We’ve updated our Terms of Use to reflect our new entity name and address. You can review the changes here.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.

Dragonfly

from Debut by The Littlest Birds

/
  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    Purchasable with gift card

      $1 USD  or more

     

  • Full Digital Discography

    Get all 3 The Littlest Birds releases available on Bandcamp and save 35%.

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Live & Lucky, Migrations, and Debut. , and , .

    Purchasable with gift card

      $15.60 USD or more (35% OFF)

     

about

Dave says: I wrote this in the Fall one day, after paddling my surfboard in a high mountain lake to prepare for a surf trip to Baja. I was reading Gary Snyder's poetry collection, Left Out In The Rain, and came upon his short poem Dragonfly. It just sounded like an old time song lyric to me and from there I composed music to fit it, and a bunch of other lyrics to go around it. In the high sierra, you often see Dragonflies around lake shores, and meadows, and Gary's poem clearly speaks about the other random instance of finding them dead, up high on the snow, likely carried there by winds, and searching for insects.

Postscript, 8/13/2012:
One day in Lee Vining, killing time at the coffee shop, a man pointed out Gary Snyder walking down the street. I asked "really?" in disbelief. Sure enough it was him and I ran to the car to get out our Debut album to give to him. He seemed please and somewhat surprised that anyone cared about his short little poem. We exchanged information as well as our newer album Migrations and then parted ways. That evening we were playing at The Historic Mono Inn and in walks Gary Snyder and his friend to have dinner. After listening to us during dinner for awhile he walked by and complimented us saying "You're absolutely awesome." They finished their dinner, and we'd been playing for a couple of hours, so we asked if he'd like to hear Dragonfly. He said yes and sat down right between us. He chuckled at "tell me your stories of eternity" and continued to chuckle here and there during the song. When I glanced over his eyes looked teary. He thanked us and said that he'd love to have us up to his hometown for a show sometime and to talk more. I told him that I hoped my words were Ok that I'd come up with to add to his verse and he said something like, well you did a lot more work than I did with a chuckle. All in all it was a magical evening, and felt so wonderful to finally get a chance to perform my version of Dragonfly for the author of the poem that inspired it, not to mention the man that has inspired much of my life and writing over the years.

lyrics

Oh along the water
along the meadow's edge
I see you flying with the sunlight
I see you flying with the wind

Old dragon where are you going
Old dragon where have you been
Old wisdom of your wings
Tell me your stories of eternity

Dragonfly
how you come and go
short lived wonder
what did you know
of this high mountain pass

----x
Dragonfly
you're dead on the snow
how did you come so high
did you leave your seed child
in a mountain pool before you died
----x
(poem by Gary Snyder)

Now you're making love with another
together you go tumbling through the air
another sweet child of the valley is born
another sweet child born in the dragon's lair.

credits

from Debut, released October 1, 2010
Lyrics by David Huebner, including a poem by Gary Snyder. Arr. The Littlest Birds

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

The Littlest Birds Laramie, Wyoming

The Littlest Birds is the banjo-driven music of and Sharon Martinson, performing both solo concerts and currently with several duo and trio configurations. "Think instrumental virtuosity balanced by a breezy, backwoods soul, music that is both intellectually stimulating and emotionally soothing."
- Dan Bolles, Seven Days Weekly, Burlington VT, 2011
... more

contact / help

Contact The Littlest Birds

Streaming and
Download help

Redeem code

Report this track or account

If you like The Littlest Birds, you may also like: