Songs

To the Sea

October 28, 2023 — 7 Comments

This past summer into early fall I reread The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings trilogy, and I’ve been making music for several of the songs from those books. This one was sung (the words at least) by Legolas in The Return of the King. I’m no elven musician but I enjoyed putting some music to J.R.R. Tolkien’s lyrics.

Last week Nathan and I spent a couple days in Duluth and I took several what I like to call “still videos” of beautiful Lake Superior. I used one of them for this song’s backdrop. Minnesota’s inland sea calls to me, so I try to visit Duluth at least once a year (this last time I decided maybe I should go every season).

To the Sea, to the Sea! The white gulls are crying,

The wind is blowing, and the white foam is flying. 

West, west away, the round sun is falling. 

Grey ship, grey ship, do you hear them calling,
The voices of my people that have gone before me?

I will leave, I will leave the woods that bore me; 

For our days are ending and our years failing.

I will pass the wide waters lonely sailing. 

Long are the waves on the Last Shore falling,
Sweet are the voices in the Lost Isle calling, 

In Eressëa, in Elvenhome that no man can discover,
Where the leaves fall not: land of my people for ever!

Peace of My Mind

September 27, 2023 — 4 Comments

This song came at the right time for me. I needed to relax.

Somewhere in the past week someone called to my mind the story of the burning bush, where God says to Moses, “take off your shoes, you are on holy ground.” And for the first time in my life that idea hit me in a whole different way. Take off your shoes, sit a spell, take it easy. Holy ground is hallowed ground, is sacred space, is an invitation to just be.

Also in the past week I heard someone say, “I’ll give him the piece of my mind!” and the slipup of “the” instead of “a” halfway wrote this song.

Take off your shoes, this is holy ground
You can relax, stay awhile, stick around
I’ll give you the peace of my mind

Let down your guard, I’m just here with you
Nothing to sell, nothing you need to prove
I’ll give you the peace of my mind

Breathe in, breathe out
That’s about the gist of it
Breathe in breathe out
Live

Breathe in, breathe out
That’s about the gist of it
Breathe in breathe out
Live

New at This (So Now Here)

September 16, 2023 — 1 Comment

I fell in love with an old acquaintance last year, and when I glanced at the #songaweek2023 prompt for this week (week 37), I knew I had to write my September song THIS week. It happened to be a photo prompt, and it happened to be this photo:

Twenty-five years ago my new husband Nathan took me to the Black Hills of South Dakota, rented me a pair of climbing shoes and a harness, tied me to a rope, and asked me to climb the rock in front of me. I tried, because I knew he loved it, but after maybe twenty or thirty feet, my heart pounding, adrenaline overwhelming me, I asked to come down.

I tried climbing again a time or two over the years as my kids grew up learning and loving to climb (especially my daughter Luthien who has now exceeded her dad in skill level), but I just couldn’t feel the appeal.

Until the end of last summer, when Luthien begged me to just go to the gym with her once before she headed off to college, and I reluctantly agreed. That afternoon, I fell hard – in love, not on the floor. I can still remember the moment, halfway up the wall, when I called down to her, “Ooh, I think I finally get why people like this!”

Over the fall and winter I dragged my happy husband to the gym multiple times per week, or went alone if and when he couldn’t join me – in pursuit of harder route grades, building muscle and skill. I took ibuprofen before bed many nights as my middle-aged body adjusted to this new world order I was imposing on it.

Next month I will turn 48 and maybe I will conquer a 5.11+ in this next year of my life. I wonder what else I have yet to try (for the first time or again) and fall in love with?

Recording this song was especially fun because Luthien happened to be home from college this weekend and sang along with me!

I never knew that I loved you
Until I left the ground
Yours was the face I thought I knew
But I know nothing now

I’m new at this
I’m so brand new

I’m learning how to hold you and
I’m always ready to fall
You push me through I think I can
You drive me up the wall

I’m reaching out
I’m so far gone

Here at the beating heart of my heart
Everything turns to stone

Let there be light and let me see
It coming through the cracks
Breathe in the moment, find my feet
Give you all I have

I’m almost there
I’m so nowhere 
I’m here with you
I’m so now here

Upon the Hearth the Fire is Red

August 30, 2023 — Leave a comment

I’ve found a wealth of song lyrics in my summer reading, specifically The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings trilogy. So my August song is made from yet another Bilbo Baggins invention (who in turn is a J.R.R. Tolkien invention).

Upon the hearth the fire is red,
Beneath the roof there is a bed;
But not yet weary are our feet,
Still round the corner we may meet
A sudden tree or standing stone
That none have seen but we alone.
Tree and flower and leaf and grass,
Let them pass! Let them pass!  
Hill and water under sky,  
Pass them by! Pass them by!

Still round the corner there may wait
A new road or a secret gate,
And though we pass them by today,
Tomorrow we may come this way
And take the hidden paths that run
Towards the Moon or to the Sun.  
Apple, thorn, and nut and sloe,  
Let them go! Let them go!  
Sand and stone and pool and dell,  
Fare you well! Fare you well!

Home is behind, the world ahead,
And there are many paths to tread
Through shadows to the edge of night,
Until the stars are all alight.
Then world behind and home ahead,
We’ll wander back to home and bed.  
Mist and twilight, cloud and shade,  
Away shall fade! Away shall fade!  
Fire and lamp, and meat and bread,  
And then to bed! And then to bed!

Stay Alive With Me

July 31, 2023 — 2 Comments

Another last-day-of-the-month posting of my monthly song! This means my summer is keeping me busy with lots of fun and very little time home alone to write or record. But I got the song written last week and recorded today in some snatched moments.

You might recognize some of the influences in this song. One, repeated smoky days here in Minnesota from Canadian wildfires. On one of these days I was struck with how I could actually stare at the orange sun through the smoke with no ill effects on my eyes – and that’s a second influence – that U2 song. Three, the flooding in New England and specifically the destruction to downtown Montpelier, Vermont – we had just visited a friend there last summer, beautiful little city – and this summer, in my friend’s words, the town is totaled. Four, my love of gardening, one of the things I’ve been happily busy with this summer.

Even if this is all there ever is
I’m happy to be here now
This present moment so generous
And a big bright world all around

Stay alive with me
Take your time to breathe
Think your big ideas
Then toss them out like seeds and see what they become

Storms raging and the floods rise higher
We’re afraid of what’s to come
World burning and the smoke spreads wider
Now we can all stare at the sun

Stay alive with me
Take your time to breathe
Think your big ideas
Then toss them out like seeds and see what they become

Heart and hand and soul and skin are we
Dust of stars beyond our reach
Flowers of the field, dry dancing bones
Broken brilliant wondrous ones

Day keeps dawning and the night grows darker
We wake and sleep and dream and live
Memories soften and hope grows harder
We never know it like it is

Stay alive with me
Take your time to breathe
Think your big ideas
Then toss them out like seeds and see what they become