Receiving Signals

better days

RECEIVING SIGNALS

You read it all the time, in response to a question about the
creative process, a writer saying, "I don't know how it happens,"
and "It's as if I am a channel." Susie Newbury, Mickey's wife,
said Mick used to talk about there being a radio station out in
space that he tuned into. Mick's biographer, Joe Zeimer, sent
me a video of Mickey talking about songwriting. Mick said no
matter what hour of the day or night, when an idea calls, you
have to answer. Seeing that video has cost me a lot of sleep.

Visiting Disa in Iceland last year it seemed that many people
came from a sort of two-fold consciousness, the surface mind
and the deeper mind. The island itself has steam rising from
geysers everywhere. Their hot water comes from geo-thermal
streams. They heat their houses from these same subterranean
springs. There are something like 16 active volcanoes down inside
their land. Iceland is situated on the faultline where the plates
divide under the Atlantic, half toward Europe, half toward North
America. There are earthquakes all the time offshore, as much
activity below the surface as above. I think it's that way, too,
with the way Icelanders see things. They have more clairvoyants
there than anywhere else on earth. Disa says, "Icelanders dream
differently." I believe that's true.

Some of my songs come from my dreams. The Summer of St.
Augustine is one example. The chorus to that song came out
of a dream, singing itself whole. These experiences carry over
more and more now into my waking hours. I might be driving
in traffic and a line will come singing out of my mouth. Next thing
you know, I've pulled into a parking lot and I'm dragging a pen
across paper. I feel very connected to my Icelandic companion
in this whole process. She is almost halfway around the blue
marble, often awake while I sleep, as I am awake while she
sleeps. The whole experience borders on madness at times.
I've got to be careful to get enough sleep, people tell me.
Sometimes, I think it's the opposite: I've got to be careful
to stay awake longer.

In talking with other songwriters, whether they feel like
they're "channeling" or picking up the "radio station playing
from out in space," it's usually an interesting discusssion. I
think there are songs just waiting for you to find them, be
quiet enough to hear them and invite them in. The Summer
of St. Augustine can be heard in an mp3 format over at http://www3.telus.net/billybob/dougCDs and features my
friend Jonmark Stone on guitar, Marie Rhines on violin, and
Mickey's daughter, Laura Shayne Newbury on harmony vocals
which seem to these ears to come right out of a dream.

DL