the deepening ground

Believe it or not, I still use CDs. In fact, in looking for a used Chevy Suburban to replace the one I lost, the lack of CD player in the more modern cars has been a big turn off. I know: get with the times, Anastasi! But I have to admit, I want to hold the music in my hands, which is why I prefer a CD to any digital version, and why I’m enjoying playing my father’s 45s and LPs on our record player, savoring every pop and crackle of the needle carving its way across vinyl.

So you can imagine my joy when I discovered, burned on a CD, a forgotten song I recorded back in 2012. It’s only a demo of my vocals and accompanying banjo, but I chuckled to myself when I heard the record effect I had added to the beginning and end of the track when I recorded it on my old MacBook Pro. The melody used in the latter half of each verse ended up in another song I wrote titled “El Dorado,” which I performed with my eldest sons fourteen years ago and my youngest sons just last year. So the song itself is like a road that links my past and present to the future, and I’m still that homesick traveler who set off on promises and hope, seeking a distant shore where I will find rest in my Father’s house.

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Open Seas and Desert Roads

Vincent H. Anastasi – 6/2012 (Updated 2/26)

I am a homesick traveler borne on these troubled seas
And deep within I feel the ache of my crippling disease
Now shadows trail my every step
And sorrows swell my bones
And all the things I use to kill the pain
Leave me yearning more for home

I go because I hear a voice in the corners of my soul
It draws me forth with gentleness though the mornings beat me cold
I’ve slept at every beggar’s door,
Thrown physic to the dogs
And I am troubled daily by the thought
Of the home that I have lost

Open seas and desert roads
They fill the many miles left to go
And though I’m tired and beaten to the bone
they take me home

So come with me unto the brink where all is yet unknown
The stars will only disappoint, so let goods and kindred go
I’m setting off on promises,
Things past and yet to come
And though I’m blind and weary, bent and sick,
I will chase the setting sun

Open seas and desert roads…

The autumn winds foretell my fate like the harvest come to full
And though I fear I’ve come too late, I yield to the ocean’s pull
I am a homesick traveler
Who is broken to the core
But the hope that beckons far, far deeper still
It is the call from Eden’s shore

Open seas and desert roads…

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Don’t forget you can stream my most popular songs from 1996-2012 on Spotify, YouTube, and all the other popular online music platforms!