Appalachian Patria

Appalachian Intellectual. To me that means plain thinking. I am A Non Commissioned Officer in the Army Reserves. Let me say...My views expressed here are mine and not those of The U.S. Army, Army Reserve or my fellow brethren in The National Guard. This is entirely Sua Sponte. This is My Thinking. I'm single and in my mid 30's. Politicaly, I'm a Libertarian. (Again, Sua Sponte.I do not represent the Libertarian Party.)I love my native Appalachia, Rock n Roll and...I love God.

Name:
Location: Brevard, North Caroilina

I started blogging for two reasons. I was concerned about the changes to the area I live in, Southern Appalachia and I was about to go to the war. I was in Iraq in 06 and 07 and now Kuwait in 11 and 12. Blogging was a means of documenting my experiences and hoping it would help gain clarity. I don't feel that way about it any more. It's said people write blogs because they are frustrated, that's why people read them too. That makes us sound apocalyptic. Are we? Let it be said, what I say here is of my own thinking. This is entirely Sua Sponte and not an official representation of the U.S. Military or the U.S. Government as a whole.

Friday, September 21, 2007

A Slow Train Of Thought

Looking Glass Rock Davidson River Basin, Transylvania County NC.

Bob Dylan's "Slow Train Comin'

Sometimes I feel so low-down and disgusted
Can't help but wonder what's happenin' to my companions,
Are they lost or are they found, have they counted the cost it'll take to bring
down
All their earthly principles they're gonna have to abandon?
There's a slow, slow train comin' up around the bend.

I had a woman down in Alabama,
She was a backwoods girl, but she sure was realistic,
She said, "Boy, without a doubt, have to quit your mess and straighten out,
You could die down here, be just another accident statistic."
There's a slow, slow train comin' up around the bend.

All that foreign oil controlling American soil,
Look around you, it's just bound to make you embarrassed.
Sheiks walkin' around like kings, wearing fancy jewels and nose rings,
Deciding America's future from Amsterdam and to Paris
And there's a slow, slow train comin' up around the bend.

Man's ego is inflated, his laws are outdated, they don't apply no more,
You can't rely no more to be standin' around waitin'
In the home of the brave, Jefferson turnin' over in his grave,
Fools glorifying themselves, trying to manipulate Satan
And there's a slow, slow train comin' up around the bend.

Big-time negotiators, false healers and woman haters,
Masters of the bluff and masters of the proposition
But the enemy I see wears a cloak of decency,
All non-believers and men stealers talkin' in the name of religion
And there's a slow, slow train comin' up around the bend.

People starving and thirsting, grain elevators are bursting
Oh, you know it costs more to store the food than it do to give it.
They say lose your inhibitions, follow your own ambitions,
They talk about a life of brotherly love, show me someone who knows how to
live it. There's a slow, slow train comin' up around the bend.

Well, my baby went to Illinois with some bad-talkin' boy she could destroy
A real suicide case, but there was nothin' I could do to stop it,
I don't care about economy, I don't care about astronomy
But it sure do bother me to see my loved ones turning into puppets,
There's a slow, slow train comin' up around the bend.


Copyright © 1979 Special Rider Music

"Free your mind and your ass will follow"
The Appalachianist

10 Comments:

Blogger Murf said...

You have seemed to acquire the talent of quieting your audience, AI. Interesting use of a Bob Dylan song and then a play on a lyric from En Vogue. ;-)

8:32 AM  
Blogger Hill Billy Rave said...

Apparentky, I have, Murf. En Vogue? Really? I thought "Platoon".

8:52 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Went back and read my posting . . . Murf's a "she" . . . well, my comments . . . I forgot to put a letter . . . really. That is a good picture of Looking Glass Mountain. I love to try to find it when I stop at Pisgah Inn. I talked to Randy, and I hope to get to Hendersonville next Friday.

5:11 PM  
Blogger Murf said...

I kid you not. The actual lyric is 'Free your mind and the rest will follow'. Maybe they stole it from Platoon. Nonetheless, it's entertaining to think that perhaps you listen to some En Vogue when no one is around. ;-)

6:29 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Sorry AI. Been traveling a lot.

I had a woman down in Alabama,
She was a backwoods girl, but she sure was realistic,
She said, "Boy, without a doubt, have to quit your mess and straighten out,

Been there, except she was from Louisiana, not 'Bama. And she was the one who needed to quit some mess. Which she eventaully did, although not quick enough. Don't matter, really. Scars heal and turn into the stories we tell, no?

You traipse around in the mountians to find quiet and time for pondering things. We're kinda short on mountians here, so I go fishing. Same thing, only different. I used to stay in a great-grandma's cabin on the top of a mountian inside the Pisgah Nat'l Forest. I was young, so I don't know the name of the mountian, if it even had one. Not too far from a place called Sliding Rock (or something like that). Maybe you know it.

Ramblin' Ed

12:09 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Yeah, there is a "Sliding Rock" on the Davidson River that meanders down Mount Pisgah on the Brevard side of the mountain. It switches back and forth under Highway 276, I believe, a road that connects Brevard over the mountain to Caruso and on to Waynesville . . . now to be corrected after showing off by the Appalachianist . . . maybe. It becomes even more beautiful there this time of year.

2:56 PM  
Blogger Hill Billy Rave said...

Alright, you'll I'm sorry for not getting back to you. I've been out of town for my 90 day post deployment physical.

Bill, this thing doesn't have sensitive keys either.

2 things Ed, yeas, Bob Dylan in what people call his "Born Again Christian Phase". I never seen an Iraqi with a nose ring though. It is hard when you love someone who doesn't love their self. Yes, scars do heal.
Yep, that would be Transylvania County, if not Henderson. There ain't a mountain here that doesn't have a name. Not everyone will know it, but t has a name.

Bill it's Cruso. leaves aren't turning color, they are turning flat out brown. It's been dry. The spring here is the driest it's ever been, at least since the 40's. These mountains are pretty no matter the season, not everyone see's it though.

4:59 PM  
Blogger sage said...

I love those granite outcroppings you get in the NC mountains--is it Table Rock that overlooks the Linville Gorge--thanks for the photo

9:58 AM  
Blogger sage said...

btw, Plantoon was a good movie and I really liked the way the director used Samuel Barber's "Adagio for Strings" as background music throughout the film.

9:59 AM  
Blogger Hill Billy Rave said...

Hey Sage. The only Table Rock I know of is in Up State SC (Pickens County)on the edge of the Blue Ridge Escarpment. it's similar to Looking Glass. my Brother sent me some wikopedia stuff on it and Stone Mnt. Which supposedly extends into Western NC.

I alway knew that as the Platoon Music. I was in 3rd Ranger Bn back then and we idolized the movie.
Good to see you.

8:07 PM  

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