to experience…from his point of view!
…It goes like this, the fourth, the fifth
The minor fall, the major lift…
BOY OH BOY was he right! As I learned to play it…in that second or two during the song…there is this feeling of synchrony and flow that…I have come to understand…”teaches” something more…something deeper…about music’s Divine role in our human story!
It is a synergistic effect, creating a sensation that is greater than the sum of its parts…the way two ocean waves come together and create a rogue wave that is far larger than the two original waves combined.
For me…more than “just” playing the chords and singing the werds at the same time…there is a nearly indescribable FEELING of connection with Spirit as this part of the song flows through me.
Over the 7 years that I’ve been playing this song…leading up to the recording and publishing of this peace today…I have learned that THIS is what Agape Love FEELS like…THIS is a 1 or 2 second EXPERIENCE of being closer to God!
This is the notion to which I referred in the title piece for this Episode Music…it FEELS amazing in a way that transcends “normal” amazing feelings…which, for me, is what it FEELS like to be closer to God…transcendent FEELING!
But in the title piece, I was referring to singing alone…THIS experience of playing, singing, and FEELING transcendence flow through me…well…
…in reflection upon how the inspiration to create a new version of this song manifested…I FEEL that it was this connection…this FEELING…spiraling through me…that led to my alignment with a new song!
But!!!
Something always bothered me about the lyrics Jeff Buckley sings in his rendition. The final three verses just feel SOOOOO sad to me…like they are saying that the “story of life” does not have a happy ending.
SOMETHING in there didn’t sit right with the overly-optimistic nature that spirals through me.
So…wanting to understand more about the song…the meaning behind the lyrics…and…I don’t know…maybe because I was looking for something positive to find in there….
…I decided to look it up!
What I found took my LOVE for this song to another level…ENTIRELY!
Originally, Leonard Cohen manifested 80 verses over more than five years, before he settled on the four that he recorded for his 1985 record, “Various Positions.”
And…wouldn’t you KNOW it…those three verses that didn’t FEEL right to me…ARE NOT the original verses from the album version!
I’ve heard there was a secret chord
That David played, and it pleased the Lord
But you don’t really care for music, do you?
It goes like this, the fourth, the fifth
The minor fall, the major lift
The baffled king composing “Hallelujah”
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Your faith was strong but you needed proof
You saw her bathing on the roof
Her beauty and the moonlight overthrew you
She tied you to her kitchen chair
She broke your throne, and she cut your hair
And from your lips she drew the Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
You say I took the NAME! in vain
I don’t even know the NAME!
But if I did, well really, what’s it to ya?
There’s a blaze of light in every word
It doesn’t matter which ya heard
The holy or the broken Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
I did my best, it wasn’t much
I couldn’t feel, so I tried to touch
I’ve told the truth, I didn’t come to fool ya
And even though it all went wrong
I’ll stand before the lord of song
With nothing on my tongue but hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Considering my connection to the word, “NAME!“…finding it twice in the third verse FELT like my choice to “dig deeper” was being rewarded by Spirit…as if She was saying, “Good job! Keep going!”
But more than that…this original version of the song had what it was that I FELT was missing…
…that being…INSPIRATION!!!! Holy cow!
These final two verses are SO full of inspiration to me…leaving me wanting to work HARDER…move MORE into alignment with Spirit…to keep going…NO MATTER how dark or bleak things might become!
I do not remember exactly when “Spiral Through Ya” came to me…but it wasn’t too long after I began playing the song and FOR SURE after I’d discovered the original verses.
But it was only the chorus, at first. Just a little seed planted in my consciousness…three words that spoke to me over the years since that time.
I also do not specifically remember when each verse revealed itself…over the ensuing years…I just know that I had the first three verses and then nada…for a few years that last verse was “hanging” out there in the ether…
…and then…the final verse arrived!
I was in the float tank in the Fall of 2020, after having visited a VERY Sacred place that I call “The Mountain” and going for a mountain bike ride on a wonderful trail through the pine trees near The Mountain.
Also arriving, during that float session, was an awareness/realization that each of the four verses “mirrors”/exemplifies the four Acts of this website!
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That was DEFINITELY not something I was thinking about…AT ALL…as the song was coming through to be created.
Not only that the verses exemplify each Act…but that they do so IN ORDER!
Meaning, verse 1 exemplifies Act I, verse 2 exemplifies Act II, and so on!
That ACTualization and the synchrony upon which it arrived, along with the final verse, was SO profound for me during that float session.
Not only had Spirit “finally” delivered the complete song…after 6+ years…but She also revealed to me how the lyrics are intimately and intricately woven into the fabric of my journey…with manifesting this website…and my Spiritual/Life journey.
It feels like it took as long as it did for the entire song to reveal itself, because I wasn’t “there yet” in the other aspects of my journey…and in that way…the song had to be “earned.”
AS IS the case with all the other music I present in this Episode…this piece is “rough”…not purrfected…not polished. I recorded it sitting on my couch…the microphone sitting on the coffee table a few feet away…just so I could “get it out there!”
Please click on the video below and, if you wish to follow along, the lyrics are provided below the video link:
Music: Leonard Cohen
Werds: NAME!
Agape Love is a fractal chord
Divinely tuned to free our souls
Floating in the sleepy web of time
But once Its felt and duly earned
The shackles finally loose from Her
Our Mother’s Love begins to Spiral Through Ya
Spiral Through Ya, Spiral Through Ya
Spiral Through Ya, let Her Love Spiral Through Ya
Now you’d think its just a simple thing
To learn this Truth and let it ring
But freedom’s not a prize to give away
A demon guards the temple gates
And shuts us out with spiteful hate
Until you show him Love Spirals Through Ya
Spiral Through Ya, Spiral Through Ya
Spiral Through Ya, let Her Love Spiral Through Ya
We can choose to walk away from fame
If its worth MY Soul its worth the shame
Of digging in the dirt and dust and grime
For the Devil’s Due will always hide
Amidst the ashes of MY pride
A humble heart begins to Spiral Through Ya
Spiral Through Ya, Spiral Through Ya
Spiral Through Ya, let Her Love Spiral Through Ya
Through this transformational fire
Perfected union rises higher
No longer do I search for love in vain
It is exponentially flowing through
Agape Love for me and you
The answer to all our human prayers
Spiral Through Ya, Spiral Through Ya
Spiral Through Ya, let Her Love Spiral Through Ya
In April of this year…I went up to The Mountain and…on a “whim”…I decided to record the video below.
I add it here for two reasons…to exemplify the “as is” aspect of Episode Music…and because it was after making this recording, that the fire was lit under me…and I decided to publish Episode Music MEOW!!! RIGHT MEOW!!! Sat NAM!
Synchrony With Intention ~ Energetic Alignment
Synchronicity is an ever-present reality for those who have eyes to see it.
–Carl Jung–
Today is May 22nd, 2021. On the Mayan Tzolk’in calendar, today is 10 Jaguar.
As you may already know, the Tzolk’in is a 260-day, never-ending “energetic tracking system,” spiraling through time. You can learn more about it here, if you wish!
I FELT more than KNEW that this piece “wanted” to be published today…nuff said! MEEEEEOOOOOWWWWW!!!
Thank you, Great Spirit! Thank you, Pachamama and Papa Cielo! Sat NAM! and BEYOND, my beautiful human family!
Next Piece: Episode Music ~ The Purest Part
Back To: Act IV, Episode Music ~ The Ultimate Expression Of Art