Travel Playlist

A playlist is essential for setting the right tone. Just imagine the awkwardness if you messed up and included "Ding, dong, the witch is dead" on the playlist you listened to while driving to her funeral with your wife. Why you'd probably be including "Baby, come back" on your next playlist.

My sister and father are the real playlist masters of the family. But I need a good set of tunes to listen to on my long journey home (remember I'm traveling through Central America, entering the States in Texas, and heading to Boston overland). Here's what I'll be listening to starting tomorrow evening; my hope is that it strikes the right balance between leaving and arriving, between Andahuaylillas and Boston. What do you think? (I've linked to each song if you want to listen).

1. "Latinoamerérica" - Calle 13
   This is the song that turned me on to Calle 13. If you only listen to one song on the list, this should be the one. The video is beautiful (and it opens with a Quechua radio station in the Southern Andes).
   
   The first part of the this playlist is about where I've been. It's about Latin America, Peru, and all that I have had the honor of witnessing all that in which I ahve participated these two years.
   Tú no puedes comprar al viento (You cannot but the wind)
   Tú no puedes comprar al sol (You cannot buy the sun)
   Tú no puedes comprar la lluvia (You cannot but the rain)
   Tú no puedes comprar el calor (You cannot buy the heat)
   Tú no puedes comprar las nubes (You cannot but the clouds)
   Tú no puedes comprar los colores (You cannot but the colors)
   Tú no puedes comprar mi alegría (You cannot but my joy)
   Tú no puedes comprar mis dolores (You cannot buy my sorrows.)
   
   
   Aquí se respira lucha (Here we breathe the struggle)
   Yo canto porque se escucha (I sing because you can hear it)
   Aquí estamos de pie (Here we are standing)
   Que viva la América (Long live America)
   
   Que viva la América! Que viva el Perú! Kausachun Q'osqo! Kausanchun Andahuaylillas!
2. "El Profeta" - Grupo Siembra
   My favorite of all the religious songs I've learned in Peru. A prophet is not just one who speaks, but one who moves, who acts. The text is taken from the first chapter of Jeremiah, from God's call to the new prophet.
   Deja a tus hermanos, (Leave your brothers and sisters)
   deja a tu padre y a tu madre (leave your father and your mother)
   abandona tu casa (abandon your home)
   porque la tierra gritando está  (because the earth is crying out)
   nada traigas contigo (bring nothing with you)
   porque a tu lado yo estaré (because I will be at your side)
   es hora de luchar (it is time to fight)
   porque mi pueblo sufriendo está. (because my people are suffering)
   How could I not have come here? How could I not have done this service these two years? If it is God's voice that is burning inside me.
   
3. "Mi Perú" - Hermanos Zañartu
   A patriotic song which is filled with a joy that stands in contrast to the militaristic anthem. I may not have the pride of being Peruvian, but I am happy to have been here in the "ricas montañas" over the last two years.
   
4. "Lejos de ti" - Pelo D' Ambrosio
   This is one of my favorite Peruvian songs. It's definitely over the top, but in the best of Peruvian ways. Lejos de ti means "far from you." I have been far from so many people for so long; there is a sorrow in that distance that is never easy. This songs serves as a reminder that living here had a cost, and that the cost was worth it.
   
5. "Danza mi País" - Luis Enrique Ascoy
   From the first time we sang this song at mass, I knew I would be listening to it on my flight out. Peru is a dancing country, and I have danced with my friends here. It's the second verse that sticks out to me now. Perhaps this blog is an attempt to fulfill the mission expressed in the verse.
   Si vas a vivir en otras tierras, (If you go live in other lands)
   diles lo que pasa aqui en verdad, (Tell them what is truly happening here)
   cuentales que el odio y la miseria (Tell them that neither hate nor poverty)
   no nos han podido doblegar. (have been able to bend us)
   
   Habla de toda la gente buena (Speak of all the good people)
   que ha dado su vida por la paz (That have given their life for peace)
   y que, tras su muerte, los que quedan (and that, through their death, those that remain)
   se han unido para continuar. (have united to continue)
   
6. "Where the Streets Have No Name" - U2
   As one of the Nicaragua JVs said two years ago "This song is a religious experience." I could stretch a connection and say that Andahuaylillas is a place where the streets have no name, (They actually do have names, but no one knows them) but I included this song for its sound, not for its words. U2 expresses a deep longing for connection, for movement, for the Kingdom, and the great peace that surrounds that deep longing. This song also serves a transition from being in Peru to getting ready to leave.
   
7. "I Lived" - One Republic
   Songs 7 through 9 are all about reflecting on this experience.
   
   I owned every second that this world could give
   I saw so many places
   The things that I did
   Yeah, with every broken bone,
   I swear I lived.
   I swear I lived these two years as much as I could. I spent these two years, and it does all add up.
   
8. "I Was Here" - Beyoncé
   I just want them to know
   That I gave my all, did my best
   Brought someone some happiness
   Left this world a little better just because, I was here
   That's all I want for my students. I hope they know I loved them, and took great joy in them. I hope they know that, even when it wasn't enough, I did my best. I hope that I leave them a little better just because I was here.
   
9. "Todo Cambia" - Mercedes Sosa
   "Todo Cambia" (Everything changes) was written by a Chilean in exile. It's a song of hope, because if everything changes, then one day the dictatorship must end. It's a bittersweet song.
   
   Lo que cambió ayer (What changed yesterday)
   Tendrá que cambiar mañana (Will have to change tomorrow)
   Así como cambio yo (And so I change)
   En esta tierra lejana (In this distant land)
   
   I'm still me. When you see me again I doubt you'll find me very different. But I have changed, and more than just the length of my hair. I'm more deeply me than I was two years ago. I have lived something big and beautiful in this distant land and it has marked me.
   
10. "Wake Up" - The Arcade Fire
    This song is the travel song. I first heard "Wake Up" in the film The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. I include "Wake Up" in this playlist because it brings to mind the quote that drove the movie:
    
    
    The Secret Life of Walter Mitty is about going out and living. Walter Mitty takes a grand trip around the world. As I travel home, I'm ending one adventure and starting another. Don't sleep people, life is happening now!
    
11. "Prepárame la Cena" - Calle 13Calle 13 began the Peru part of the playlist (1-9). Now we come back to Calle 13 for the Going Home part of the playlist (10-15). There are so may lines from this song I could highlight, but I'll just point out these three:
    
    No se cuentan los segundos, se cuentan historiasThis line is playing on the two definitions of the verb cuentan. It means both to count and to tell. So it could mean: You don't count the second, you tell the stories.
    
    Yo soy libre por que desde aquí yo vuelo
    Solo toca despegarse del suelo
    I am free because from here I fly
    All that's left is to take off from the ground.
    
    Prepárame la cena, que regreso pronto
    "Prepare me some supper, because I will be back soon." 
    
12. "Coming Home" - Diddy Dirty Money
    I don't relate much to the verses, but the chorus nails it.
    I'm coming home
    I'm coming home
    Tell the world that I'm coming home
    
13. "Home" - Gabrielle Aplin
    Cause they say home is where your heart is set in stone
    
    After living with people who have moved around a lot in their youth, I'm stunned at how deeply I am from where I am from, at how deeply my home is Home. I suspect that I was made for Boston, and that I belong to it as much as it belongs to me. Someone's calling, and the number starts with 617. I think I'll take it.
    
14. "Into the West" - Annie Lenox
    As a Lord of the Rings fan, it's fitting to use the song from the end of the movie trilogy.
    
    Don't say
    We have come now to the end
    White shores are calling
    You and I will meet again
    I'll be back here. Not next year. Maybe not the year after. But I'll come back. And we'll eat good food. And we'll drink terrible wine. And we'll enjoy each other.
    
15. "Time" - Hans Zimmer"
    To me, "Time" is the sound of coming home. The wonder, the fullness, the simplicity. Of course, "Time" comes from the movie Inception and plays over the closing of the film, when main character Dominic Cobb comes home after a long time away. The closing of the film leaves us wondering if Cobb is awake or if he is still dreaming. Coming home is a dream, and it will be hard to believe that the streets that have existed only in my dreams for the last two years are solidly real.
    
16. "I'm Shipping Up To Boston" - The Dropkick Murphys
    The title says it all.