Can You Lead Me to the Plane? (Have You Ever Seen the Rain?, John Fogerty)

Eko: Where did you find it?
Charlie: In the jungle. I found it in the jungle.
Eko: Take me there.
- The 23rd Psalm

I've got Creedence Clearwater Revival on the brain at the moment. Here's Eko talking to Charlie in The 23rd Psalm to the tune of Have You Ever Seen the Rain?

Can You Lead Me to the Plane?

Saw your statue in the hut. Are you a religious nut?
Oh, no. It’s a different sort of shrine.
Under Mary’s gentle grin is a stash of heroin.
I know you’re a hopeless hoarder.

I wanna know, can you lead me to the plane?
I wanna know, can you lead me to the plane
Where you found what I broke today?

I was one of many thugs who survived by running drugs.
I know Yemi scorned my life of crime.
Though I was a brutish beast, I became a parish priest.
I owed that much to my brother.

I wanna know, can you lead me to the plane?
I wanna know, can you lead me to the plane
Where you found what I broke today?

Please! I wanna know, can you lead me to the plane?
I wanna know, can you lead me to the plane
Where you found what I broke today?

Mr. Eko (Desperado, Glenn Frey / Don Henley)

I started writing this back in December during my family's Christmas travels. I had Ryan Kelly's rendition of Desperado firmly lodged in my head, and I thought I should try to take advantage of it. A couple years back, I saw a YouTube video in which somebody had set a series of Sawyer clips to the Eagles' version of the song, and ever since I'm always thought of Sawyer when I've heard it. So to avoid being a copycat, I consciously avoided writing about him and instead began to think about what other LOST characters the song could describe. I started my search by trying to come up with a character whose name or nickname had four syllables, and when I stumbled on Mr. Eko, I knew I'd found a winner.

I ended up setting the song aside for a couple of months, only picking it up again a few days into Lent, at which time it felt particularly meaningful. The Cost of Living is still one of my least favorite LOST episodes; it's befuddling and tragic, but I think it has some interesting things to say about the value of repentance. Eko seemed to turn over a new leaf when he came to the Island, but he couldn't bring himself to express any regret for the evil deeds that marked his previous life, instead claiming that he had no choice. A bit odd that Smokey singled him out like that; maybe we just have to chalk some of it up to needing to get Eko off the show, since Adewale wanted out. But I wish that confrontation had gone differently...

Mr. Eko

Mr. Eko, why don't you drop your defenses?
Confess the offenses that weigh you down.
You've had a hard life, but you must listen to Yemi,
Who drives you to demonstrate humility now.

You were never a repentant boy.
A Robin Hood, a rebel,
You stooped to ugly means to reach your noble ends.
But you can't go on pretending
That your plank is just a pebble.
True forgiveness comes to those who make amends.

Mr. Eko, don't you discern any danger?
Surrounded by strangers, your sins seem long gone.
But evil, oh evil has a habit of haunting.
The terror that's taunting you won't die with the dawn.

Have you kept a count of your heinous crimes?
You've seemed so full of remorse sometimes,
With silence stretching on for forty days.
Oh, but why deny you had free will
When you killed before you changed your wicked ways?

Mr. Eko, why don't you drop your defenses?
Expunge your expenses. Strengthen your state.
It may be painful, but you can paint a new morning.
But if you disregard the warning...
But if you disregard the warning, you've sealed your own fate.
Your own fate...

Bear! (Hair, Galt MacDermot / James Rado / Gerome Ragni)

How many times have we seen a polar bear on LOST now? And how many polar bears has it actually been? Two? Three? One bear possessing eerie Mikhail-like indestructibility? That's the theory I have Sawyer posit in this silly parody of the Cowsills' Hair.

Bear!

Sawyer: You asked me why.
Why? I don't wanna die.
That bear was in my sighty-sight sight.
He gave me a fright.
That bear has died, you know.
The tough task was mine;
I made him go!
He won't come back. He's dead.
Guess we'll be well fed!
Darlin'...

Look! I just shot a bear.
Big, burly white bear.
Growlin', scowlin',
Furry, in a hurry.

Would have said, "Beware!" (Bear!)
If he'd been there longer. (Bear!)
Still, I have stopped trauma;
Why treat me like a baddie?

(Bear, bear, bear, bear, bear, bear!)
Shoot 'im, boot 'im,
'Long as I can mute 'im,
That bear.

Walt: I made a dash for the trees.
I am begging you, please
Be speedy in seizing that bear.
I'd get on my knees
And pray, but I'd better freeze
And skimp on words
And hope the birds
Make a clatter
That will shatter
The attention of that...

(Bear, bear, bear, bear, bear, bear!)
Stab 'im, jab 'im,
Just keep him from grabbin'!
That bear...

Sawyer: I want him long gone, not returning,
Musty, dusty, beaten, eaten.
Hope that he's forever severed.
Now his cage is sparking rages.
Think I'd better risk it,
Fishin' for his biscuit
Though he's bigger than a yeti
And his jaws and claws are like machetes.

Eko: Oh, say can you see his eyes?
If you can, then your life is short.

Sawyer: He's still here.
Don't know where.
Darn that bear! Darn that bear! I stopped him myself!
How can his paws keep runnin' when I stopped him myself?

Oh, why is a polar bear,
Non-tropical bear,
Even grievin' us? He should be leavin'.

How does a regular fella dare (Bear!)
Face a beast that's stronger? (Bear!)
That may be more drama
Than I would deal with gladly.
(Bear, bear, bear, bear, bear, bear!)
Shoot 'im, boot 'im,
'Long as I can mute 'im,
That... (bear, bear, bear, bear, bear, bear!)
Shoot 'im, boot 'im,
'Long as I can mute 'im,
That... (bear, bear, bear, bear, bear, bear, bear, bear, bear, bear, bear, bear, bear, bear, bear, bear, bear!)

My Younger Brother's Cross (Lover's Cross, Jim Croce)

One of my favorite episodes of LOST is The 23rd Psalm, which so tragically explores Eko's past. Here's a little reflection by him set in that episode to the tune of Jim Croce's Lover's Cross.

My Younger Brother's Cross

How I wish this had not happened!
Poor Yemi, killed for my crime.
In the plane that I envisioned,
I have found what I had feared to find,
For if it seemed that he might be a martyr,
I would never acknowledge the clue,
But, Charlie, since I see my younger brother's cross, I do.

I am sure this is confusing to you.
You stare; your eyes are wide.
Yemi risked his life on my behalf,
And it is my fault that he died.
I guess that he had the nerve of a martyr,
Possessing courage that I never knew.
Now, Charlie, since I see my younger brother's cross, I do.

Perhaps he will hear my yearning
And know I have pledged to change.
In pain, I continue learning
That this business of life is a dangerous game.

Charlie, you have helped me find my brother.
You have shown me to this spot,
So stand beside me as I cry,
Exposing my grief to God.
I suspected he might be a martyr before,
But I had to have proof it was true,
So, Charlie, since I see my younger brother's cross, I do.

(repeat bridge and chorus)