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Medicine Road

from Old Blue Truck by Charles de Lint

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about

If the words of this song sound familiar, you've probably read my novel of the same name. Several years ago, MaryAnn and I took a research trip through parts of Arizona along with Terri Windling, Charles Vess (the artist for the book), his wife Karen, Julie Bartel, her husband Kenny, and Julie's sister Ann. We also had Mardelle and Richard Kunz along for part of the journey.

Our road trip started in Tucson and wound its way up into the mountains northwest of Phoenix. At our first stop in Prescott, we attended the first Faerieworld's Festival, where Terri was one of their Guests of Honour. The Kunzies left us early, but the rest of our posse travelled on in a couple of cars to Jerome and finally Sedona.

When MaryAnn and I got back home, the book and its wonderful illustrations were only an idea, but the landscape and the mood of what the story would be were still fresh in my mind, so I wrote this song, which appears in the beginning of the book.

lyrics

Red Dog chasing Jackalope
Out in the badlands that's the way it can go
Driven by hunger, looking for something
Deep in the desert, deep in the soul

Medicine wheel, dreams in the moonlight
From each direction, the four winds blow
Coyote Woman, she has a vision
Sets them to travel on the Medicine Road

refrain:
They're on the Medicine Road, out in the desert
Thunder is talking, rumbling low
Bound by a promise laid upon them
To help each other on the Medicine Road

In the flight of the hawk there is a mystery
In the sound of a flute hear a raven's cry
In the beat of a drum there is a heartbeat
In the eyes of a lover is a medicine sky
refrain

Smoke is rising, sage and sweetgrass
Smoke is rising like an eagle's flight
Smoke is rising, tobacco burning
Smoke is rising from a medicine pipe
refrain

Brothers and sisters are guided by spirits
Some follow the Ghost Dance, some the buffalo
Los peyoteros are guided by Mescal
Coyote's children take the Medicine Road
refrain

credits

from Old Blue Truck, released March 1, 2011

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about

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Charles de Lint Ottawa, Ontario

A full-time writer and musician, this author of more than eighty adult, young adult, and children’s books has won the World Fantasy, Aurora, Sunburst, and White Pine awards, among others. Modern Library's Top 100 Books of the 20th Century poll, voted on by readers, put eight of de Lint's books among the top 100. De Lint is also a poet, artist, songwriter, performer and folklorist. ... more

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