I write a lot about the weather. I like when a song can reveal a landscape and trigger more senses than just sound. Lately the weather has been pretty scary. I live in New Mexico, and water is on my brain every day. I grew up in New Jersey where Sandy's impact is still visible. I got married in Vermont right along the path of the flooding from Irene. I've been blown away (perhaps poor word choice) by some of the recent weather events, be they tornadoes or floods or fires. Whether or not one believes that humans have had a cause in their increased severity and frequency, we can, I think, at least agree that our behavior has made the consequences of severe weather more drastic and damaging. Hopefully we can change our behavior and reverse some bad trends. If not, then maybe we should feel small and humble on the face of a vast planet, under an enormous and sometimes threatening sky. And if that's the case, we're left to hold on to each other, taking the best care we can of those we love. That’s what "Song for the Road" is about. It’s meant to roll in like a storm. It threatens to wash us away. But in the end, the storm rolls out again, and we're still standing. It’s done some damage, no doubt. But it hasn't destroyed what matters most.
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