Picking up my series of introductions to songs on Leavin' Home, here are some snapshots of "Adventure"!
The first line of this song goes like this,
"They say there are wild horses on this island--so let's go find them!"
Two Christmases ago, my family spent a week together on the Outerbanks of North Carolina, and that week was a big part of the inspiration for two of my songs on the album ("He Gave Me the Sea" and "Adventure"). One of the draws to the Outerbanks is the wild horses. Growing up on Misty of Chincoteague books, I can't tell you how excited I was at the prospect of seeing "real live" wild horses! I felt like I was being dropped into an old favorite story, and I half-expected to run into Paul and Maureen!
...
But we couldn't find the horses!
As much as I would have loved to see them, there's a part of me that loves the fact that we didn't. Because we didn't see them, wild horses are still a mystery--still something I haven't seen and want to see. (And we still got some good stories out of the deal.) Hopefully, someday we'll find 'em.
This whole song is about chasing adventures--little or great. Even if they don't always lead you where you thought they might (maybe even especially then). I often write out of a need to remind myself of something, and this one reminds me of this: I want to live an adventurous life... To be spontaneous. To follow some paths simply because the sun looks a little brighter that way. To go for it.
A Few Lines: "Up a spiral staircase to a secret room full of books and old frames / For one hour, I disappear / Curled up in a rocking chair / Turning pages in musty air / 'Cause it's there--don't you feel it? / Adventure!"
With three nieces (whom I love to pieces) knocking on my door whenever I go missing for a few minutes, this part of the song was kind of a play on the quiet or more personal adventures in life--the kinds of adventures and things that are harder to share but fill your heart, like that feeling of sitting by the fire with a good book.
Finding an old diary that belonged to your great, great grandmother, or a dusty medal that belonged to your grandfather; looking at black and white pictures of family members you never knew and wondering what their lives were like; even things like going to a museum and letting the sheer amount of history move you.... There is intrigue and sometimes a bit of magic in learning something you never knew before. Depending on what it is, sometimes you want to share it, and sometimes you want to keep that "something" to yourself for as long as you can. Know what I mean?
"Adventure is out there!"
-Brittany