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I Want to be Down in the Valley

by Saro Lynch-Thomason

/

about

A collaborative creation with the help of many voices, fiddles, and the excellent engineering of Brian Dolphin. I wrote this song about a valley in East Tennessee that I would visit in the summer as a child. I took a hike there again in the early fall of 2019 and was mesmerized by the many blooming plants that trailed along the edges of the forest and the fields, and was compelled to write this song.

lyrics

I want to be down in that valley
By that stream all framed in jewelweed
And the cottonwood, proudmasted
Swaying gently overhead
Oh, the lilies and the asters
And the goldenrod in glory
It’s the holiest of places that I have ever tread

CHORUS
Let me lay down in the valley
In the early days of autumn
Let me lay down in th valley
With its furrows and its farms
If I whispered thanks one thousand times
I could not make you more holy
I berth of so much beauty
Woven with ten-thousand charms

Oh I want to feel the textures
Of these neighbors and companions
To be curling in their petals
To be twining in their strands
I want to dive like some kingfisher
Through the dappled light around me
Bathe in its warmth and sweetness
Feel its coolness in my hands.

CHORUS


I have often heard it spoken
That this world is just a foil
For a greater glory elsewhere
For a glory yet unseen
I don’t think I need that glory
I don’t need its power to blind me
When the beauty of the valley
Can bring me endless ease
CHORUS
If I whispered thanks one thousand times
I could not make you more holy
I can only ask the blessing
To be nested in your arms

credits

released March 29, 2020
Saro Lynch-Thomason: composition, lead vocals
Brian Dolphin: production, mixing, voice
Elizabeth LaPrelle: voice
Eva Leach: voice
Jesse Maw: fiddle
Sheila Markazi: fiddle, voice
Maddy Mullany: voice
Trevor Wilson: voice

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

Saro Lynch-Thomason North Carolina

Saro Lynch-Thomason is a ballad singer, song writer, folklorist, documentarian, and illustrator from Asheville, North Carolina. Her passion for traditional music, people’s struggles and Appalachian traditions calls her to perform, teach and produce media that tell the stories and songs of America’s social history. ... more

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