From ANDRAS JONES: In the final musical divination of our session with singer-songwriter VIVIAN COOK, as is the custom, she asks her own question. It’s personal to her but I think we can all find something to relate to in it. The musical answer, and all its train references, has me thinking about the recent train derailment and crash about 20 miles north of Olympia, the city which has been the focus of so much of this episode. I’m not saying our reading predicted the crash (or that it didn’t). I am saying that, if we extend Vivian’s question about cultivated love and the “butterfly” variety, as well her train themed answer, and then we apply these to the question of bullying inspired by my experience at KAOS in Olympia, a complex and potentially revealing picture comes into foggy focus. Squint your mind and it becomes clearer. We who are on the train can afford to contemplate butterflies and happenstance, while those tasked with making sure the speeding cars stays on their tracks must be more rigorous in making things work regardless of feelings, hopes and fears. If we imagine the inside of the train to be the organizations in which we work, live and play, and we imagine the tracks and the train car’s mechanics to be the organizations themselves we can see that without systems the keep the train on its tracks, the happy ride of those inside is merely temporary, and hazardous.

Train Conversations

Capo I

C G/B Amin G

Met a boy named Jesus on a train to San Francisco
He told me bout his sister and he taught me how to whistle
I said, Jesus, I don’t understand how I could live according to your plan
He said, You could always change your name, or roll the dice, it’s all the same

Met a boy named Robert E. Lee who spoke in rhyme in three part harmony
I did not yet understand that a loving man has calloused hands
He told me bout all his trials and the whole time he couldn’t help but smile
If you love something, let it go, if it comes back, well then now you know

F C F G

And I’ve been ridin from station to station
Yeah I’ve been ridin in search of train conversations

C G/B Amin G

Met a girl named Mercury who moved like art and danced like steam
She had the kind of eyes that make strong men turn to compromise
She took me into her bed and there she turned all my thoughts to red
I used to think in twos and threes, now red’s the only color for me

Met a boy named Lucifer, thought, God, your mama, you must have hated her
He said, Baby, will you ever forget the day that you and I first met
He poured me a shot or four and that’s how I came to see the score
Oh he had been her favorite son, her morning star, her shining one

F C F G

And I’ve been ridin from station to station
Yeah I’ve been ridin in search of train conversations

C G/B Amin G

Met a girl named Blythe who was head over heels with life
She practiced climbing trees and did her business on her knees
She ran until she couldn’t breathe and that’s how she lived life with ease
If there’s one thing I’ve found to be true-
it’s that you can’t get back what you don’t do

F C F C
No you can’t get back what you don’t do

F C F C
But I keep on ridin oh in search of you

F C F C
Yeah you got me ridin from station to station

F C F G
Yeah you got me ridin in search of train conversations