It's a god thing
‘Lo and Behold’ these two versions of one ‘godless’ song | May 13, 2023
By Douglas John Imbrogno | May 13, 2023 | TheStoryIsTheThing.substack.com
In my mind, it is one of my more radical tunes. Originally titled “Godless Appalachian Haiku,” it is the next-to-last song that concludes my debut album from 2004, intended as an epic send-off before the final short tune (“Next Country Over”) which finishes that recording. The album (hear it on Spotify in its entirety) is titled “Saint Stephen’s Dream” by ‘garagecow ensemble’ — not really a band, but an ad hoc assemblage of some of West Virginia’s finest musicians, hired to interpret my first serious batch of tuneage.
I have since renamed the song “Lo and Behold (A Godless Appalachian Haiku)” — and below are two versions. If you are willing to humor an itinerant, weekend singer-songwriter, listen to both and indicate which you prefer. After I posted a recently-recorded, live solo version to the web (the one at the bottom of the page), I was intrigued when a dear friend said she preferred it to the full-bore studio version from 2004. That initial version (immediately below) features a killer keyboard part by Maynard Chapman that was intended to sound a bit like a hurdy-gurdy, ethereal harmonies by Heidi Muller, and first-class production by Bob Webb.
To each our own! And there is certainly room in my small musical oeuvre for both the fancy and the stripped-down versions.
‘Lo and Behold’ | Original Version, 2004 | CLICK TO LISTEN
“Lo and Behold (a Godless Appalachian Haiku” from the 2004 garagecow ensemble album “Saint Stephen’s Dream“
So, the song is radical-ish how? Here is the way I describe “Lo and Behold.” It is a conversation with God about the whole idea of God, by a fallen altar boy and a long-ago retired Roman Catholic. The song posits the notion that ‘Lo and Behold!‘ is a sentiment also to be found outside the confines and constrictions of organized religion. And, maybe, after all, that is its true home. It depends on how you define ‘god,’ after all.
A dear friend, who has since passed on and was quite religious in her latter years, told me her ambivalent feelings about this song. She loved it, she said. But she also appeared a bit disquieted by it, wondering if perhaps the song was written from the perspective of someone who didn’t even believe in God?
I’ll let you determine that. However you land on the ‘god’ question, though, maybe is immaterial, in the end. After all, everywhere you turn can be an occasion for exclamations of ‘Lo and behold …’ Unless you are imposing your definition of ‘god’s will‘ on the daily existence of other people. On people who may fundamentally disagree with your bossy, imperious god’s directives about how everyone else should be confined and constricted, controlled and constrained.
Still, though. How we grieve for the idea of god!
And yet …
Lo and behold.
Perhaps our beholdings can be found outside the standard definitions on offer …
‘Lo and Behold’ | Solo Version, 2023 | CLICK TO LISTEN
“Lo and Behold (A Godless Appalachian Haiku)” by Douglas John Imbrogno, filmed and recorded by Bobby Lee Messer at his April 18, 2023 Vandalia Sessions open mic in Huntington WV.
LYRICS: “Lo and Behold (A Godless Appalachian Haiku”
by Douglas John Imbrogno
(copyright 2004/2023)
Blown by wind, pear blossoms blow
Down city streets like a puff of snow …
Lo and behold …
Strong wind bends the gingko trees,
like a curling wave in the bright blue seas …
Lo and behold … Lo and behold!
CHORUS:
O, God, you are such a fine idea.
O, Lord, how I wish you were.
O, God, please pray for those who don’t believe …
O, Lord, how we grieve — for thee.
Hilltop filled with marching pine.
Evening sun the color of dark red wine …
Lo and behold…
Sparrow chases cowbird away
from the nest where sparrow’s new eggs lay …
Lo and behold … Lo and behold!
CHORUS:
O, God, you are such a fine idea.
O, Lord, how I wish you were.
O, God, please pray for those who don’t believe …
O, Lord, how we grieve — for thee.
O, God, you are such a fine idea.
O, Lord, how I wish you were.
O, God, please pray for those who don’t believe …
O, Lord, how they grieve — for thee.
INSTRUMENTAL
Parting Shot No. 1
‘Leveling Up.’ | Beside Lake Erie, one day recently. | april2023 | thestoryisthething.substack.com photography
Parting Shot No. 2
'Reduce Speed Ahead.' | Ohio Amish country | june2021 | TheStoryIsTheThing.substack.com photography
Parting Shot No. 3
'From Here to There.' | Hoeft Marsh, Greenbottom WV | april 2023 | TheStoryIsTheThing.Substack.com photography
...............
A dense cloud,
spreading over everywhere
covering the whole
great-thousandfold world,
pours down its rain
equally at the same time.
From the rain of one cloud
each according to the nature
of its kind acquires its development,
opening its blossoms and bearing its fruit.
Though produced in one soil
and moistened by the same rain,
see how different
are all these plants and trees.
~ The Lotus Sutra
FREE SUBSCRIBE
For updates on new essays, poems, diatribes, photo essays, experimental videos & sorta memoir excerpts, subscribe to this site’s free e-mail newsletter: TheStoryIsTheThing.substack.com