Songs From Poems: No Storms Come

The Innocence Mission: No Storms Come

[Purchase]

When I was reading up on Victorian poet Gerard Manley Hopkins to prepare to write this post, I came across this line:

He is regarded by different readers as the greatest Victorian poet of religion, of nature, or of melancholy. [source]

This line struck me because the song I post is by The Innocence Mission, a band I could describe the same way. Both the band and the poet are devout Catholics, and they write often about the beauty and strength of the natural world, and do so in the most hauntingly beautiful and melancholic way.

The poem the song was taken from is called "Heaven-Haven: A Nun Takes the Veil". The poem (and song) itself says nothing religious, but talks about a longing for a place where things are always beautiful and never hard, and in that regard it is like Heaven. In Hopkins life, he seemed to struggle with his conflicting views between whether he could be a good Jesuit priest as well as a poet, and also was battling the conflict between his religious beliefs and (according to a number of sources) his sexuality. He died at a fairly young age of typhoid fever, only to have his poetry that was largely unpublished before his death, later praised as being ahead of its time.

Public Domain: East Virginia

The Innocence Mission: East Virginia

[Purchase Innocence Mission records]

This song has already gotten a post about it back during our States of the Union week, representing Virginia. Boyhowdy, in all his cover-lovin' glory posted three fantastic versions of this old song. But my favorite version is this one, one that hasn't been posted here before, and it is by one of my favorite bands, The Innocence Mission.

If you've heard the fairly well known Joan Baez version, you can tell that this is basically a cover of her version of the song, as it has the same tempo and is sung the same way. I have a love/hate relationship with Baez's voice depending on the song she's singing, and I just don't care for it on this one. Karen Peris' voice is smoother, she hits higher notes and the affect literally gives me chills. It's as if a ghost is singing the song, which I think is perfect considering the lyrics are about a woman you met once and have been haunted by since.

This version of the song was never released though, which is a shame because I think it's amazing, and right up there with some of the band's best work. Back around 2000, 2001, the internet was just taking off and the band was uploading a new rare or unreleased track to their site once a month for their fans. This was one of them, and that's how I came to have it and I am glad I get an excuse to share it with others now as well.

Bodies of Water: The Lakes of Canada

The Innocence Mission: The Lakes of Canada

[Purchase]

How could I not post one of the best songs by one of my favorite bands this week? I posted another Innocence Mission song a while back, but this one is really one of their most beautiful. It has warranted itself a number of different cover versions as well, including one by Sufjan Stevens, but really, I don't think any cover could compare with the original.

Karen Peris' soft vocals on this song lend themselves to the calm contented feelings evoked by the song. In the song, she is rowing on a Canadian lake and feeling hopeful and joyful. It is one of those rare moments in life of pure happiness where anything seems possible.

Hope and Change: Beautiful Change

The Innocence Mission: Beautiful Change

[Purchase]

The Innocence Mission are one of the most hopeful bands I could think of. Their music, tinged by their faith but not overwhelmed by it (because that is a major turn-off to me), is simple, beautiful, hopeful, yet melancholy. It captures the vulnerability and innocence of childhood wonder, as well as a sense of adulthood humbleness in the face of life's splendor.

This song in particular is not necessarily about some grand sense of change, but a change nonetheless. I imagine that the song is more about a personal growth, as well as the beautiful changes that appear as life unfolds, like watching children grow and learn. Whatever the change, the sense of serenity and joy in this song is overwhelming, as it is in most of their music and even in their persona as a band.

The band is mostly the songwriting and singing of Karen Peris, with contributions from her husband Don Peris. The concerts of theirs I have been to have been some of the best of my life. And the love between Karen and Don is eminent on stage and within their music. Most of all, the band means something special to me because they're from my hometown of Lancaster, PA, and they often talk about Pennsylvania in their songs and it makes the music all the more real for me.