Rings / Love is a Stranger (5:26)
album cover
from: Matadors
There Will Always be a Ring
She had told her daughter to give her a ring.
But the daughter asked, "Why would I give you a piece of jewelry?"
"No," she said. "Call me."
Still the daughter insisted.
"Telephones don’t ring, they play songs."
Telephones may play songs, but they still ring.
They send signals to a satellite
that circles the planet, that orbits the sun,
that loops the galaxy as it rings the universe.
Infinite.
A ring.
Musicians say sound travels in vibrations,
that ripple from its source in waves,
ringing like a pebble thrown in a pond.
It is why bells are said to ‘ring.’
Scientists say the universe is shaped like an annulus.
A ring.
All matter exists in the space
between two circles.
One inside the other.
Concentric.
Which is the very definition of a ring.
Poets say our lives are a circle.
May the circle be unbroken.
The circle of life. The ring of fire.
Sunrise and sun down.
Who are we to argue with the poets, the musicians, the scientists?
I say love has entwined our circular lives.
We are now two circles.
Concentric.
One inside another.
An annulus.
The very shape of the universe.
A ring.
So whether there is a piece of jewelry,
or a late night phone-sex telephone ring,
or a song,
or a poem,
or the sad bells of Rhymney ringing, "What did you bring me?"
The brown bells of Merthyr will answer, "A hope for the future."
There will always be a ring.
For love has made our lives the shape of the universe.
Infinite.
A ring.
Originally released on the Album with Paul Benoit Matadors (2012)
She had told her daughter to give her a ring.
But the daughter asked, "Why would I give you a piece of jewelry?"
"No," she said. "Call me."
Still the daughter insisted.
"Telephones don’t ring, they play songs."
Telephones may play songs, but they still ring.
They send signals to a satellite
that circles the planet, that orbits the sun,
that loops the galaxy as it rings the universe.
Infinite.
A ring.
Musicians say sound travels in vibrations,
that ripple from its source in waves,
ringing like a pebble thrown in a pond.
It is why bells are said to ‘ring.’
Scientists say the universe is shaped like an annulus.
A ring.
All matter exists in the space
between two circles.
One inside the other.
Concentric.
Which is the very definition of a ring.
Poets say our lives are a circle.
May the circle be unbroken.
The circle of life. The ring of fire.
Sunrise and sun down.
Who are we to argue with the poets, the musicians, the scientists?
I say love has entwined our circular lives.
We are now two circles.
Concentric.
One inside another.
An annulus.
The very shape of the universe.
A ring.
So whether there is a piece of jewelry,
or a late night phone-sex telephone ring,
or a song,
or a poem,
or the sad bells of Rhymney ringing, "What did you bring me?"
The brown bells of Merthyr will answer, "A hope for the future."
There will always be a ring.
For love has made our lives the shape of the universe.
Infinite.
A ring.
Originally released on the Album with Paul Benoit Matadors (2012)
Credits:
Rings/ Love is a Stranger
Chris Chandler/Paul Benoit
“the sacred hoop of my people was one of the many hoops that made one circle, wide as daylight and as starlight, and in the center grew one mighty flowering tree to shelter all the children of one mother and one father.” - Black Elk
Paul Benoit: Guitar, Shaker and Vocals
Janne Jacobsen: Vocals
Chris Chandler: Spoken Word
Recorded originally at: Casa Tortuga by: William Blackstone
with additional tracks recorded and mixed at 31st Ave Studio by: Jakael Tristam, Seattle, WA
Love is a Stranger originally released in: 2008
Chris Chandler/Paul Benoit
“the sacred hoop of my people was one of the many hoops that made one circle, wide as daylight and as starlight, and in the center grew one mighty flowering tree to shelter all the children of one mother and one father.” - Black Elk
Paul Benoit: Guitar, Shaker and Vocals
Janne Jacobsen: Vocals
Chris Chandler: Spoken Word
Recorded originally at: Casa Tortuga by: William Blackstone
with additional tracks recorded and mixed at 31st Ave Studio by: Jakael Tristam, Seattle, WA
Love is a Stranger originally released in: 2008
Rings/ Love is a Stranger
Chris Chandler/Paul Benoit
Published by: 9th Wave Publishing/ Stray Dog Music