Another New World

How dear to my heart - A Sunday Amen

I feel the shadows now upon me
And the angels beckon to me
Before I go dear sisters and brothers
Won't you come and sing for me

Sing those hymns we sang together
In that plain little church with the benches all worn
How dear to my heart how precious the moments
We stood shaking hands and singing a song

My burden is heavy my way has grown weary
I have traveled a road that is long
And it would warm this old heart my dear brother
If you come and sing me one song

In my home beyond the dark river
Your sweet faces no more I will see
Until we meet where there's no more sad parting
Won't you come and sing for me

- Won’t You Come and Sing For Me - Hot Rize

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On Friday, we drove, over two hours, to San Diego to see Chris Thile perform his latest album, Lay Songs, with some requests thrown in via the audience. This was for my husband’s birthday in March.

I have talked about Chris Thile several stories back on a piece about National Public Radio. In our lifetime we have witnessed and heard hundreds upon hundreds of incredible, passionate musicians. My ears are in tune, my eyes focused. My voice and hands not so much John would tell you.

Leaving San Diego speechless, we naturally stopped for shakes and fries to discuss what just happened? Muttering, we agreed, passion for a craft, for art, music, etc., is what living is all about.

As my eyes welled up during, the last song, John was reminded of an icy expedition and the determination of Britain to win the northwest passage to India in a book he read called “Resolute” by Martin W. Sandler.

There is something captivating about dedication.

“HMS Resolute was a mid-19th-century barque-rigged ship of the British Royal Navy, specially outfitted for Arctic exploration. Resolute became trapped in the ice searching for Captain Sir John Franklin's lost expedition , which had been trapped in ice for one year, with the captain and a dozen of his men dying. Abandoned in 1854 and recovered by an American whaler, she was returned to Queen Victoria in 1856. Timbers from the ship were later used to construct the Resolute desk which was presented to the President of the United States and is located in the White House Oval Office.” - source: wiki

“Almost everyone knows the photo of John F. Kennedy, Jr., as a young boy, peering out from under his father’s desk in the Oval Office. But few realize that the desk itself plays a part in one of the world’s most extraordinary mysteries.” Several U.S. Presidents would kick-back and put their feet on the desk, which begs the question, “did they know the story of that desk?”

The icy quest?

The musical phrasing of a boat captain’s lament, during Thile’s version of Josh Ritter’s “Another New World,” takes us through an overflowing journey of rich song lyrics matched with an almost sensual mandolin hip-hugging, wave-crashing, swirling intensity, madness, struggle, freezing temperatures and perseverance of his Annabelle Lee.

The song was originally developed by Ritter from a poem titled, Annabel Lee, by poet Edgar Allen Poe. Writing mostly tales of mystery and macabre, it was believed Poe wrote this with his wife Virginia in mind, who he loved very much, despite their controversial marriage. She died of tuberculosis at age 24.

It was many and many a year ago,
In a kingdom by the sea,
That a maiden there lived whom you may know
By the name of Annabel Lee;
And this maiden she lived with no other thought
Than to love and be loved by me.

Hence, the boat named “Annabelle Lee” as a metaphor for the song breaking through the ice and into another new world. Infused with the passion of Poe’s love for his wife, Annabel, she was stolen by jealous angels and killed with a chilling wind. He resolves to one day be with her again in heaven. I believe that is “another new world.” Something better than here.

For the moon never beams, without bringing me dreams
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And the stars never rise, but I feel the bright eyes
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side
Of my darling—my darling—my life and my bride,
In her sepulcher there by the sea—
In her tomb by the sounding sea.

Edgar Allen Poe’s Annabel Lee -

Chris Thile opened his one-man show with lay song, “Won’t You Come and Sing For Me,” <lyrics at top> stepping to the edge of the stage, no mic. He then closed the 90 virtuoso mandolin minutes with Another New World, seamlessly plucking his way back to the lay song.

Returning to the foot of the stage, he kindly asked us to sing these lyrics with him:

“Sing those hymns we sang together
In that plain little church with the benches all worn
How dear to my heart how precious the moments
We stood shaking hands and singing a song”

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“The leading light of the age all wondered amongst
Themselves what I would do next
After all that I'd found in my travels around
The world was there anything else left?
"Gentlemen", I said, "I've studied the maps"
"And if what I'm thinking is right"
"There's another new world at the top of the world"
"For whoever can break through the ice"

“I won't call it rescue what brought me here back to
The old world to drink and decline
And to pretend that the search for another new world
Was well-worth the burning of mine
But sometimes at night in my dreams comes the singing
Of some known tropical bird
And I smile in my sleep thinking Annabelle Lee

Has finally made it to another new world…”

How dear to my heart... Amen

This was the best live video I could find from Chris Thile performing Another New World. I was too entranced to lift my phone because it was probably better than this 2017 live performance in Paris (the end is amazing). Like Chris, many of us left the church at some point. I found my way back. Slowly. It seems Chris has a seed buried in his heart for the innate community we all seem to crave. I can feel it.

..and if you want to hear The Punch Brothers (Chris’s band) do Another New World, it’s AMAZING:

..and Josh Ritter’s original.. incredible too:

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. - Matthew 6:21