{"id":4294,"date":"2017-04-12T07:47:49","date_gmt":"2017-04-12T14:47:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/writtenbymurphy.com\/wonderblog\/?p=4294"},"modified":"2017-04-12T07:47:49","modified_gmt":"2017-04-12T14:47:49","slug":"brighter-than-anything","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/writtenbymurphy.com\/wonderblog\/2017\/04\/brighter-than-anything\/","title":{"rendered":"Brighter Than Anything"},"content":{"rendered":"

It was a weekend morning in my apartment in Sunnyvale, nearly 20 years ago. I was listening to A Prairie Home Companion at home. Garrison Keillor introduced a musician, who said “I am going to play a song for you. I was thinking of playing something else, but I changed my mind. This song is called Western Highway.”<\/em><\/p>\n

He started playing, and when he sang I stopped whatever I was doing. This song:<\/p>\n

I am a driver on a Western Highway
\nFrom the mountains to the sea
\nAnd there’s a song on the western highway
\nThat’s saying I will be free<\/p>\n

The sky is fading to the color of the valley
\nDust of angels and dust of dreams
\nCity lights will shine until tomorrow
\nAnd I will not be here<\/p>\n

But your light is brighter
\nThan anything I’ve ever seen
\nI hear your voice on every station
\nSinging out of your dream<\/p>\n

Here I am on the road again
\nThe song began
\nAnd then in the end
\nI was standing by
\nI was standing by the sea<\/p>\n

By the roadside the trees are shimmering
\nBlack and silver in the cold night air
\nUnder the moon the song is singing
\nSaying I will meet you there<\/p>\n

And your light is brighter
\nThan anything I’ve ever seen
\nI hear your voice on every station
\nSinging out of your dream<\/p>\n

Here I am on the road again
\nThe Song began and then in the end
\nI was standing by
\nI was standing by the sea.<\/p>\n

As soon as it was over I needed to hear it again. Why hadn’t I listened to the name of the artist?<\/p>\n

I heard it later. Jerry O’bourne.<\/p>\n

I searched online for him. Nowhere. The website for the show wasn’t updated until the next day, and then I finally found the correct spelling. Gerry\u00a0 O’Beirne.<\/p>\n

I used Yahoo to find the album and bought it off of CD baby. It took weeks to arrive.<\/p>\n

And I listened to it again. And again.<\/p>\n

Always and forever, the voice and the light in this was my own. The light of whatever it is my highest self is pulling me towards is so bright I am blinded. I cannot hear the song without weeping for nameless ambition of my highest hopes. I’m so in love with who I want to become.<\/p>\n

Years later I moved to Los Angeles, and the line “dust of angels, dust of dreams” made perfect sense. At the peak of the Angels Crest highway, looking down on the city with its stories I know the color of the dust of dreams.<\/p>\n

And how every station plays the song of the dream.<\/p>\n

Their dream.<\/p>\n

My Dream.<\/p>\n

The Dream.<\/p>\n

So Bright.<\/p>\n