Celebrating songs of Leelanau: Les Dalgliesh’s “The Ways of Leelanau”
Image: Dalgliesh drew this sketch of himself “back in the ‘80s when I was going to be famous someday.”
From staff reports
Our story series celebrating songs inspired by Leelanau County and the Sleeping Bear Dunes continues with Les Dalgliesh’s “The Ways of Leelanau,” which the singer-songwriter occasionally performed at the Leelanau School’s graduation ceremony held in early June at the private boarding school next to The Homestead resort.
“I worked at the Leelanau School from 1987 until the summer of 1992,” said Dalgliesh. “I began as a ‘maintenance man’ and ultimately became the ‘maintenance supervisor.’ At a private school, each employee wears a lot of hats. I performed dorm duty in the evenings. I took part in the ‘FAU’ counseling program. I supervised student work details. I took students to Kentucky or Indiana each spring for wilderness backpacking experiences. I taught guitar basics to several students. I painted a 12-foot-high mural in the gym of a tomahawk-wielding man on a rearing horse (to be fair, I meant it to honor the man and his culture). I was tasked with taking students on local outdoor excursions.
“My time at Leelanau was a time of learning and growth for the students—and for me. ‘The Ways of Leelanau’ became a kind of context that fostered learning, growth, and connection for all of us.”
Here are the song’s lyrics:
“A farmer pauses, working in his field to watch the sunrise shining out beyond the orchard where it dazzles him with diamond sparkling dew.
Clouds catch the fire of sun a blaze of glory as the morning breaks upon him so much larger than the job he’s got to do.
Oh, the ways of Leelanau.
A woman near Glen Arbor opens up her window listening to the lake waves rolling easy ‘til she’s lost within the music of that sound.
Gulls circle lightly on the wind she hears them crying as they break the rolling water with a tiny splash, as they come settling down.
Oh, the ways of Leelanau.
A young man hears the whisper of the wind among the maples as he wanders through the mysteries of a life he’s just begun to understand.
He listens to the secrets spoken softly through the forest and he feels the peace of knowing that he’s built a strong foundation in the land.
Oh, the ways of Leelanau.
Oh, a time to grow like the oak tree and the pine a molding force to shape the heart and mind the ways of Leelanau.”
Previous installments in our Songs of Leelanau series featured Jeff Maharry’s “Good Harbor Bay,” Seth Bernard’s instrumental ode to the Manitou Islands, Blake Elliott’s “Small Town” and Louann Lechler’s “I’m Proud to Say I Live in Leelanau County.”
