Into the Mystic

We were born before the wind
Also younger than the sun
Ere the bonnie boat was won as we sailed into the mystic
Hark, now hear the sailors cry
Smell the sea and feel the sky
Let your soul and spirit fly into the mystic
And when that fog horn blows I will be coming home
And when that fog horn blows I want to hear it
I don’t have to fear it
I want to rock your gypsy soul
Just like way back in the days of old
Then magnificently we will float into the mystic

-Van Morrison “Into the Mystic”

 

Someone who knows how much I love good music recently asked me what was my favorite song of all time. Anyone who appreciates music will tell you that this is an almost impossible question to answer. I think that, for most people, music is something that runs like a thread through the fabric of our lives. Different songs, voices, melodies remind us of the chapters of our life stories. Sometimes these memories are happy, perhaps sometimes not. But I know of nothing else that can bring the past to life more vividly than a song.

In considering the question of what song could possibly be my favorite, I ran through quite a few options. Springsteen’s “Jungleland,” Billy Joel’s “Scenes from an Italian Restaurant,” “I’ve Been Loving You Too Long” by Otis Redding, all were possibilities. Perhaps Neil Young’s “Harvest Moon” or Jackson Browne’s “Sky Blue or Black” could be at the top of my list? What about something from U2? Jimmy Buffet? Nat “King” Cole?

If I had to settle on just one, though, there’s a good chance that it would be “Into the Mystic,” by Van Morrison. I’ve included the lyrics to this lovely song above. Perhaps one of you can tell me what they mean, because to tell you the truth, I have no earthly idea. Every time I hear the song, it invokes a certain imagery for me, but it’s not the same thing each time. I spent my elementary school years living in the seaside town of Gloucester, Massachusetts, and remember the smell of salt and fish in the air, and falling asleep each night to the distant sound of the foghorns from Ten Pound Island and the Eastern Point lighthouse. So the imagery that Morrison evokes in this song definitely brings me to those happy memories. But beyond that, I can’t tell you why the song holds so much meaning for me, mainly because I have never decided for certain what he is talking about. Is “the Mystic” a river? Is it the ocean? Is it heaven? Is it a place at all, or rather, perhaps, a state of being? Is it love?

Maybe it is that “unknowing” that makes the song so appealing to me. It can be anything I want it to be; anything I need it to be at any particular point in my life. It fits many moods, and it helps to “center” me, regardless of whether I am feeling up or down. It is something I can return to in my mind, anywhere, and be instantly reminded of things that are good in my life.

Can a school serve that purpose, too? I would like to think so. I’d like for the Alan A. Lewis Primary School, and for all of Holy Innocents’, to be a “favorite song” for our students. Something that will serve them well long after they leave our campus. It is my hope that we have created, and continue to build, a school that will be remembered in a joyful way by each person who spends time here. The “song” of this school will have a different melody, and different lyrics, for each individual. Each person will hear it sung in a different voice. It may be that they don’t even know what specifically it is that makes them happy when they recall this tune. But if we as students, teachers and families together are successful as composers, then the music of Holy Innocents’ Episcopal School will be something that stays with all of us throughout our lives.