AL'S COMMENTS: I wrote the chorus of this song around the time I mentally became liberated from my home of 14 years in Van Nuys, CA, a condo I bought while in my 20s. I finished the song later when I got very clear on what I was going to do: sell it and move to Peru to work on aquaculture and be trained by a Shipibo shaman. I don't know if there's anything quite so liberating as selling your home, parting with your possessions, and embarking on an adventure of the soul.

I like the nautical 6/8-meter sway of the music, the deep, woody tone of the baritone acoustic guitar my brother built for me (with which I wrote this song). After a few attempts at a bass track that weren't quite right, Scotty said "Wait. I know what to do!" He grabbed his fretless bass and laid down one of the sweetest, most perfect bass tracks ever, which really gave the right emotion to the loping gait of the song.

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RAISE MY SAIL (Click HERE to preview/download the song.)

Never wanted this house, but the market was good
Isn't that what the grown-ups do, you lay down some roots?
Bind a restless heart to a mortgage check
And count the ten thousand little deaths

Fourteen years on a hampster wheel
Island sinking, the devil's deal

CHORUS:
Gonna raise my sail and answer winds of change
Wherever they blow, that's where I'll go
Gonna raise my sail, let destiny prevail
The heading may be a surprise to me
But I'll raise my sail, raise my sail

Always thought by this age, that I'd I've the life
Of husband and father, or at least have the wife
Hoping and praying that someday I'd find The One
Time to toss out the story book and have me some fun

Fourteen years on a hampster wheel
Island sinking, the devil's deal

Chorus
BRIDGE

No I'm not giving up, I'm just giving in
To the heart of the seeker I've always been

Musicians:
Al Polito: Vocals, Baritone and standard acoustic guitars, electric guitars
Chet McCracken: Drums
Scotty Manzo: Fretless Bass

Recorded at Rocky Road Ranch Studios
Produced by Scotty Manzo and Al Polito