Live From Here is a recorded live show featuring comedy sketches, music and more from host Chris Thile and company. Streaming audio from each show is posted on the show website, livefromhere.org.
Chris Thile’s Song of the Week for March 21, 2020, “Vail Monograph, Version 2” (originally from October 19, 2019).
The band: Chris Thile, Aoife O’Donovan, Mike Elizondo, Jeff Babko, Matt Chamberlain, Chris Eldridge, Alex Hargreaves, Noam Pikelny.
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Lyrics:
“Canst thou send lightnings
So that they may go
And say unto thee here we are?”
A rhetorical question
From our Father In Heaven
To Job in his suffering
Here below
To Job in his suffering—
As we sent the first lightnings
All those years ago
I quoted that question by heart
Then delivered the answer
Full of magnets and wire
On behalf of a dreamer
Here below
On behalf of a dreamer—
“Sounds like you did this”
I did but—
It was the least that I could do
—than I would do to serve his genius
To serve his—
`“Sounds like it’s time to set the record straight
Nothing’s wrong with calling a good man great, but a bad man...”
No, he’s not a bad man
Though it’s true before we met
The God of Wire was struggling to connect
What he had with what he dreamt
Then I applied a method to the madness
And the thing began to click
We were like a couple little kids
‘Cause it was clear this was it
I’d take him by the hand and lead him to whatever future he had seen
And pan whatever gold was in his stream
Of consciousness that flowed between his heart and anything like love for the doer of his dreams
“Sounds like he used you”
He did but—
Oh how I burned to be of use
—to be of use and not be slave to
A mind as—
As cold and dry and barren as this one is
At least when in comparison to one like his
“You have a great mind”
No, his is the great mind
And it will never be at rest
Will ever trade this moment for the next
And what it has for what it’s dreamt
So even if the present is exactly what he wanted it to be
He’ll miss his un-manifested destiny
And find a better man than me
To take him by the hand and lead him to whatever future he’s been seeing
And pan whatever gold’s still in his stream
Of consciousness that flows between his heart and anything like love for me
I send him a lightning
Every now and then
Saying unto him “here we are
I don’t expect you to answer
But I miss you dear dreamer
And what we did together
Here below
O what we did together here”
Our Out In America correspondent Tom Papa spends a rare day off at home in Los Angeles stretching out his morning rituals as far as they’ll go, pondering the dawn of a new decade, and rejecting diet advice from his friends and family. (originally from our January 25, 2020 episode)
Find Tom’s tour dates and more information about his forthcoming Netflix special You’re Doing Great! at tompapa.com.
Tom Papa reads an essay from his book Your Dad Stole My Rake on the beginnings of relationships, and why it’s important to eat meals with someone as you get to know them. Find more information about the book and Tom’s tour dates at tompapa.com. (originally from our September 28, 2019 episode)
Our Out In America correspondent Tom Papa puts on his blue suede shoes and heads to Las Vegas, where he gets a ride from a soon-to-be fan of the Las Vegas Raiders, extols the virtues of the city’s buffets, and chats with an old married couple who aren’t married at a $10 blackjack table. (originally from our September 28, 2019 episode)
Find Tom’s tour dates at tompapa.com.
Download Chris Thile’s Song of the Week from our February 29, 2020 show, “The Sully” (originally from September 14, 2019). The band: Chris Thile, Sarah Jarosz, Mike Elizondo, Eric Doob, Armand Hirsch, Gabriel Kahane, Jeremy Kittel.
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Lyrics:
This is the Sully—
—As fine a ship as you
can sail from Le Havre France to New
York of a mild October
in the year of our lord
1832
Blessed be the quiet mind—
—such as wielded by a Sully
passenger named Samuel F.B
Morse the nearly famous artist
coming up for air post
years of work and study
Quiet be the weary mind
That hovers o’er the water—
—grateful to be homeward borne by true and perfect boredom
Hallowed be its name
‘Cause—
—weary be the troubled mind
That hovers o’er the water
With its lonely sons and daughter
On the shore ahead
And on the shore behind
So much unfinished business
But there ain’t a cure for distance
Save a long long time
Tick tick ticking several decks
below in steerage next to less-
considered travelers nothing
but their fevers running
wild from bed to bed
To bed
Quiet be their weary minds
Between the old and new world
No more to seek approval
From the loved ones wedded to the shore behind
Calling “y’all are gonna miss us,
Unless you find the cure for distance”
—and in that instant
There it is
A ceaseless current
A boundless grid
A prayer a potion
With form and function
To deliver us
To each other
From each other
Racing be the blessed mind
To a future long imagined
Bright with glory, fame and fortune
It had left for dead
On the shore behind
Jedidiah are you listening
Your son has found a cure for distance
And blessed be his quiet mind
That hears the roaring of an instant
God hath wrought the cure for distance
And that cure is mine
Download Chris Thile's Song of the Week for February 22, 2020, "Escape from the Tuileries." The band: Chris Thile, Mike Elizondo, Jon Cowherd, Armand Hirsch, Jeremy Kittel, Nate Smith.