"Can't Find My Way Home" by Steve Winwood

Making a way through the fog

“Come down off your throne, leave your body alone / Somebody's got to change”

This is one of those songs, there’s nothing you can write about it. Steve Winwood doesn’t gab about writing it, won’t explain what it’s about, which is great. More people should do that, let the song stand on its own. This one sure does.

Who cares what it’s about? The point is to sing it.

“You are the reason I've been waiting so long / Somebody holds the key (it ain't me)”

For me there was a girl in junior year going, “yeah, Living Colour is ok. But have you heard Blind Faith?” Seems like we all devoured everything at that age, and music still took a while to reach you. “Ubiquity” wasn’t a thing yet, for us kids. Cultural context was still subconscious.

“But I'm near the end and I just ain't got the time / And I'm wasted and I can't find my way home”

I mean, this song could just be one more product of an acid trip. Which wouldn’t make me mad, though it’s hard to sustain that level of creativity if drugs are your only gateway. Not being able to find your way home is a pretty universal experience on one level or another, so I’m glad it found its way into a melody.

This melody is a kind of home, all by itself. Something to hold onto as you make your way through the fog.

“Come down on your own, leave your money at home / Somebody's got to change”

An AI could never create music like this. All of the information in this song could be thoroughly absorbed and then recombined with all the other information in all the other great songs, then craftily assembled into a super-song of epic excellence. Perfectly to spec.

And it would be crap.

The point - the point of all of this - is to make people feel less lonely. I’ve got enough music inside my head to keep me entertained all day long. Lots of people do, we don’t need more of it, and it takes a lot of work to put it into the air. So why do we do it? So that people can come together, that’s why. So people can find their way home.

“You are the reason I've been waiting all these years / Somebody holds the key”

My tagline for this blog does a lot of the heavy lifting around here: “Music is not content, it’s connection” is the thing I will say instead of going on yet another rant about Everything That Was Lost In All The Change. The changes continue to be problematic, but they are not the problem. Change is not a problem.

The problem is that people think they know what they want, but they have no idea what they need. None of us do, there’s so much “information” in the way of the truth. Sifting through it all is exhausting.

But here’s a hint: calling any kind of art “Content” is a calming way to sideline something hugely powerful that rarely fits in a container. What if your Content is uncontainable? Real people are uncontainable. Life is uncontainable.

Music? Totally uncontainable. Let’s not delude ourselves.

“But I'm near the end and I just ain't got the time / And I'm wasted and I can't find my way home”

Make the time:

THANKS for reading and listening. Do you like my stuff? Please help the audience grow by sharing this post with one friend:

• Who am I? trevorexter.music

• Like and subscribe: https://www.youtube.com/@trevorexter

• Follow me on IG \ FB

• Hear my music: the “Trevor Exter Playlist” (Spotify)

• Peruse my collection: https://bandcamp.com/xotrmusic

• Hear 80 penetrating interviews with great musicians in the Play It Like It’s Music podcast archive.

• Sign the mailing list!