Call/Response

Michael Channing

you feel unwelcome in your home and in your skin
the solitude of darkness is your one and only friend
you fall asleep beneath a storm that never ends
the river of your dreams the only water that will cleanse

you send out a call
the radio responds

you hear your heart's reflection and the spectrum of your fears
in a ghostly voice from faraway delivered to your ears
the sum of all your hopes and dreams reducing you to tears
your spark and rage your love and hate have never been more clear

you send out a call
the radio responds

the rhythm and the echo gives you power, lends you strength
the cosmos reaching into you on a personal wavelength
the radio is loud and soft but warm and always true
you listen under clearing skies to the frequency of you

you sent out a call
the radio replied

Liner Notes

Some of my favorite memories of my teenage years are of staying up late in my basement room and listening to the local college radio station. I heard R.E.M., Nine Inch Nails, The Spin Doctors, They Might Be Giants, all for the first time, plus a bunch of other bands and songs I might not have ever found on my own. Sure NIN and R.E.M. blew up and went global, but at the time, I thought I was the only one who knew of them. All that greatness, righteousness, and rage came boiling in on my radio for free. I taped a lot of of things, but mostly I let each night be its own moment, lost but remembered and carried forever like a jazz performance. I didn't want anyone with me. The moment was for me alone. I was learning what I liked. I was making myself.