I came to America on January 14th, 1989. My flight arrived around 5pm that afternoon, by which time it was already dark and very cold. I lost the sensation in my toes almost as soon as I stepped out of the airport terminal. Initially unable to comprehend the cold, I reasoned (irrationally) that there must be air conditioning outside. I was reuniting with my mother, father, younger brother, and my future husband, all of whom already lived here, but that didn't stop me from being homesick. My dissatisfaction started small: first, I hated the oranges. They were too yellow and too sweet. The bananas tasted like straw, they were too firm and too tart. The papayas were entirely hopeless.
Then I hated the weather. I missed the quality of light that we'd get at ten degrees north, I missed thundershowers, and being able to drive my car a few hundred yards ahead of one, or to drive into one as into a car wash.Worse - there were no hills, no natural landmarks. It is fair to say that I grieved for the land that I'd left. Not the country, but the land. There wasn't enough light in the house, or in the day. Or in my mind for that matter. I couldn't yet appreciate the beauty of winter. I didn't notice the almost lace-like outline of the naked branches against the sky, and just how many branch patterns there were among the different tree species. I really wasn't seeing.
This was the setting in which I heard Pat Metheny's music for the first time. The album was called, appropriately enough, "Letter from Home".
The first song released off the album was "Have You Heard". No, I hadn't. It blew my mind. The sound was so new and yet had something of the familiar in it. I loved the wordless vocals Pat used on that and other tracks. There were gentle optimistic tunes like "Better Days Ahead", and "Spring Ain't Here"; the infectious, almost calypso-sounding "Beat 70"; and the heartbreaking title song "Letter from Home". This album 'settled' me in some way and became the soundtrack for my life those first few months. Pat's from Missouri, but before I knew that I had already associated his music with the 'big-sky'. Yet there was an incredible intimacy, too. Spring came and I opened my eyes.There were crocuses and daffodils, and there was light.
More on Pat Metheny...
See play-list for "Have You Heard" or check out the You Tube video bar.
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Pigeon Point sunset -2007
Pigeon Point jetty - 2007
National flag of Trinidad and Tobago
Pat Metheny's album - Letter from Home
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