“I was probably 26 or 27 when I wrote that… but I guess I just started to realize how rare love was. I think of love as a common miracle. It happens to most people, but it’s never an ordinary thing when it happens… it’s not just you anymore, it’s not just your feelings anymore. You’re responsible for the other person as well.”
-John Gorka
Anticipating and celebrating the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Franciscan Sisters of Christian Charity spotlight John Gorka’s folk-inspired acoustic music in Love is Our Cross to Bear.
His stunningly soulful baritone voice and emerging songwriting are note worthy. His material is championed by many -to date more than a score of artists have recorded and/or performed John Gorka’s songs including Mary Chapin Carpenter, Mary Black and Maura O’Connell. All has brought his music to an ever-widening audience.
In 1987, the young Minnesota-based Red House Records caught wind of John’s talents and released his first album, I Know, to popular and critical acclaim. With unusual drive and focus, John hit the ground running and, when an offer came from Windhan 
Hill’s Will Ackerman in 1989, he signed with that label’s inprint, High Street Records. He proceeded to record five albums with High Street over the next seven years: Land of the Bottom Line, Jack’s Crows, Temporary Road, Out of the Valley, and Between Five and Seven. His albums and his touring (over 150 nights a year at times) brought new accolades for his craft. Rolling Stone called him “the preeminent male singer/songwriter of the new folk movement.” His rich multi-faceted songs full of depth, beauty and emotion gained increasing attention from critics and audiences across the country, as well as in Europe where his tours led him through Italy, Belgium, Scotland, Ireland, Holland, Switzerland and Germany.
His last recordings include: the Gypsy Life, AIX Collectors Edition DVD, AIX Records, 2007, and Writing in the Margins, Red House Records,2006.
Website: http://johngorka.com/
Lyrics: Love is Our Cross to Bear
I didn’t know where to look for you last night
I didn’t know where to find you
I didn’t know how I could touch that light
That’s always gathering behind you
I didn’t know that I would find a way
To find you in the morning
But love can pull you out of yesterday
As it takes you without warning
I want to be a long time friend to you
I want to be a long time known
Not one of your memory’s used-to-bes
A summer’s fading song
CHORUS:
It’s from me, it’s to you
For your eyes
It’s a weight, a wonder that is wise
I am here, you are there
Love is our cross to bear
I know I’ll think of us upon that hill
With the golden moon arising
And the stars will fall around us still
While the love is realizing
And so it is until we meet again
And I throw my arms around you
You can count the gray hairs in my head
I’ll still be thankful that I found you
“I think there are many valid interpretations of a song – I try to get it right, and I try to put the song out there. But I feel like the listener completes it. And they can come up with a interpretation that’s at least as valid as the one that might have inspired it.”
What’s your interpretation of the song?
