Theater of the Imagination
Join award winning composer Peter Link as he presents his life's work in 'Theater of the Imagination.'
Theater of the Imagination
Series 1, Episode 30: Goin' Home Part One
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I woke up one morning and realized that my past, on Planet Earth, was probably longer than my future – that there was more time that lay behind than what lies ahead. But then again, I believe deeply in life eternal. So, what’s to worry?
But … Just what is it that goes on? What stays behind? Where do I go from here? Heaven knows ...
This one thing I do know, however: The purpose of that album was to open our eyes to the timelessness of our future. After all, isn’t that what the basis of Heaven is all about? Moving on. No endings – only new beginnings?
Theater of the Imagination is presented by Watchfire Music watchfiremusic.com
Welcome to Scattershot Symphony, the music of Peter Link. That's me. Hey y'all, this week being the 30th episode of this podcast, I prefer to let the music do the talking. However, if you need to know more about me, please visit Wikipedia.com at Peter Link. This episode is entitled Goin' Home on Heaven and Beyond. I woke up one morning and realized that my past on planet Earth was probably longer than my future. That there was more time that lay behind than what lies ahead. But then again, I believe deeply in life eternal. So let's don't worry. But just what is it that goes on? What stays behind? Where do I go from here? Heaven knows. I probably won't figure it out while treading down this earthly road. But back then, in 2011, working on this CD, I'd given it a lot of thought. I considered ideas drawn from a number of sources, but learned while trying to figure it all out that I might as well try to embrace a rainbow. The purpose of that album was to open our eyes to the timelessness of our future. After all, isn't that what the basis of heaven is all about? Moving on. No endings, only new beginnings. We all deal with this transition nearly every day, no matter how old we are, whether it's regarding ourselves, our family and friends, or the peoples of the world. Yet most of us ignore it or run from it out of fear. I have chosen to face it head-on over these last years, and have found a tremendous sense of life in the endeavor. Thus the music evolved, along with the energies of a perfectly wonderful group of performers who were all deeply touched by the project. The contemplation of this inevitable transition turned out to be a joyful exploration and appreciation of life. So here, in this album, you'll find the sadness, joy, humor, celebration, and of course the mystical dive into it all. With great abandon, if you like. You can't lose. The rewards of the music and lyrics and energies of the performers are great and simply full of life. Just as it should be. This album is a gift to the world from literally hundreds of people who have supported it from its inception. I am eternally grateful to each of them. We are blessed by this endeavor. Margaret Dorne did all the vocal arrangements on this CD and is a master at a cappella arranging. Her eight-voice ensemble, the Accidentals, were the 1995 national champions of the harmony sweepstakes, and have won countless awards for a cappella groups the world over. So turning to her to arrange this opening song on the C D was the easiest of choices. For me, she fulfilled all expectations with this gorgeous melody, originally composed by Antonin Dvorja for his symphony at number nine. My one direction to her was I see this song coming out of the mist. Daryl Juice, Angela Clemens, inquire going home. So I turned in this podcast to those who have a better grasp on it all than me. The only point where eternity meets time is in the present. The present is the only time there is Marianne Williams. I originally fell in love with this next song recorded in the early 70s by the Edwin Hawkins singers on the album that also contained their hit song, Oh Happy Day, that sold more than seven million copies worldwide. It won for Edwin Hawkins at his first Grammy. Back then we all fell in love with the infectious joy of Oh Happy Day. But what really struck me over the years has been the spirit of My Father's House, also on the album. It seemed natural to re-record it for this project. Being in the studio with both Cat Russell and Jenny Burton when they recorded their solo work was simply a divine experience.
SPEAKER_04My father's house to my father, to the father.
SPEAKER_00William Penn. Another surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. King David. For me, it defined the project and became the central core from which I worked. Whenever I would find myself wandering away from the creative arc of the project, I would simply go back and reread or listen to this song, and it would always get me back on track. Jenny Burton, as always, brings all her depth and commitment to the performance of the song, and simply knocks me out every time I hear it.
SPEAKER_04A place where all the angels sit as the clouds go passing by. A city in a world of stage Where all of our wings unfold And the gossips upon his throne. I see it more as a state of mind. I see it more as an open door to a light of another kind of hell As a place where shite a hell A place where all the folks go. A place where the spirits dwell And a little rings down A sea holy space to hold a spiritual base I see more to a kind of wide place when all these sites I think that heaven like it is what we make it It's a moment It's a cleansing time in a state of face It's a place It's heaven It's heaven It's heaven Now I believe in heaven It's a place where I'm staying upgrade space It's a place I can see the Living High in the state of my in the tight high The kingdom of heaven is a condition of the heart, not something that comes upon the earth or after death.
SPEAKER_00Frederick Nietzsche. Some may even know these as camp songs, but they are both firmly lodged in the tradition of the great American gospel spiritual songbook. I took the liberties of adding additional lyrics to I Ain't Gonna Grieve, my Lord, no more, and had a few silly moments writing them. Over the years I've actually mustered up the courage to sing on the same recording with Jenny Burton occasionally. She certainly can spice up a recording. As a child, I never knew what the title I Ain't Gonna Grieve My Lord No More meant. But singing the song in the studio, I finally figured it out, and towards the end of the song, you'll hear me discovering the meaning and shouting out the revelation. A meddling. I ain't gonna grieve my lord no more. And I got a rope.
SPEAKER_05Oh you can't get the skates.
SPEAKER_01Oh you can't get the heaven on the road skates. Cause you roll right by early gates.
SPEAKER_05Cause you can't roll them barricades. In a skin I dress. Cause the curves you got me.
SPEAKER_01Oh, you can't get the heaven in a skin. I dress, cause the curbs got me. That's a side, that's a side.
SPEAKER_04Cause the Lord upstairs don't work.
SPEAKER_05Well But I got a rope. You got a rope. Oh god, you gotta roll. When I get to heaven, put my foot on my rope. I'm gonna shout all over God's heaven. Everybody talking about heaven. Ain't gonna let heaven. All over God's heaven. Oh, you can't get the devil. In your old man's car. Cause the dang all fine. It won't go that far. It won't go that far. Oh, you can't get the heaven. In your old man's car. Cause the dang old thing won't go that far. I ain't gonna go to the tree.
SPEAKER_04I don't want no more. And you can't get to heaven in a living. Cause the Lord don't stay on no destiny. No, you can't get to heaven with a lot of cash.
SPEAKER_05Cause you don't go and ride in the trash. And you can't get to heaven and I can't flap. Cause the laugh, you're down and spend you back. But I got the shoes, you got to shoot. All God's children got shoes. When I get to heaven, gonna put on my shoes, I'm gonna walk all over God's heaven. Everybody, everybody talking about heaven. Ain't no one there, ever shop all over God's heaven. Oh, you can't get to heaven. With a mortal sin. Cause the Lord don't lie. No sneakin' it. No sneakin' it.
SPEAKER_04Oh, you can't get to heaven with the motor sin. Cause the Lord don't lie. Sweet in it. I ain't never gonna breed.
SPEAKER_05My Lord, no more. And you can't get to heaven if you never try. And then oh start just before you die. But if you get to heaven before I do, just before I hope. That's right.
unknownI want to bring on a dream.
SPEAKER_00Quote, It's not that I'm afraid to die. I just don't want to be there when it happens. Woody Allen. The poet, Henry David Thoreau, said, You must live in the present. Launch yourself on every wave. Find your eternity in each moment. Then a couple of centuries later, Eckhart Tola said, Death is a stripping away of all that is not you. The secret of life is to die before you die, and find that there is no death. Think about it. This human experience is such a clash of conflicts. Sometimes I think I'm actually getting somewhere, and then along comes another collision, another matter moment, another trial from which to learn. Sometimes I think that's what life on planet Earth is all about. A great exercise in getting over the materialistic hump. And then, of course, sometimes the hump becomes a mountain. Jenny Burton and Quartet. Margaret Dorn, Catherine Russell, Daryl Toops, and Kevin Osborne. There's a mountain in my way.
SPEAKER_02I'll be calling something. Every time I turn around, there's a mountain by the way.
unknownEvery time I pull out there's a mountain by the way.
SPEAKER_00Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get there. And yet, death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it, and that is as it should be, because death is very likely the single best invention of life. It is life's change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Stephen Jobs. At the last trumpet, in the twinkling of an eye, in a flash, we shall all be changed. Oh, that I could tell the story of how we overcome. Might as well try to embrace the rainbow. Man's quartet, John James, Keith Flewett, Daryl Chuks, and Kevin Osborne. With yours truly. Embrace the rainbow.
SPEAKER_04At the last trumpet. In between we know the night.
unknownIn the flesh, in a flash, in a flash.
SPEAKER_04We shall all be changed.
SPEAKER_05Might as well try to embrace the rainbow.
SPEAKER_00Quote, if we don't know life, how can we know death? Confucius. Another. And I shall exist till the end of time. For my being has no end. Khalil Jibron. One more. Because I could not stop for death. He kindly stopped for me. The carriage held by just ourselves. And immortality. Emily Dickinson. Though this transition, when it comes, is fascinating to me. Let's face it, I love my life. It's definitely a roller coaster ride through time and space, but it absolutely is worth the price of admission. I'm in no hurry to leave. I hear a lot of talk these days about the possibilities of life on Earth becoming eternal through artificial intelligence and replacement parts, etc., etc. I'd have to really stop and think about that one. If truly presented to me. The idea of living many more years is truly attractive to each of us, I believe. As long as we have our health and live in our right minds.
SPEAKER_05I just can't go home. From living from here to here, wondering why I'm here, and still I can go home. Far too far to go till I go back home till the sea song till the truth be known. I just can't go home.
SPEAKER_00The opposite is, unfortunately, a great truth as well. The bad you do equals the bad you receive. On second thought, it's probably not unfortunate, but in fact, fortunate, that we can't really get away with nothing. In the words of John Lennon, instant karma's gonna get you. That's always meant to me that what goes out from us comes back, whether it be good or bad. Kind of keeps you on your toes, don't it? Catherine Russell sang with Donald Fagin performing in the New York Rock and Soul Review, which also included Bos Skaggs, Michael McDonald, Phoebe Snow, and Chuck Jackson. In addition, Miss Russell has performed or recorded with Jackson Brown, Cindy Lauper, Michael Feinstein, Madonna, Al Green, Dolly Parton, and Isaac Hayes, among others. We fix it.
SPEAKER_03I don't believe that when we die, all things will be forgiven. I think forgiveness comes when we fix it. When we fix it. The bad goes with the good, then we fix it. Oh bad habits doing somebody wrong. Cheating and stealing and putting on hands. Giving no feed to your past. All for the love of money. All for the love of sin. And if you keep on doing it, then you can't get in. Yes, if you keep on doing it. No, you can't get him. So before we came to heaven, we fix it. Better fix it. Yeah. You know what I'm talking about. I know that's right. One step at a time. Uh-huh. Yeah. Yeah. So before we get to heaven.
unknownYes.
SPEAKER_03We fix it. I don't believe that when we leave, we're free to do whatever. For every broke and our heart, well, we fix it. I don't believe that heaven means a clean slate for the living. As each mistake is made, you know what we say. Showing no mercy to the dead of you. Holding hatred inside of you. All of the levels are scared. And if you keep on doing it, then you can't get it. No, you can't get it. Oh we can we fix it. We fix it. Oh gonna fix it. Oh yeah. Gotta fix it. I gotta fix. I'll fix it, yeah, yeah. Uh-huh. So before you get fixing.
SPEAKER_00To fear death, gentlemen, is no other than to think oneself wise when one is not, to think one knows what one does not know. No one knows whether death may not be the greatest of all blessings for a man. Yet men fear it as if they knew that it was the greatest of evils. And surely, it is the most blameworthy ignorance to believe that one knows what one does not know. Plato. One other. In an artist's life, death is perhaps not the most difficult thing. Vincent van Gogh. This is not the end of this podcast. There is still far too much to consider. This is only the intermission. You will find the continuation of this exploration in Scattershot Symphony number 31, part two. For life and death are one. Even as the river and the sea are one. Khalil Gibron. At this point in time, all of my gratitude goes to the great source of life. Wherever he, she, or it may be. Also, please rate and review us on Apple Podcasts. And to keep abreast of the latest episode, you can subscribe to Scattershot Symphony from your podcast app of choice. And thanks to Watchfire Music, Nathan Bergdorf, and the entire staff for all your work in producing and promoting this podcast. A very special thanks also to Stuart Barefoot, our associate producer, for all your invaluable knowledge and great vibes. And lastly, a posthumous thanks to Ludwig van Beethoven for your opening four bars.
SPEAKER_06This podcast is presented with loving care by the staff at Watchfire Music. If you liked what you heard, we got lots more where that came from. In the meantime, you can find the songs you just heard on WatchfireMusic.com forward slash podcast. There, you can purchase the singles or albums and have access to all the lyrics. Also, there you will find all previous podcasts and future scheduling. If you just became a Scattershot fan, tell your friends and stay tuned.