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Northern Lights Seen Over Lewisburg Tennessee

from Lazy Afternoon by Jason Wilber

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about

“Northern Lights Seen Over Lewisburg Tennessee” was inspired by 3 things. The first is an old pencil box I used to have sitting on my desk. The pencils were the “Big Dipper” model, which I believe are the fat ones you use as a little kid. They were made by the J.R. Moon Pencil Co. in Lewisburg Tennessee. The celestial references made me curious about what was going on down there in Lewisburg. The second is an Eskimo folk tale I heard about the Northern Lights carrying off little kids for some reason or another. I don’t remember the story, but that one part of it stuck with me. The last element came when I was talking to my boss at the guitar store where I worked in my early twenties. For some reason he was explaining to me that the milky way is a spiral galaxy and it has these arms that sort of go out to the sides. I thought that was a beautiful image. So not too long after that, these three elements sort of collided in my mind one day and I wrote this song. I didn’t end up recording it until about 15 years later.

lyrics

Summer vacation, North Ontario
An old man telling stories
To his young grandson

CHORUS
The Northern Lights might find a child
And carry him away
To the shining spiral arms of the milky way

Aurora Borealis, Aurora Illinois
That’s where my Dad lives
Lied the lonely boy

Go and tell your Dad then
Go ahead and run
Laugh laughs the bully
Knows he hasn’t got one

CHORUS
The Northern Lights might find a child
And carry him away
To the shining spiral arms of the milky way
But the big dipper he just sits up there
And never says a thing
About the kid from Lewisburg Tennessee

INSTRUMENTAL VERSE

Aurora Borealis, Southern Tennessee
One in a million
I saw it on the TV

Unrelated items
Local lost and found
One quiet young man
Not a trace or a sound

CHORUS
The Northern Lights might find a child
And carry him away
To the shining spiral arms of the milky way
But the big dipper he just sits up there
And never says a thing
About the kid from Lewisburg Tennessee
Northern Lights Seen Over Lewisburg Tennessee

credits

from Lazy Afternoon, released January 1, 2006

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Jason Wilber Bloomington, Indiana

Jason Wilber is an American singer and recording artist. He is also known as the lead guitar player for singer-songwriters like John Prine, Iris Dement, Greg Brown, and many others. Jason Wilber’s work with John Prine includes the Grammy Award winning CD Fair & Square. In addition to playing guitar on John Prine’s 2017 album For Better or Worse, Jason also served as a Co-Executive Producer. ... more

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