The Sun is Gonna Shine Again

Steve Martin has a bluegrass band. Yes, that Steve Martin. He plays the banjo and sings, and if you dig bluegrass, I think you’ll dig Steve Martin and the Steep Canyon Rangers.

Martin and his colleague, Edie Brickell, wrote a beautiful musical titled “Bright Star.” Set in the 1920s and 1940s Blue Ridge Mountains, it’s a poignant story of love and loss. Some friends and I saw it this week, and the music has been echoing in my mind ever since.

As I wrote that sentence, my brain had a hard time wrapping itself around the fact that, yes, I was at that show on Monday. It’s Saturday, and things have changed. I’ve put myself on a pretty tight lock down, being diabetic and all, and am settled in for some quality time at home. It’s tough times, and I know that we’re feeling worried and stressed.

I also know that we’re going to make it. We’ll be cautious, careful, caring, and compassionate and together (separately…ha), we’ll make it.

My favorite piece from “Bright Star” is a song titled “Sun is Gonna Shine.” It’s a culminating piece in the show, bringing the voices of many of the characters together as they process the challenges they’re facing. I listened to it this morning, and friends, I can’t tell you how timely it is. See for yourself (and also please listen for yourself while you read the lyrics):

Alice:
Lonely broken feeling
Lonely to my soul

Mamma Murphy:
You got the power
You got the faith
You got the burnin’ fever
you got the light
you got the way
we’re never all alone

Alice:
So long sweet embraces
so long summer time

Mamma Murphy:
You got to fight
you got to say I’m never gonna stay down
You got the night
You got the day

Alice:
I got the old dark cloud

Mamma Murphy:
The sun is gonna shine again
the sun is gonna shine again

Alice and Mamma Murphy:
The sun is gonna shine again
the sun is gonna shine again

Margo Crawford:
Long time, I’ve been waiting
a long time, long enough

Girl 1:
You got the look
You got the feel

Girl 2:
You got the face of true love

Girls:
You got the charm
You got appeal

Margo:
I gotta let him go

Girls:
The sun is gonna shine again
the sun is gonna shine again

Margo and Girls:
The sun is gonna shine again

Female voices:
the sun is gonna shine again

Daddy Cane:
Something tells me it’ll be alright
Something tells me it’s gonna be okay
Something tells me it’ll be alright
Something tells me it’s gonna be okay

Ensemble:
The sun is gonna shine again
the sun is gonna shine again (x2)

Alice (While ensemble is singing the chorus):
The clouds are rolling
Rollin on by
The clouds are rollin on by (x2)

Alice and Ensemble:
The sun is gonna shine again
the sun is gonna shine again (x3)

This is the message I’m taking with me through the weeks to come. For a time, life as we know it will feel broken. As we wisely place physical space between us, we will feel lonely. The refrain that we need to sing over and over in our hearts and maybe even aloud in our homes (why not?), is this–the sun is going to shine again. The sun is going to going to shine again. The sun is going to shine again! The sun is going to shine again!