Tomorrow Is A Long Time
Perhaps you didn't notice, but Nickel Creek finally bowed to the inevitable and did a reunion tour. Individually, they weren't doing too badly: Sara Watkins released a pair of well-received albums for the Nonesuch label, produced by John Paul Jones (yes, that John Paul Jones). Chris Thile is in the fifth year of his half-million-dollar MacArthur grant. Sean Watkins... well, he clearly isn't missing any meals, anyway.
At some point, however, they must have realized that there was more money to be made as a group, no matter how much they all annoyed each other; this is called the Eagles Horizon. At another point, however, the disagreements must have been too much because the Watkins siblings replaced Chris Thile with Fiona Apple and a cast of dozens.
No matter. Here they are, a year and a half ago...
The track is Bob Dylan's "Tomorrow Is A Long Time". Here's the relatively rare original version for you purists:
With that said, I like the way Sara sings it. I particularly approve of the way she drags the last line of the chorus. I also kind of like Sara herself, zaftig though she may be.
Let's go to the lyrics. They're about what yearning and longing, what Robert Bly called "those strangely un-American feelings".
If today was not an endless highway If tonight was not a crooked trail If tomorrow wasn’t such a long time Then lonesome would mean nothing to you at all Yes, and only if my own true love was waitin’ Yes, and if I could hear her heart a-softly poundin’ Only if she was lyin’ by me Then I’d lie in my bed once again
I can’t see my reflection in the waters I can’t speak the sounds that show no pain I can’t hear the echo of my footsteps Or can’t remember the sound of my own name Yes, and only if my own true love was waitin’ Yes, and if I could hear her heart a-softly poundin’ Only if she was lyin’ by me Then I’d lie in my bed once again
There’s beauty in the silver, singin’ river There’s beauty in the sunrise in the sky But none of these and nothing else can touch the beauty That I remember in my true love’s eyes Yes, and only if my own true love was waitin’ Yes, and if I could hear her heart a-softly poundin’ Only if she was lyin’ by me Then I’d lie in my bed once again
Tonight, as I watch Sara mis-step slightly on the vocal timing but then find her feet with the violin, just like she always does, I'm thinking about two women. The first one is someone for whom I have yearned and longed since the day I met her more than seven years ago. But that's mostly over. We ran our course. I don't expect to ever see her again. And that's okay. The second woman is the one who truly belongs in this house with me, I think. She's off doing her thing this week. That's okay, as well. I can't wait for her to come home.