Music |
Josh Ritter: “Change of Time”
By
Published: Jul 25, 2022
Category:
Rock
In my dream, we were in Jamaica, staying at a small hotel that was the Negril equivalent of the Bel Air — so discreet that beach walkers could stroll past it without noticing it. One afternoon, we left this paradise and walked down the beach to a cluster of bars and a dock, where you could rent small sailboats or join ten to twenty people on a raft. We don’t sail. But a raft, drifting half a mile offshore in a light breeze, had an easy, no-brainer appeal, and off we went.
The other passengers were young couples. New couples, clearly, more like sole proprietors hoping to bond but not there yet. And when something went wrong and the raft capsized, they were at a disadvantage, and most of them drowned.
We swam together, reassuring each other, conserving our energy, swimming slowly but confidently, and suddenly we were on the beach. We were sad about those who drowned. We were clear we couldn’t have saved them. We walked back to the hotel, closer than ever.
I had a lot to say about that dream to my therapist.
I’m recalling this dream because I’m been thinking about “Change of Time,” Josh Ritter’s 2010 song about drifting in the sea, well aware that the beauty of the stars is only surface beauty — dead ships and sailors had “gone under.” Like so many Josh Ritter songs, it’s a gorgeous listening experience, and about much more than swimming under the stars.
Here’s the song, recorded live, just Josh and Sam Kassirer at the piano. The full band version is on “So Runs the World Away.” [For my review and my Q&A with Josh, click here.]
I had a dream last night
I dreamt that I was swimming
And the stars up above
Directionless and drifting
Somewhere in the dark
Were the sirens and the thunder
And around me as I swam
The drifters who’d gone under
Time, love
Time, love
Time, love
It’s only a change of time
I had a dream last night
And rusting far below me
Battered hulls and broken hardships
Leviathan and Lonely
I was thirsty so I drank
And though it was salt water
There was something ’bout the way
It tasted so familiar
The black clouds I’m hanging
This anchor I’m dragging
The sails of memory rip open in silence
We cut through the lowlands
All hands through the salt lands
The white caps of memory
Confusing and violent
I had a dream last night
And when I opened my eyes
Your shoulder blade, your spine
Were shorelines in the moon light
New worlds for the weary
New lands for the living
I could make it if I tried
I closed my eyes I kept on swimming
Different lines have grabbed me over the years. Today, trading my dream for his, I’m especially hearing “I had a dream last night/ And when I opened my eyes/ Your shoulder blade, your spine/ Were shorelines in the moon light.” That is a powerful vision of survival with a partner. And a beautiful reward for partnership. The happy ending? It’s not contented domesticity. “New worlds for the weary/ New lands for the living.” Swim on. You can make it if you try. And trying is what life requires of us.
