The wind is blowing through your hair, the landscape rolls by your car windows, a blur of greens. In front of you the sun melts away so you move faster, the same urgency propelling you to catch it that made you chase rainbows as a child, knowing there would be a pot of gold waiting for you.
This was the scene painted for me by the breezy tune, “When I Get There” by Arbour Season.
For me, it’s about looking for your place in the world – your home where you feel natural. The singers explain in the chorus,
I am chasing the sunset
letting it tell me where to go.
And I know when I get there
I’ll find my home.
However, while many songs about movement and searching will take on a frantic energy to them, this one takes on a more mindful and calm feeling that signifies the search is not urgent and the view is being enjoyed. This feeling of enjoying oneself on the journey also seems to contradict the title, “When I Get There“.
However, on second examination the title also has no urgency for arrival; it merely states that, one day, the singer will get where they’re going. This mindfulness is reflected in the lyrics:
Open land rushing by
I guess it’s okay here and now.
The singers explain, “Running from the sea don’t you dare follow me… It’s a natural thing… don’t follow me.”
Leaving or ending relationships is a natural thing in life -the past lets us go just as much as we let go of it. This is a big nugget of wisdom in the age of Facebook, where people hold onto relationships after they are long dead.
The song feels like a fresh wind blowing through leaves. The calm feeling induced by it can largely be attributed to its references to nature. Mountains, stars, the sun, clouds, and the rain are all mentioned. The pattering of rain is also mimicked in the song’s beginning with instrumental notes, and then the song ends with the sounds of real rain. This may mean that the singer’s goal of finding a home has become real. After all, rain is a symbol of growth, and in that also a symbol of being rooted somewhere.
Also, the singer’s croon in the beginning of the song, “Smokey mountain sight, rain clouds to the right” and by the end of the song the rain has come. This shows a passing of time during the song which can be interpreted as emphasizing that the song is in itself a journey to be enjoyed.
The song is a duet, which shows unity and companionship, yet the singer’s mention following the “lonesome sun” and the “lonesome star” to find their way home. Even though they’re singing together, it feels like the singers are apart and looking for each other. Maybe the home they are looking for is another person, not a place.
“When I Get There,” lulls you into a feeling of ease and wonder. It laps at you like a gentle sea, and surges through you like a startling breeze.
