Unlearning the Cage
Some time ago, I read a post on former Heart guitarist Roger Fisher’s website about some up and coming musicians who had left the LA/NY/NashVegas lifestyle to homestead on farms away from it all, working the land and creating in project studios in outbuildings. Not an easy life, I’m sure, but it struck a chord with me (pardon the obvious figure of speech). I’ve never been a farmer, but neither have I been a “city boy”. I prefer country life to the hustle and bustle and the sound of traffic, and I had a lot of respect for the lives these people were choosing to embrace. At the time, Roger seemed to be considering it, and I wrote “Rog, DO IT! The daily connection with the earth and sky will harden your body, soften your soul, nourish your spirit and enrich your mind.” I don’t know where that came from, whether it was a quote from somewhere else or something of mine, but I came across the post again recently and decided to use it for a song. I’ve been beating that drum a lot lately; not intentionally; I guess it’s just on my mind. I spent too many years of my life in cubicle prisons, enduring empty calorie meetings for the sake of meetings, being a slave to the clock, cranking out busywork in exchange for a paycheck… which was just enough to pay for the car, gas and insurance to keep returning to work to repeat the endless, pointless cycle. The hero of this song has figured it all out before it’s too late – he’s “unlearning the cage”.
Lyrics:
[Verse 1]
Morning ticks on a borrowed clock
Concrete humming, calendar locked
Suit and tie, glass and steel
Tangled in plastic forgetting what’s real
Learn to move at a measured pace
Eyes on the floor, march in place
Life is precious like the hourglass’ sand
Traded for a tomorrow that never quite lands
[Pre-Chorus]
I thought the routine was keeping me safe
Didn’t notice the days quietly slipping away
[Chorus]
I’m unlearning the cage, piece by piece
Letting the silence talk to me
Hardening hands in the open air
Softening things I kept locked in there
The earth remembers what I forgot to say
I’m unlearning the cage
[Verse 2]
Sunrise teaching my bones the time
No alarms, no dotted lines
Dirt under nails, sweat on skin
Every day starts with where I stand in it
Sky writes lessons I don’t debate
Clouds don’t rush, seasons don’t wait
The body grows strong from honest use
The soul loosens up when it’s told the truth
[Pre-Chorus]
I don’t need everything explained
Some truths are better felt than named
[Chorus]
I’m unlearning the cage, piece by piece
Trading the noise for what’s underneath
Hardening hands in the open air
Softening things I kept locked in there
The earth remembers what I forgot to say
I’m unlearning the cage
[Bridge]
I used to measure my worth in speed
Now I stand back and let the shadows breathe
Mind gets richer the less I chase
Spirit fed by a slower pace
I don’t own much, but I understand
What it means to belong to the land
[Final Chorus]
I’m unlearning the cage, day by day
Letting the sky have its say
Body forged by the work I choose
Soul made gentle by what I lose
The earth remembers, and now I do too
I’m unlearning the cage
[Outro]
Hard hands, open heart
Roots down, mind clear
Unlearning…
the cage…
[End]