AIO Songs #1: The Great Adventure (Neal Morse Band)

 

A pretty good song to start off this series, huh? I mean, it’s literally called “The Great Adventure.” Adventures in Odyssey, you know?

Why does it remind me of AIO?

First off, the title, like I said. But several other lines remind me of Odyssey, as well. “I can see the city standing there” makes me picture the singer heading for Odyssey.

“I’m going for the simple way/Like Huck and old Tom Sawyer” reminds me of some of those older characters, like Tom especially. “The path of the peaceful warrior” is a bit like Jack. And these lines could apply to Whit as well.

“I am striving for a better life and/I feel like I can make it here” could fit a lot of characters (Richard Maxwell and Buck Oliver are two I can think of, though there’s probably plenty of others). Several of the lines of the second verse apply here as well.

I love this next one: “I’m on the path my father trod/And the answer to me lies/Maybe somewhere in his eyes”. Beautiful line. And it reminds me of Jason, in a way. His relationship with his father, especially when he first comes to Odyssey. But honestly… it could apply to so many of the other characters, who think of Whit as a father.

Then the bridge. “All the voices” connects to radio, because they’re all voices. Right now, I’m honestly just thinking about the people who don’t get into it because it’s just radio. They got trapped in all they see, or can’t see.

“Lunatics and politics,” yeah, there are those in some of the sagas. Novacom made a few lunatics, and Blackgaard had several counterplots going in politics.

To wrap it up, the last line of the chorus “Anything can happen here” is Odyssey to a T. That’s why I always loved that one exchange in Ties That Bind so much:

“It feels like anything could happen in a place like this!”
“Oh, give it time. It will.”

It’s just so Odyssey. Literally ANYTHING can happen here.

 

Lyrics:

I'm headed out to who knows where

My path is treading lightly

I can see the city standing there

The morning clouds behind me

 

And where I go I will be found

As the valley mystifies

And the world turns on its side

 

I'm going for the simple way

Like Huck and old Tom Sawyer

I'm seeking for the light of day

The path of the peaceful warrior

 

The sky is red under the sun

As the earth begins to rise

Like a love that never dies

 

It's the great adventure of my life and

I feel the motion everywhere

It's the great adventure of my life and

There's revolution in the air

I am striving for a better life and

I feel like I can make it here

It's the great adventure of my life and

Anything can happen here…

 

I leave behind my apprenticeship

A fancy word for nothin'

I was an intern for the mothership

A flunky for destruction

 

I'm on the path my father trod

And the answer to me lies

Maybe somewhere in his eyes

 

It's the great adventure of my life and

I feel the motion everywhere

It's the great adventure of my life and

There's revolution in the air

I am striving for a better life and

I feel like I can make it here

It's the great adventure of my life and

Anything can happen here

 

***

 

All the voices made their choices, trapped in all they see

The lunatics and politics all binding up in me

Breaking out, I'm leaving doubt and darkness far behind

I’m pushing through to something new

That's glowing in my mind

Glowing in my mind

 

***

 

It's the great adventure of my life and

I feel the motion everywhere

It's the great adventure of my life and

There's revolution in the air

It’s the great adventure of my life

It's the great adventure of my life and

Anything can happen here…