Song of the Month: “I Am a Pilgrim"

Our society places a premium on dreams. Our identity as teens and adults is tied to who we would like to become and what we want to do. But what happens when your dreams do not measure up with reality? What if your fantasy of who you want to be doesn’t look like the face staring back at you in the bathroom mirror? Joshua Luke Smith explores this tension between dreams and reality in his newest hip hop single “I Am a Pilgrim.”

The song opens up with the title “I Am a Pilgrim” because we are all on a journey of becoming. Along that path, it is easy to get discouraged and side-tracked by illusions of self-fulfillment. Our dreams easily turn into all-absorbing fantasies that blind us to the beauty of someone or something greater than us. As Smith sings:

“I used to rap at night, Thinking about that lavish life.

Now I know it’s all about that soul (shout out Gladys Knight)

You don’t have a life without something worth dying for,

Walking with a limp, that’s fine, it’s something worth fighting for.”

The distance between who we are and who we want to be isn’t discouraging if we recognize that God is active even in times of fruitless, barren disappointment: “But I am learning, to see a fire burning in the most deserted deserts...there ain’t a place in hell or earth that heaven can’t reverse.” This hope fuels the chorus and Smith’s overall message.

Throughout the piece, layered vocals and a mellow beat serve as a textured backdrop to Smith’s thought-provoking lyrics. A fine example of this happens during the chorus when Smith sings: “Open up my eyes, I wanna see, what’s hidden right in front of me.” Abruptly the music pauses, inviting both the author and listener to stop, take notice and live in the present moment. Why bother? Because, Smith says, our dreams are only as good as the reality of our journey in the here and now:

“Life’s a journey that I keep on wasting, until I’m waking

To the wonder in every moment,

The hunger that’s only satisfied

Loving the other instead of feeding my ego’s appetite."

You can find “I Am A Pilgrim” on Spotify, YouTube, and any other streaming service.