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August 15, 2025 18 mins

From the Songstage Studio, Andrew talks about the song “He Found Himself.” This song is Andrew's story in 3 1/2 minutes! It's about Andrew “waking up” one day and realizing he REALLY didn’t like the corporate rat race he was on! Coming out of a difficult divorce, he purchased an old broken-down cabin and fixed it up with his own 2 hands!  Andrew’s cabin is akin to Henry Thoreau’s on Walden Pond. There is something truly “liberating” when one takes the time to remove themselves from society…to really find out what one wants from their Life!

 

“Sailing” is perhaps one of Andrew’s BEST songs! It seems that most people get wrapped up in the “destination” or goal and fail to enjoy the Journey! And thus postpone Happiness for a future date…which may never come… This song carries the listener into risk, wind, waves, and immensity of the sea…but also brings a deep awareness of “Life IS its own RewardLife IS its own Answer! And that BOTH the Destination and Journey are needed and are perhaps of equal value. Andrew also discusses the AMAZING VIDEO, shot on Super-8 movies by his Skipper…Uncle Chuck, which shows true pioneers of Alaska in the 50s, 60s, 70s, and 80s!

 

These two songs begin Andrew's album "Search for Significance": https://open.spotify.com/album/0yKEqidP2h4BDu8wcMVdLX?si=fqTZJ12AT6i960idNsvy1w


Chapter Markers

(00:00) Intro

(01:05) Music focus: Search for Significance; why “He Found Himself” and “Sailing”

(01:44) Exhaustion → retreat: the cabin, fixing it by hand; “hermitage” and isolation

(02:57) Nature as master teacher; renewal, life/death cycles; authentic video around the cabin

(04:13) Re-recording and orchestration: making it “a bit more epic”

(05:12) “He Found Himself” (performance)

(08:09) “Sailing”: imagery, risk, and the zen of the journey

(10:35) “Life is its own reward”: vessel-as-alive; reverence for things that carry us

(11:56) Destination vs. journey: vision matters, but joy belongs to the ride

(13:37) Super-8 family archives: Alaska work, boats, danger, pioneers; “let’s go sailing”

(15:24) “Sailing” (performance)

(18:52) Closing & sign-off

Song: Twisted World - andrew reed & the liberation

Album: As a Bird of the Air… (Trilogy I Album 1)


Song: He Found Himself - andrew reed & the liberation

Album: Search for Significance (Trilogy IV Album 1)

Song: Sailing - andrew reed & the liberation

Album: Search for Significance (Trilogy IV Album 1)

Social Media Links


www.mvi.life

Official Website: www.AndrewReedMusic.com

Facebook: @andrewreedandtheliberation 

X: @AndrewReedMusic 

Instagram: @AndrewReedMusic 

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/2Lx7DnbB5qyt7uwV8yeHwE

Youtube Channel: @andrewreedtheliberation

MVI Phone #: (828) 698-5885

Click here to view the episode transcript.
Click here to watch a video of this episode.

Watch out for the next message, every two weeks on Fridays @ 7:01 am (EST)!


“I’m heading for shore that may not be there anymore, but I don’t mind. I’m sailing, so any shore is fine.”

Mark as Played
Transcript

Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
What are you willing to throw your life away on With
Andrew Reed and The Liberation.It's a serious question, one
worth pondering. Am I living thelife I want, an intelligent
life, or something else? How canI have a better experience of
life? These are some of thequestions explored in this

(00:34):
series of messages without thebrag and the advertisement.
Getting beyond even humaninstitutions and society into
the wilderness, nature, thereality of how life actually
operates on this planet. Thesemessages range from intimate
recordings from the awakenedforest to concerts, national

(00:55):
conferences, and broadcasts on awide array of philosophical
topics.

Speaker 2 (01:01):
This

Speaker 3 (01:05):
is another music podcast, and we're gonna explore
songs from the very first album,Search for Significance, and
we're gonna talk about He FoundHimself and Sailing. Now He
Found Himself is really mybeginning or my awakening, And
you look at the first lyrics inthe song, he woke up one day at

(01:25):
a traffic light, they say. Thething is, we all have these
awakenings in our life. And sooften they happen in unplanned
and when we're unsuspecting assuch as regarding time and
place, but they just happen justlike in nature, just like the
flower blooming. You can't setyour watch by it.
Here I am sitting at a trafficlight in reality and going, what

(01:48):
kind of life am I living? Livingin Australia, I just got off
tour in Europe. I married thisbombshell. I'm spending at least
half my time down under and thenthe remaining time usually in
The United States, And I'm doingmy music thing because I had a
number of songs that wererecorded by American artists as
well as Australian artists atthat time. And of course, you

(02:10):
have to put out the album.
But I'm running back and forthand it's just wearing me out.
And I had purchased the cabinafter my first divorce. Of
course, I was wiped out, and Igot this piece of property that
probably no one else wouldappreciate. It had like 14
broken windows, it had water,mold in the basement. There was

(02:34):
graffiti.
I mean, you could mow and find acar, but I loved that place.
This was my hermitage, myretreat. And so with my own two
hands, cause I didn't have muchmoney at that time, I fixed it
up and of course Daphne helpedme and now it's just the most
cherished place ever. This iswhere I'll die. So he found

(02:56):
himself.
It's really my song or my storyreally in about three and a half
minutes. It brings out thephilosopher. Thoreau is
referenced in the second versemuch like Walden's Pond where he
goes to isolate to get in touchwith himself, to find himself,
his true feelings about life.Because, again, this isolation

(03:19):
idea is just so critical. I findyou've gotta get away from
society at some point to besurrounded by the truth, and
this has been done by so manyshamans, holy people,
philosophers, because nature isour master teacher.
And if we take notice of how itoperates, again, the more

(03:41):
success, the more life we have,and all of us want to feel
alive. And that happens innature. Third verse, it talks
about the natural renewal ofnature, that is life and death,
up and down, the process of lifethat we are here today and
tomorrow we will not be or atleast in the same form. Now the

(04:05):
video for He Found Himself isfilmed around the cabin so it's
all authentic. It's just usgoing around with the camera.
So I'm up on top of the mountainin the sun, the wind comes up,
blows my hair, and it's just adelightful video. Then, of

(04:26):
course, I'll just mention this,Alex and I went back in the
studio because we had listenedto the original recordings and I
thought, you know, I can singthat better. And Alex said, you
know, we can add some moreorchestration to it and really
make it a bit more epic. And sothat is what you're hearing

(04:46):
here. So without further ado,here is He Found Himself.

Speaker 2 (05:12):
He woke up one day at a traffic light to say, and he
wondered how we ever landedhere. He packed his bags, but he
packed no left hisresponsibilities. What he left

(05:44):
behind wasn't with 1 damn dimehe found himself. He's searching

(06:21):
for his answers, making sense oflife's great mysteries. How he
spends his time made a concernof yours and mine he found
himself.

(07:05):
Now many days have passed andthe months have turned years and
there's not a trace that Henrywas ever here. He's been
replaced, his name has beenerased, yet that figured out the
day disappeared. And he did whatwe all want to. Have the balls

(07:32):
legged up on his secret dreams.He's way up high.
He's riding in the sky. He foundhimself. He found himself. He
found himself.

Speaker 3 (08:09):
Sailing. This is perhaps one of the best songs I
feel I've ever written and it'sthe second song on Search for
Significance. It's just got suchmajestic imagery. This idea of
going through the water, whichis so beautiful, and the fact

(08:31):
that we're on a journey and itis a journey song. So many of my
songs tend to be journey songsbecause in essence that's what
it's about, riding on the waveswith the wind upon my face.
I mean, that's how it feels tobe on the ocean. Although
sometimes when it's raining andblowing, it feels like BB's

(08:54):
hitting your face. But riding onthe waves with the wind upon my
face, the sun sets in thedistance off my bow. Sailing as
a sea might be the way it endsfor me, but it doesn't really
matter now somehow. And so herewe have the sailor just happy to

(09:15):
be on the journey going towardsa destination, but there's this
element of risk that thingscould go bad.
But the point is we're allthrowing our lives away every
day even when we're trying toconserve it, even when we're
trying to play it safe or livecautiously. Your life is being

(09:36):
fritted away moment by moment.And, you know, a lot of people,
they're looking for meaning inlife but life is its own answer.
Life is its own reward. Youalready have it.
And so that's really the zen ofthis song. I remember it came to
me. I was living in Australia.I'd come off this European tour.

(09:59):
I'd married this beautiful womanand was living half the time
down in Australia and I was wayout in the bush and along the
coastline and again sand dune solarge and numerous you could get
lost in it and I kept thinkingabout all my years on the ocean,
on this violent beautiful thingthat's so big that it makes you

(10:25):
feel miniature, that can swallowa man, a ship, a city up without
hesitation and not even feel it.
So I was thinking about Alaskaand this song just popped out
and it was just like magic and Ithought this is this is what
life is really about. It is thejourney. Life is its own reward.

(10:50):
And then there's the line or thesecond stanza, I built her for
myself and with care she carriesme out of reach of the worries
of the land. I put her in theyard once when some glitter
caught my sail and I foundmyself far from where I planned.
And here the ship takes onalmost a human characteristic.

(11:14):
We consider the ship or thevessel alive, thus we give the
ship a name just like you mightdo your car or like I do with my
guitars. And this has to do withmy suspicion that all things are
alive, that all things vibrateand thus should be held in some
reverence given respect becauseyour life is in quote the hands

(11:39):
of that ship or vessel. And thenof course back in town I noticed
that the weather changed and allmy maps and plans were washed
away. As they are so often inlife, we can have all of our
visions, our plans, and we needa vision, we need a destination.
I mean even though we're talkingabout the journey itself, we've

(12:00):
got to have that motivation thatdrives us forward. So that's
critical, that's important. Butto postpone happiness till a
future date and time isridiculous. Why not watch the
islands go by? Why not enjoy thewildlife?
Why not experience the stormsfull on and say I have lived?

(12:31):
And then we come to the choruswhich is very significant and
there's a lyrical statement. I'mheading for shore that may not
be there anymore but I don'tmind. I'm sailing so any shore
is fine. So great emphasis whaton the journey.
That's the forgotten aspect. Butobviously we still need the

(12:55):
destination. We need the vision.We need the port that we're
going to to give us motivation.So really it's another one of
those both things in life whereyou have the destination.
That's great but you have thejourney and really perhaps
they're equal. And then you getto the very end of the song. And
I'm sailing so any destinationis just fine. So really whatever

(13:22):
course in life, whateverdestination we have is probably
sufficient as long as we'reenjoying the scenery, enjoying
the ride. And perhaps this isthe real art of living.
Now the videos for this songwere shot in Super eight during

(13:44):
the fifties, sixties, seventies,eighties by my uncle Chuck. And
really a lot of my family's init. There's uncle Chuck, there's
uncle Earl, there's uncle Wally.Of course, uncle Chuck and uncle
Earl pretty much settled thetown of Anchor Point, Alaska.
But you get a vision into thepast before Alaska was a state
and you see kind of how roughand gritty it was and that these

(14:07):
were real pioneers in everysense of the word and how we
would work twenty hours a dayand we would destroy that boat
trying to make the money in ashort period of time, tearing up
gear, busting lines, workingwith some of the roughest
characters you can imagine,loggers, killers.

(14:28):
You never knew where thesepeople were coming from. And it
was just a very exciting time,but you get a glimpse into that.
And of course I get to be in afew of these, the late seventies
and early eighties when I wasgrowing up, when I started at 15
working up there. And of coursewe could handle 18 tons of fish
a day and there's salmonfishing, there's images of

(14:51):
herring fishing depending on theseason. You get a real glimpse
into some history here.
So with that said, let's gosailing.

Speaker 2 (15:24):
Riding on the waves with the wind upon my face. The

(16:28):
put her in the odd ones whensome glitter caught my sail. And
I found myself far from where Iplanned. Becking down, I Riding

(17:36):
on the waves with the wind abovemy face, storm clouds in the
distance off my bow. Maybe Imight be another

Speaker 1 (18:52):
Thank you for listening. If you need anything
further, just go to mbi.life.
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