I finished a new song today called That Moon … it was inspired by a totally random experience I had on my tour this last year as I passed through San Luis Obispo.
I played a rather thankless gig on the Cal Poly campus and as I was packing up my stuff, a bright eyed young man approached me, bought a cd and asked my plan for the evening. After telling him I had nothing going on, he mentioned it was a full moon and that him and his friends were going to hike back into Poly Canyon – and it’s a site to see.
As the song mentions, we passed signs for Mountain Lion dangers and upon reaching the trails head, we reached a clearing that featured all kinds of bizarre natural structures from the architecture students at the University. The randomness of the night and the brightness of the moon inspired this tale. Enjoy.
THAT MOON – solo
[audio:http://www.tylerstenson.com/audio/other/that-moon1.mp3]
THAT MOON – layered vocal … indie style
[audio:http://www.tylerstenson.com/audio/other/that-moon2.mp3]
THAT MOON
by tyler stenson 2010
Just before the summer,
I was playing my guitar
When a boy came from the audience
And motioned toward the stars.
He said it was a full moon
And “it’s all the light we’ll need
For walking Poly Canyon … it’s a site to see.”
He said “we’re walking Poly Canyon, come along,
It’s a site to see.”
We rose up in a clearing
That was filled with all the shapes
From all the heads of all the architects
That never tired of learning
Of Nature and Her systems
And how man can live within ‘em
And how the two can live as one
Just like it was long before the wheel and before the gun
– I wonder how they lived before the wheel and before the gun.
That moon was brighter than day
And who knows, maybe even god’s way to say
“Hey, I know by the looks of it
You’re human and you’re small
So, may that moon make you feel 10 feet tall.”
I looked up at the two mountains
With that moon high up above it
And it looked much like a pendant
Dangling from the neck of a woman
With so much beauty there to offer,
There’s that much more to lose,
I said “this might be a stupid question
But do you suppose we’ve landed on that moon?”
Scotty handed me a spliff
And I burned it to the ground
And in the dirt, I turned those embers
Into something like a ghost town.
Then a man came out of nowhere-
He was the law but fair and said
“On such a night like this,
You know it pains me,
But I have to ask you to leave.”
That moon was brighter than day
And who knows, maybe even god’s way to say
“Hey, I know by the looks of it
You’re human and you’re small
So, may that moon make you feel 10 feet tall.”
We’d never see it coming
If we were hunted by a lion
Or if the snakes were nipping at our heels
Leaping out to bite us.
But that moon was all we needed
To be giants on that day
And to walk among the comforts
That no evil thing would dare to come our way.
That moon was brighter than day
And who knows, maybe even god’s way to say
“Hey, I know by the looks of it
You’re human and you’re small
So, may that moon make you feel 10 feet tall.”