The Sully - September 14, 2019

Chris Thile’s Song of the Week from our September 14, 2019 show, “The Sully.” The band: Chris Thile, Sarah Jarosz, Mike Elizondo, Eric Doob, Armand Hirsch, Gabriel Kahane, Jeremy Kittel.

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Lyrics:

This is the Sully—

—As fine a ship as you
can sail from Le Havre France to New
York of a mild October
in the year of our lord
1832

Blessed be the quiet mind—

—such as wielded by a Sully
passenger named Samuel F.B
Morse the nearly famous artist
coming up for air post
years of work and study

Quiet be the weary mind
That hovers o’er the water—

—grateful to be homeward borne by true and perfect boredom
Hallowed be its name
‘Cause—

—weary be the troubled mind
That hovers o’er the water
With its lonely sons and daughter
On the shore ahead
And on the shore behind
So much unfinished business
But there ain’t a cure for distance
Save a long long time

Tick tick ticking several decks
below in steerage next to less-
considered travelers nothing
but their fevers running
wild from bed to bed
To bed

Quiet be their weary minds
Between the old and new world
No more to seek approval
From the loved ones wedded to the shore behind
Calling “y’all are gonna miss us,
Unless you find the cure for distance”

—and in that instant
There it is
A ceaseless current
A boundless grid
A prayer a potion
With form and function
To deliver us
To each other
From each other

Racing be the blessed mind
To a future long imagined
Bright with glory, fame and fortune
It had left for dead
On the shore behind
Jedidiah are you listening
Your son has found a cure for distance

And blessed be his quiet mind
That hears the roaring of an instant
God hath wrought the cure for distance
And that cure is mine