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about

I wrote Watchman when I was experiencing a period of frustration about our current political situation. The "watchman" in the song is our inherent moral conscience, which, as Jiminy Cricket puts it, is the "still small voice that people won't listen to." The need for both empathy and adherence to conscience has never been more conspicuous.

Anyone who's heard me play this live knows that my lyrical inspiration came from three sources: the novels of Harper Lee, Bob Dylan's Blowing in the Wind, and the Bible.

lyrics

Well I heard him say,
“Go set a watchman; he’ll declare what he sees”
Thus saith the preacher
“The world out there is shifting under your feet”

Hell-bent on running, but going nowhere
Don’t know what to believe
There’s trouble in the valley
With a guarantee of no relief

You ain’t seen it yet, but it’s comin’
Put out roots, or take off runnin’
‘Til what’s done is done, and there’s nothing more to say
All sorts of lost every day

Who has ears to hear, let ‘em hear
The answers are blowing in the wind
But if there’s no understanding,
There ain’t no point in listening, my friend

There’s all kinds of people out there calling
But if you can’t hear a sound
You’ll get along much better
If you climb into their shoes and walk around

You ain’t seen it yet, but it’s comin’
Put out roots, or take off runnin’
‘Til what’s done is done, and there’s nothing more to say
All sorts of lost in every way

Are my footsteps made of what I see,
Or what I wanna see?
Could I find myself by looking
In the knothole of a live oak tree

Sometimes I’m uncertain, lost by the wayside
But what’s lost can always be found
I seek a country, where I won’t fall
On stony ground

I ain’t seen it yet, but I know it’s comin’
No more wasting my time runnin’
I know where I’m going, by the early morning rays
My Watchman there, he knows the way

credits

from The Home I Know - Front Porch Edition, released January 27, 2023

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John Elwood Morgan Logan, Utah

The musical confluence of Appalachian sunrises and western desert sunsets. Stay a while and swap some stories with The Sleepy-eyed Songster.

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