High Desert

by Kaitie Ty Warren

Photo: Arad, Israel Palestine

This song came to me straight through a dream, and I did my best to capture it intact. Once in the waking world, it took me a while to pull the pieces apart and realize it is both a round and a longer song with harmonies.

This song seems to contain layers of poetry that I may not even fully understand myself, but to me it invokes an acknowledgement of the natural cycles of life – of destruction, and rebirth, and of comings and goings. It also serves as a reminder to me that I do not know everything – and I certainly don’t know whether a given change is “good” or “bad” or both at once, or neither. Sometimes I don’t even know which direction to pray for things to go in.

Note to other Songleaders: It is available for community teaching, and the easiest way to use it in a once-off workshop is either to teach the first verse in melody only, then make it a round, or teach the first verse with the two harmonies and let people play with it. We have had some sweet moments before the harmonies were crystallized of letting people add whatever they heard as well. I would appreciate it being carried with source knowledge and, if it’s taught this way, at least a nod to the fact that it’s part of a longer song which is available here on this website. If you want to make lyric sheets available, the whole thing becomes a quick teach after the harmonies are settled in.

Lyrics:

Way up high in the desert
Way up high in the desert
There’s a storm cloud coming
May it all turn around

Far away in the mountain
Far away in the mountain
There’s a boulder crumbling
May it all turn around

For the life of the treetops
For the life of the treetops
There’s a winter forming
May it all turn around

In the depth of the darkness
In the depth of the darkness
There’s a sunrise coming
May it all turn around

In the tears of our silence
In the tears of our silence
There’s a revolution (note the different timing)
May it all turn around

Way up high in the desert… (as a round – which works with both the melody and the harmonies. In this recording we have both melody in round and harmonies represented by the end of the round)
Repeat: May it all turn around

Note in case it’s helpful:
In this arrangement, the round happens in this order:

• Melody Group (stays on melody the whole way through)
• High Group (on melody) joins in 2nd
• Low Group (on melody) joins in 3rd
• High Group splits and introduces High harmony on 2nd pass
• Low Group splits and introduces Low harmony on 2nd pass
• When all singers are repeating “May it all turn around,” the high group lengthens “around” to get in sync with the other two groups
• The Low Group who is on melody during the “May it all turn around” repetition gets a new harmony at this point (optional)

Full Arrangement:
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Melody:

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Low Harmony:

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High Harmony:

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