Greg Brown - Two Little Feet

This song, from Brown's 1996 album Further In, seems to pop into my head every fall. This year it was Ken Burns's National Parks series on PBS that triggered it, profiling John Muir, and making me sing to myself

John Muir
Walked away into the mountains
In his old overcoat
A crust of bread in his pocket

"Two Little Feet" pops into my head a lot when I'm walking too. It has the steady but relaxed rhythm of an outdoor stroll.

Two little feet
To get me 'cross the mountain
Two little feet
To carry me away into the woods

It's a song about freedom -- the freedom of leaving your stuff behind, and walking away into the mountains, perhaps, or into the woods. Maybe you're leaving for an hour. But maybe you're leaving for good.

It's the lines about "stuff" that really resonate for me. Such an apt critique of American culture these days -- how we go shopping to entertain ourselves, an empty exercise that soothes our longing temporarily, but doesn't do much for us in the long run.

We have no knowledge
And so we have stuff
And stuff with no knowledge is never enough
To get you there

And sometimes, even when we do go outside and go for a walk or climb a mountain, we're in danger of acquiring more useless stuff. Especially if it's a National Park, with ever-present gift shops.

A culture exploded into
Knicknacks and memories
Eagle and Bear trinkets
I don't think it's good

I love how Brown can make such a blunt pronouncement, but then immediately lighten it up with an "it's not such a big deal" type of comment.

It's a messed up world
But I love it anyway

Being outdoors can bring us freedom, but so can the thrill of a big new love.

Tumble us like scree
Let us holler out our freedom
Like a like a wolf across a valley
Like a kid lost in a game
No time no name
Gonna miss that plane again
I'm gonna stay here with you baby
And kiss you to a good dream

Further In seems to be an album that's all about leaving a marriage and starting a new relationship. Actually, even more so, it seems to be about the overlap of the two -- one love affair starting before another, earlier, one has ended. In general, it's about longing, sex, and freedom. Eloquent songs, but sometimes they are done so well that it makes you squeamish.

When Brown is not fantasizing about how "someday when we're both alone we'll get together," or explaining how "if you don't get it at home you're gonna go looking," he makes some spot-on observations of American culture. In a way, with all the love and sex in the songs, you don't see it coming. But then, almost off-handedly, he sneaks in a little nugget of wisdom. A pearl.

That's why I like his music.

Listen here.