I could only stay away for a year, I guess. Writing a song a week in 2016 was one of the highlights of my writing life, and now that we’re settled in our new digs in St. Paul, I decided to join again in 2018.

So without further ado, here’s the first song. (There’s a lag because we write and record and submit our songs in the current week, and then they are released the Sunday after that week. So this was my song for the first week, and I’m finally getting around to sharing it on my blog halfway through the second week! Week two’s song is written and I plan to record it tomorrow, and will shoot to post it here earlier next week.)

Okay I guess that was some further ado. *Now* here’s the first song:

It’s cold outside under old gray skies

and the oak leaves rustle alone

but I feel like smiling

I’m walking with my baby in the snowlit morning

and the lacy flakes drifting down

and I feel like singing

So I’m gonna sing

I’m gonna sing

The wind is severe with a serious chill

And the ice is hard underfoot

but I feel like laughing

cause after forty winters I’ve learned a few things

about dressing for the occasion

and I feel like dancing

so I’m gonna dance

I’m gonna dance

the sun’s going down but it’ll come back around

the light’s fading fast but not even that can last

be still be moved be part of this great whole

in space and time we’re breathing in

why don’t we sing? why don’t we dance?

life is a fleeting thing, might as well take a chance

Let the past go free let the present be

the gift that keeps on giving