ERIC PETERS

(key of C)
Written Nov. 20, 1999 during a long westward trip across Kansas. If memory serves, I had just played a very discouraging show in eastern Kansas the previous night and my wife and I spent the first couple of hours wiping tears from our eyes as we rolled out onto the great plains discussing the show and, more than likely, our general uncertainty over the future since I had only recently embarked upon a solo career after spending seven years in a budding young acoustic duet. I was, for all intent and purposes, starting over from scratch (yet again). I was young and green and the learning curve was to be a steep one. Hindsight 20/2o.

The final version of this song is quite different from the original. There’s a certain spacial monotony to it that I suppose could be an apt representation of The Sunflower State: the long westward venture begins with eager anticipation of seeing the Rockies gloriously rise above the monotonous drudgery, but by the end of the plains, I’ve grown more than a little weary of their rolling nothingness. It is a parallel to life — birth’s miracle, youth’s exuberant invincibility followed by our fear and loathing of the end of life. But that’s just me; maybe you see things differently….