We wrote last about Anais Mitchell.  And then we tried to move on.  But we could not.  Check out Mitchell performing one of the highlights off her latest album (Young Man in America), the harrowing song Shepherd.  The song is based on a story written by Mitchell’s father.  The lyrics are below the video.  This one’s gonna hurt.  Word to the wise.  Heed the call.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oekziw9M7L4&feature=channel&list=UL

SHEPHERD

Said the shepherd to his wife / ‘The crop of hay is cut and dried
I’ll bale it up and bring it in / Before the coming storm begins’
‘Go’ she said ‘and beat the storm / And then there is another chore
Today the baby will be born / You’ll take me to the hospital’
Said the shepherd ‘if it’s true / Twere better if I stayed with you
I’d rather let the harvest go / And hasten to the hospital’
‘Nay’ she told him ‘I’ll be fine / We both have laboring to do
You do yours and I’ll do mine / And the babe will wait till the work is thru’
The shepherd rode the yellow rows / The clouds above and the fields below
Until the bales had all been tied / Then homeward turned to find his wife
The sweat was wet upon her brow / Her breath it cameth laboredly
And then the rain was coming down / Upon the fields of yellow hay
Said the shepherd, ‘it’s no use / The rain will surely win the race
Twere better if we let it fall / And hurry to the hospital’
‘Go’ she said ‘and work with haste / And bring the bales into the barn
Else the crop will go to waste / The babe will wait till the work is done’
The shepherd drove into the storm / And to and from the yellow barn
Till half the bales were safely in / Then went to find his wife again
How many times her name he called / But no replying would she make
Her breath it cameth not at all / She would not rise from where she lay
The storm was o’er within the hour / The shepherd saw the sun come out
The shepherd’s wife saw ne’er again / He buried her and the babe within
He turned the seed into the ground / He brought the flock to feed thereon
He held the cleaver and the plow / And the shepherd’s work was never done