Trip the Light Fantastic by Greta Van Fleet

Album: The Battle At Garden's Gate (2021)

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Classic rock revivalists Greta Van Fleet's cosmic-hippie style has them pegged as new age advocates. This song is a case in point as Josh Kiszka sings of achieving an elevated state.

To comet across the blistering hue
Beyond the spaces of false and true
Away from the world we have riddled with scars
To be wholly free and amongst the stars

Kiszka seeks to attain his nirvana by means of Hindu mysticism. In chanting the Ah Sri Rmaa Jayam Ram mantra (literally "Glory to Lord Rama") he hopes the energy will dispel the obstacles of life, and move towards liberation or moksha.
Josh Kiszka came up with the lyrics one 2020 night while watching an ice cube rise and fall in his drink at Hollywood's Sunset Marquis hotel. The movements of the ice made him think of a favorite philosopher, Alan Watts, who described human existence as a kind of ebb and flow. "That's what I saw in the ice cube," Kiszka told Rolling Stone.

"That's what 'Ah Sri Rama Jayam Ram' is about," he continued. "Self-liberation, or this idea of letting go, or transcending. Is there an afterlife? I think I would rather cease to exist. Taking a big sleep or something. Your body goes back to Earth, and there grows a tree, and the tree gives off oxygen. That's just it: We're tripping the light fantastic. We're cosmic."
Alan Watts (January 6, 1915 –November 16, 1973) was a British philosopher of New Age studies who taught and popularized Buddhism and Hinduism to western audiences. Other songs inspired by the mid-20th century writer and speaker include:

"Pyre" by Nothing More
"Am I Missing Something?" by Jarvis Cocker
"Boyz II Men" by k-os.
Greta Van Fleet recorded the song for The Battle at Garden's Gate, an album that recounts how religion, philosophy and war affect the human condition. Regarding the record's title, Josh Kiszka told Rolling Stone: "There are definitely Biblical references. Not just in the title, but throughout the entire album. This is a world with the ancient civilizations in it, just like our own parallel universe, really. It's an analogy. Each song is a theme. A magnification of different cultures and civilizations inside of this world searching for some kind of salvation or enlightenment."

Comments: 1

Melanie Richardson from Clio, MiWhen I was a child my mother listened to the Moody Blues "Days of Future Passed" and each song was for different parts of the day. I feel like GVF did the same thing at "Battle at garden's Gate" but each song represents segments of peoples lives and their spiritual awakening... sometimes when I listen, the songs may be in different order (on where I stand in life) But I must say, that I feel this album wasn't any ordinary album. It was written with purpose, and spiritual meaning. God bless GVF. I think they know God is working thru them. They will win more grammys.

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