Stormcloud 4-26-2004

http://www.archive.org/details.....mic.flac16

Verse 2x into the following:
——-
——-
——- C F A
——-
A-0h2-3-
——-

——–
——–
——– G F A E F G A
——–
——–
E–0h1-3

Chorus:
“How will they preserve me”
G F A
“After I’m Gone”
F G A
“How will they preserve me–when I’m gone”
G F D

Hope this all makes sense, I’m also pretty sure that most of these are minor chords (pretty much positive the A’s are) but I can’t really tell so will let you decide what you think sounds best.

After that, the song is not a story but a philosphical query – a question that cannot be answered, only ritualized – in this case, in song (“How will they preserve me when I’m gone?” – and more broadly seems to ask what happens to us when we die?). In light of another Trevor lyric from a different song, for me this song provokes questioning of the purpose of graves ( the other reference is from Earth And Sky: “I don’t visit graveyards, I don’t know the purpose of ‘em, I’m just living in between the earth and sky” ). I don’t think he is really asking HOW, but rather WHY?

In the last verse, the ritual for death is far more brutal than graveyard burial or cremation, though perhaps it is only a metaphor for the coming of the autumn as summer dies ( “Dreaming of summer’s daughter / she’s been taken to the slaughter / and they cut the skin right off her” ). Are they brutalizing the dead, or is this simply leaves falling off the trees? Perhaps Trevor is suggesting that we travel ’round in cycles like the seasons. Another song that suggests that concept is Kali-Yuga.

What is the reference for “you’ll spend your last days passing from the mountain unto the sea” ? The only thing this makes me think of is Lord Of The Rings but it also sounds biblical or something, maybe it’s a Buddhist concept, or just a loner’s. Anyone know?

Trevor puts so much feeling into singing “Stormcloud” that he draws the listener into his quandry, with only cold chords to ground you. That makes this song an experience.