Gabe's grandfather grew up on Powell's Peak, on the rim of the Grand Canyon. His family ran a Native American trading post and his dad was a gem cutter. Jim, Gabe's grandfather, has many neat stories about growing up on the rim, watching the colors change throughout the seasons, the sunrises and sunsets, and how he liked to scare tourists by jumping over the edge in places where he knew there was an out-cropping he would land on. One of his stories is about God talking to him when he was a boy, warning and encouraging him to grow up and be a good man. This song was written for and about James Costello Turpen.

 

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It was sunrise o’er the canyon and a hawk screamed as it dove

                                      E7
Down the deep and winding canyon to a high and lofty home

A                                     D             A
There in the glorious morning, in the colors of the sun

                             E7                  A
I found a pattern waiting, a song carved out in stone.

 

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Stars twinkled in the blanket that covered the deep ancient

                             E7
Grand Canyon valley where I learned to read the sky

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In the darkness of the forest I heard the screech-owl warning

                          E7                    A
To always keep on looking for the Maker of the night

 

D                         A                      D         E7
I saw you standing in the mountain. I heard you speaking on the canyon floor

           A                     D            A            E7                A
The stones were singing that you are lovely. And I want to find and know you more.

 

 

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I heard a young girl singing beside the rain-streaked canyon

                              E7
Her song was like the music I heard in my own mind

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She stood with the mountains in timeless beauty

                             E7              A
Hands raised in worship, she laughed and she cried.