The Rocky Mountains are known as “the Backbone of the Earth” to the Blackfeet. Tribal groups worldwide have long recognized mountains as sacred and have reflected this in music, poetry and dance. This is my entry into this tradition. This song was begun in the winter of ’02 with Rob Quist during a blizzard in the Dakotas and finished on I-5 while driving with my family to Disneyland. Easter Sunday gridlock on an L.A. freeway inspired the chorus.

The heart is the start of every odyssey
Mother, father ‘n cryin’ baby
Uh-oh, the heart is the start of
Tappin’ the Earth’s backbone

Cold flows, snow blows up the Andes,
Alps, Ayers Rock, Himalayas and Rockies.
Uh-oh, Kilimanjaro is Tappin’ the Earth’s Backbone.

Well, you can spend your time in an uphill climb
Paying interest on the loans you find.
You can simplify and re-humanify
Celebrate relation with creation.

Hay-la Hay-na, dancing softly
As raindrops falling ‘tween the evergreens
Uh-oh, dancing’s the start of
Tappin’ the Earth’s Backbone.

Pulse beats deep under land,
Keeping time for the collective band.

Well, you can spend your time in an uphill climb
Paying interest on the loans you find or
You can simplify and re-humanify
Celebrate relation with creation

Heart is the start of our Legacy
As blood begins its journey to the sea.
Uh-oh, on the mountains start
Tappin’ the Earth’s Backbone.

Uh-oh, the heart is the start of
Tappin’ the Earth’s Back
Tappin’ the Earth back

Tappin’ the Earth’s Backbone.