Ward was previously with the band Rodriguez, which included bassist Kyle Field (of Little Wings fame) and drummer Mike Funk. They recorded and released on cassette Box Plots and Cash Crops and then the album Swing Like a Metronome in 2000. Duet for Guitars #2 was released on Howe Gelb's Ow Om record label. Ward's 2001 album, End of Amnesia, was released by Future Farmer Records, and his subsequent albums have been released on Merge Records. A collection of live recordings, Live Music & the Voices of Strangers, was a self-released disc that was sold at his shows. His next album, Transfiguration of Vincent, was released in 2003, followed by Transistor Radio in 2005. A year later, Post War was released.
In 2006, he contributed a song to, and helped produce, the John Fahey tribute album, I Am the Resurrection. He also contributed the song "Transfiguration #1" from Transfiguration of Vincent to the Brushfire Records soundtrack for A Brokedown Melody, a Jack Johnson surfing film.
His album, Hold Time, was released in 2009. The album A Wasteland Companion followed in 2012. The album title alludes to T.S. Eliot's 1922 modernist poem, The Waste Land. In 2016, he released More Rain. On June 8, 2018, M. Ward released What a Wonderful Industry.
Side Projects
In 2008 M. Ward combined forces with Zooey Deschanel and became She & Him. They have released two albums so far, Volume One in 2008 and Volume Two in 2010. He is also one fourth of the folk supergroup, Monsters of Folk, alongside Jim James from My Morning Jacket, and Conor Oberst & Mike Mogis from Bright Eyes. Their self-titled release, Monsters of Folk, was released in 2009.
* Official website
One Hundred Million Years
M. Ward Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Oh, my soul, one hundred million years
This river that we ride will roll on when we die
Oh, my soul, one hundred million years
[Chorus:]
And this love, this love between you and I
Is older than that burning ball of fire up in the sky
And the lights that shine tonight have always been alive
Oh, my soul, one hundred million years
Yeah, the lights that shine tonight will burn on when we die
Oh, my soul, one hundred million years
[Chorus: x2]
The opening lines of M. Ward's song One Hundred Million Years draw a poetic comparison between a river and the concept of time. The river - a symbol of life and movement - is presented as having been alive for one hundred million years, a time-stretching distance that is unfathomable to the human mind. The repetition of the phrase "Oh, my soul" suggests a personal connection to this idea of timelessness, as if the singer is acknowledging his own smallness in the face of such vastness. The metaphor of the river is extended in the following lines, as it is suggested that it will still be rolling on long after we, as individuals, are gone.
The chorus builds on this idea of timelessness by introducing the theme of love. The love between two people is presented as something that is older than the "burning ball of fire up in the sky," an image that invokes the idea of the sun as the source of all life on earth. This love is also temporally beyond our understanding - it is older than the river, older than the stars. The final lines of the chorus bring us back to the river and the lights that shine at night. Just like the river, these lights have always been alive, and will keep burning after we are gone.
One Hundred Million Years is a song that confronts the enormity of time and the insignificance of individual existence. By drawing parallels between the river of life, the stars in the sky, and the love between people, M. Ward creates a sense of perspective that is both humbling and awe-inspiring. The song invites us to ponder the vastness of existence, and to find a measure of comfort in the fact that, no matter how insignificant we may seem, we are all part of something larger and more enduring than ourselves.
Line by Line Meaning
This river that we ride has always been alive
The river we are traveling on has lived through the ages and seen all that has happened
Oh, my soul, one hundred million years
My soul has been alive for millions and millions of years and has experienced much in that time
This river that we ride will roll on when we die
Even after we die, this river will continue to exist and go on for forever
And this love, this love between you and I
Our love is ancient and goes beyond what we can imagine
Is older than that burning ball of fire up in the sky
Our love is older than the sun and has existed for longer than we can conceive
And the gale that fills our sail
The wind that propels us forward on this journey has always been present and has guided many before us
And the lights that shine tonight have always been alive
The stars that guide us at night have existed for millions of years and have seen many things
Yeah, the lights that shine tonight will burn on when we die
Even after our time has ended, the stars above will continue to shine on for countless more years
Lyrics © Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.
Written by: M. WARD
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind