Just a quick post wishing everyone who’s read, contributed to, blogged about, or tweeted a link to this blog a very Happy New Year. Here’s hoping 2012 is everything you hope it will be.

I leave you and 2011 with this acoustic version of my favourite Iron and Wine track from the sessions/albums released this year. It’s a song that manages to express both the despair and the wonder of being alive. 2011 has been that kind of year, one minute kicking your teeth in, the next bringing you flowers. It’s also a song that is full to brimming with wonderfully inventive metaphors. Which makes it a perfectly fitting song for me to see out the year with on this blog.

May your words be well worth stealing
Put your hand on your heart when you’re singing

Happy New Year everyone! See you tomorrow/next year.

We’re the smoke on a burned horizon
We’re the boat on a tide that’s rising
Both the post and the pig you’re untying
The butcher gone for the blade
Someday we may all be happy
Someday all make a face worth slapping
Someday we may be shocked to be laughing
At the way we behave

May your hands be strong and willing
May you know when to speak and to listen
May you find every friend that you’re missing
There’s no check in the mail
May you end it bruised and purple
Know that peace is the shape of a circle
‘Cause round and round you’ll go, biting your tail

Iron and Wine – Biting Your Tail

lyrics and music all copyright Iron and Wine