The Great Plains offer a perspective that cannot be found in other places in North America. The endless skies, the limitless views, the land only broken by a few meandering rivers, cutting ever deeper into the rock layers below, exposing “chapters of the past”. It’s a place that will help us to realize our place in the universe, that our lives are just a “momentary flash” when compared to earth time, and time itself.
This song was inspired by such a trip to the badlands of Southern Alberta, as we explored the roads that eventually led back to the places where time seemed to stand still. I feel this is may be one of the best songs lyrically that I have written to date.
Chasing Clouds
copyright 2023 Steve Smith (SOCAN)
Intro
I’m on a road that never bends
Under a sky that never ends
I’m contemplating that I’m
Just chasing clouds, just chasing time
When the blacktop ends you know you’re in the rangeland
As the wheat fields now return to grass and sage
Where the cattle share this land with deer and Pronghorn
As we’re taken back into another age
Alternating cataclysmic stories
As the river cuts through chapters of the past
Through sand and ash and bone and ancient footprints
Hard evidence that nothings made to last
Just chasing clouds, I’m chasing time
A vapour trail appears off in the distance
Jet engines breathing fire into the sky
As I find my way around between the fences
My audience looks down from eight miles high
I’m a silent trail of dust amidst the patchwork
I’m a solitary soul lost in the wheat
I’m a momentary flash against the backdrop
Of 100 million years of history
Just chasing clouds, I’m chasing time
That daytime heat is only temporary
Gets pushed away by an early evening breeze
As the sun sinks down below the plains above me
Last rays of light now scattered through the trees
Got a sudden feeling that I’m not alone here
Adjust my eyes as far as I can see
There’s a universe unfolding up above now
As a million, million stars look down on me