Is this blog Rolling Stone or something? I mean, geez!

OK. So my main affection - rock and roll - or rather, my 2nd ranked affection, behind my family, has overtaken common sense and discretion. This is my second rock and roll themed posting in quick succession. Well, not really, since I didn't post during the long period between when Obama locked up the nomination and yesterday's Sarah Palin inspired finger wagging. But still, my point is, this is another posting linked to a song I love.

Joel R.L. Phelps was in the band Silkworm when that well-loved band first made its debut. Then he went solo. I guess that makes him a maverick. I listen to his Blackbird album all the time, and the song I like best on it is a cover of a song by the Comsat Angels called Lost Continent. Damn is that recording great. It builds from a quiet intro featuring just the drums, then soars in a non-anthemic way that makes the song feel cautiously hopeful, but not triumphant, the way, say, arena-designed stuff might. It feels fragile, yet has enough bounce to make you believe that the uncertain hope isn't misplaced.

You know where this is going. Like Fourth of July by X, it makes me think of this moment in our collective political life, where the Obama candidacy opens up a chance to hope for something bigger, wonderful, and transformative. Here are the lyrics, with the chorus removed because, I admit, it is nothing but corny rock and roll poetry. But, it works for me.

Lost Continent

Don't say you've seen and heard it all before
That all of this is nothing new
Don't try and tell me that I am off course
I'm looking for the same thing as you

There's something here that I don't understand
you search for signs like some crusade
when one seems to point to that promised land
why do you always turn away

You say you think you'd better let it go
you don't take chances anymore
if you don't take it you may never know
what it's like to be walking on that shore