Well there is actually another version of this I posted on here in Aug of 2024. But, this version feels for authentic to me. Sometimes songs get stuck in boxes under the bed too. Imagine my surprise when I found this song again, preserved on a performance video no less. Written on the tiple it has that slightly janky, out-of-tuneness that I associate with old field recordings and early country music. The lyric is pretty spot on too for the secular gospel threading of the needle. I do love it when I can lay a song right in the middle of gospel and gravy, half faith and half crazy, leaning in but lazy, a half-baked hazy halo sayin’ hello and good-bye, hittin the nail on a nice try-it’s long past time to get back to loving thy neighbors again, doin unto others we’d have them do unto and then some. A spiritual Dim Sum, something for everybody
Lyrics-
Wisteria vine
Can’t u hear them pretty bells a ringin
From the chapel through the empty square
They are ringing for the righteous the loyal and the just
But their ain’t nobody there
Once there was pity for the beggar
Sympathy for the losers and the poor
Once there was dignity shared among all
But there ain’t nothing like it anymore
One day I hope we find the way
And this ship one again will be steered
By the honest, the humble, the virtuous and kind
Sweet as a wisteria vine
The mystery pressed between your hand and mine
Sweet as a wisteria vine
Bonus- an omitted verse
“wisteria’s waft
want for what we won’t want
when we want for what
we don’t know what we need
Love lays under greed
Does the best she can
With what is left of her
Darkness hanging over the land”
