"Blues For Meriwether Lewis"

Lewis and Clark Monument, Council Bluffs Iowa

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Having been born in Council Bluffs, Iowa, I grew up on tales of Lewis & Clark. Only later did I under stand the ultimate tragedy of Lewis' life. Most historians believe  he died by his own hand in a lonely inn on the old Natchez Trace although a small few still maintain that he died at the hands of others. Either way I think he truly was ready to move on to the next plain of existence. Having experienced the peaks and exhilarations of the Corps of Discovery's day to day experiences, political life was a pale comparison, though more deadly to Lewis than white bears and the Blackfoot combined. Given his natural "melancholia" as well as his addictions to both alcohol and "tincture of Opium" it must have been difficult to ever fit in again. This song is for Meriwether and "those of us who seem always doomed to journey."

Blues For Meriwether Lewis

It's another night, don't you know that its another night

that I 've spent here by the side of the road

feeling weary from my load, but where else have I to go?

and I thank God that I have got a bottle for my comfort

and something I've been saving to smoke,

it doesn't hurt to take a smoke when you're on the road

and down and out and broke...

 I was thinkin' about Meriwether Lewis,

who walked on the high plains of consciousness awhile,

till he bowed out without a smile and he crossed the great divide,

Oh but he left us, he left us with his letters and his journals

and he gave it up to history to decide if it's ever really worth the ride...

But for those of us who seem always doomed to journey,

there is only one thing that we can ask,

let there be light on the path and an answer if you ask,

let a drop be in the flask and an ending to the task

 

It's another night, don't you know that its another night

that I 've spent here by the side of the road

feeling weary from my load, but where else have I to go?

and I thank God that I have got a bottle for my comfort

and something I've been saving to smoke,

it doesn't hurt to take a smoke when you're on the road

and down and out and broke...