A Story and a Song
Books and music have always felt like such a natural pairing to me. They just go hand in hand. Although they take different forms, they both have the end goal of telling a story. Indeed, some of my favorite reading experiences have occurred as I was also listening to soundtrack music. If you have never done this before, I enthusiastically recommend trying it out. Music has a way of immersing the reader even more into the story, the mood, and the emotions of the characters.
It can be a truly epic experience.
And then sometimes, you find a song that fits a story so perfectly, it feels like it was written specifically with that book in mind. I cannot think of a better example for this than Moccasin Trail by Eloise Jarvis McGraw and the song, Always Gold, by Radical Face.
One of my favorite parts of this Newbery Honor book is the complicated and often tumultuous relationship between Jim and his younger brother, Jonathan. Both boys have a shared past and they each hold an underlying respect for the other; but in temperament and in sense of duty, they are just so incredibly different. Throughout her story, McGraw explores the effects of these weighty differences and, in doing so, creates a fantastic build up of tension between two brothers who must now learn to accept who they have both become.
When I listen to this song, I imagine that it is sung from the perspective of Jonnie - the dependable, steady one - right before the book begins and the brothers are united once again. I always wondered what it was like for him after Jim ran away and he was left with no choice but to carry on as the head of the family. Was he resentful of his brother? Was he jealous? Was he begrudgingly admiring of what Jim did? If Jonnie picked up that banjo of his and wrote a song about his brother, I imagine it might have sounded something like this.
"We were tight knit boys
Brothers in more than name
You would kill for me
And knew that I'd do the same
And it cut me sharp
Hearing you'd gone away
But everything goes away
Yeah, everything goes away
But I'm gonna be here 'til I'm nothing
But bones in the ground
And I was there
When you grew restless
And left in the dead of night
And I was there
When three months later
You were standing in the door
All beat and tired
And I stepped aside
Everything goes away
Yeah, everything goes away
But I'm gonna be here 'til I'm nothing
But bones in the ground
So quiet down
We were opposites at birth
I was steady as a hammer
No one worried
'Cause they knew just where I'd be
And they said you were the crooked kind
That you would never have no worth
But you were always gold to me
Back when we were kids
We swore we knew the future
And how our words would take us
Halfway round the world
But I never left this town
And I ain't never saw New York
And we ain't ever crossed the sea
But I am fine with where I am now
This home is home and all that I need
But for you, this place is shame
But you can blame me
When there's no one left to blame
Oh, I don't mind
All my life, I've never known
Where you've been
There were holes in you
The kind that I could not mend
And I heard you say
Right when you left that day
Does everything go away?
Yeah, everything goes away
But I'm gonna be here forever
So just call when you're around"