“‘I Have Been To The Mountain’ is a song for those struck down by the hands of evil – senseless killings which have always overwhelmed our planet, but especially recently. It’s dedicated to and inspired by the death of Eric Garner.”
Kevin Morby, Dead Oceans
As with Solange's A Seat on the Table and Haledo Negro's "It's My Brown Skin", Texan singer-songwriter Kevin Morby's "I Have Been to the Mountain" was a song that seemed tailor-made for the challenging realities of 2016. The song references Martin Luther King, Jr.'s famed last speech, which was delivered at the Mason Temple in Memphis, Tennessee, on April 3, 1968: one day before his assassination.
Morby channels Bob Dylan's weathered melancholy, sounding far more mature than his age (27 years old) suggests as he sings about a crowd of people who question if there is a better tomorrow behind all their hardship and commands them to 'Destroy the destroyer'. While he deals with adverse conditions, Morby's vocals gain weight and authority from the triumphant horns, uptempo bassline and transcendent backup vocals and harmonies from Hannah Cohen, Lauren Balthrop and Alecia Chakor:
'Calling outDemanding answersPleading skiesCry for hoursDropping peace bombsCollecting prayersA sky that mirrorsA sky that stares as I singI have been to the mountainAnd I have walked on his shoreI have seen but I can't see him no moreRound 'em out, make an echoDestroy the destroyerAnd do it fastThat man lived in this townTil that pig took him downAnd have you heard the soundOf a man stop breathing, pleading?I have been to the valleyAnd I have sung all her songsWatch me singWatch me sing alongAnd I sayI have been to the mountainAnd I have walked on his shoreI have seen but I can't see him no more
Lyrics: Genius
The accompanying music video complements the song memorably, choosing to dwell on the fleeting promise of life rather than the injustice of a life cut short. It features dancer Nathan Mitchell as a man who spends a brief moment on time on earth as a jovial ghost after his death on a hospital bed. Morby had reached out to the music video director, Phillip Lopez, after watching his short film “Fred Astaire with a stomach full of Corn Chips and Valium”, which also featured Mitchell's expressive dancing to another song, and featuring his emotive dancing to another song, “Harlem River":
“Kevin wanted to embrace the dancing of Nathan, and I had remembered a time in the hospital when a man was dying in the bed next to me, and his family was wailing in grief. The moment he died, they were all silent, and I felt as if his soul danced around the place. To me the message of the song resonated with this sort of nostalgic sagely wisdom, that empowers us even in death.”
Phillip Lopez, Dead Oceans
