At times I see you
You silver rider[1]As I continue to work through the grieving process for the late Low and Mimi Parker, my thoughts have inevitably turned towards when I first became a fan. I can actually pinpoint the precise moment: … Continue reading
Sometimes your voice is not enough[2]As I later wrote in a Sunstone essay on Low: “LDS missionaries proselyte with the word-filled Book of Mormon, but they do so in hopes not that the potential converts will be convinced by … Continue reading
Your face in windows
Outside forever
Nobody dreamed you’d save the world[3]“He is despised and rejected of men [‘outside forever’] a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him … Continue reading
Nobody dreamed you’d save the world
La-la-la
La-la-la
La-la-la-la-la
La-la-la
La-la-la
La-la-la-la-la
The march is over
The great destroyer[4]The title of the album on which “Silver Rider” features; the line is also used in the album closer “Walk Into the Sea,” wherein Alan Sparhawk matter-of-factly declares that … Continue reading
She passes through you like a knife[5]Like the Holy Ghost; “Yea, thus saith the still small voice, which whispereth through and pierceth all things” -D&C 85:6 (emphasis added). The female pronoun here is fascinating, … Continue reading
Oh, take me with you[6]For it’s not enough to hear the voice of the Lord, but we desire to be in His presence, too.
You silver rider
Sometimes you voice is not enough
Sometimes your voice is not enough
La-la-la
La-la-la
La-la-la-la-la
La-la-la
La-la-la
La-la-la-la-la[7]Sometimes your voice–or perhaps more precisely, your Words–are not enough, so we sing La-las instead, because it is the groanings beyond utterance that convince us, not otherwise.
References
| ↑1 | As I continue to work through the grieving process for the late Low and Mimi Parker, my thoughts have inevitably turned towards when I first became a fan. I can actually pinpoint the precise moment: it’s when I first heard their 2005 track “Silver Rider” in 2010. Robert Plant had just released a solo album, “Band of Joy,” wherein he covered a pair of Low songs, this one included; longstanding Classic Rock nerd that I was, the Led Zeppelin connection tripped me down the rabbit hole to hear the originals. I was mesmerized. Shortly thereafter, Low passed through town on tour; they were promoting the vinyl release of their Christmas EP, and road testing the tracks for C’mon–and of course performed “Silver Rider,” because when Robert Plant covers one of your songs, you milk that for all its worth. Anyways, it was one of the best shows I’ve ever seen, and I soon went about obsessively collecting every last single one of their albums. |
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| ↑2 | As I later wrote in a Sunstone essay on Low: “LDS missionaries proselyte with the word-filled Book of Mormon, but they do so in hopes not that the potential converts will be convinced by well-worded treatises, but rather be converted by a manifestation of the Holy Spirit that accompanies these words—the “unspeakable gift” (2 Corinthians 9:15; D&C 121:26) that “maketh intercession for us with groanings that cannot be uttered” (Romans 8:26). In short, in Mormonism, the Spirit is a thing outside discourse, beyond words, beyond utterance, that exists in the silent spaces where words fail to mean.” Indeed, sometimes your words are never enough—nor should they be. |
| ↑3 | “He is despised and rejected of men [‘outside forever’] a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. [Nobody dreamed you’d save the world.’] Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.” -Isaiah 53:3-5; Mosiah 14:3-5. No one thought He’d save the world, either. |
| ↑4 | The title of the album on which “Silver Rider” features; the line is also used in the album closer “Walk Into the Sea,” wherein Alan Sparhawk matter-of-factly declares that “Time’s the great destroyer.” I almost wish he hadn’t, it spoils the mystery in my opinion. But as we now approach the end of the calendar year, Time as the great destroyer has been a lot more on my mind lately–as is the fact that the Atonement alone is what will save us from the Great Destroyer that haunts us all. |
| ↑5 | Like the Holy Ghost; “Yea, thus saith the still small voice, which whispereth through and pierceth all things” -D&C 85:6 (emphasis added). The female pronoun here is fascinating, because while some GAs have posited that the Holy Ghost is a Priesthood (e.g. male) office, others have offered that the Holy Spirit is a woman. Just who do we think Heavenly Mother is, anyways? |
| ↑6 | For it’s not enough to hear the voice of the Lord, but we desire to be in His presence, too. |
| ↑7 | Sometimes your voice–or perhaps more precisely, your Words–are not enough, so we sing La-las instead, because it is the groanings beyond utterance that convince us, not otherwise. |