Forgot to post this song last week – a fun one I did with Nathan after we spent a day at Wild River State Park and swam in the St. Croix River (whose other shore belongs to Wisconsin).
Writing life
Soonwego
I took a couple weeks off of songwriting and social media and a lot of other things to pile into a van with my husband, kids, and dog and drive across the west. It was an amazing road trip and inspired this song for week 28 of #songaweek2021.
It gets a little relationally hard-hitting and frank in the second verse. My songs aren’t always autobiographical but in this case it is. I hesitated to make the song public at all because of this, but after sharing it first with Nathan and asking for his go-ahead, I’m putting it out there. I’ve always been a bit of a drama queen and so all kinds of things cross my mind, especially in hard moments – and I think it’s helpful to be honest about this so other dramatic souls out there can maybe feel a little less afraid of what goes on in their own inner worlds.
The old neighbors are packing it up
and the new coffee shop is hopping with hipsters
It’s a beautiful day in this mountain town
and I don’t miss living here
I didn’t leave my heart in Loveland
It’s been traveling a long long time
so on we go
The Great Salt Lake was all around us
when I was crying a river cause I couldn’t feel your love
while you were searching for the perfect words
and the quiet lied to me
I didn’t leave you there in Utah
though I surely did think of it
so on we go
Everywhere and everyone I take my heart to
leaves a mark
and it hurts
from the love
or the lack thereof
and it stings
and it sings
like every precious thing
The Golden Gate is red
the Redwoods are a national treasure
on the mountain of the devil
we touched the face of God
I didn’t leave my heart in San Francisco
I was only just passing through
so on we go
Let’s Stay Up All Summer
These lyrics really need some entirely different-sounding music, I’ve decided, after writing and recording and posting the thing in a couple hours this evening. With the mood of this song, I don’t think there’s much chance of anyone staying up for long. And it certainly doesn’t feel “highly caffeinated.” More like, I just finished weeding the garden in the hot sun and then had a beer on the patio and then cobbled together a song with little lyric idea scraps I had been saving.
Still, I made a song this week! Not sure I’ll be meeting the song-a-week challenge every week this summer, because we’re planning to do some more serious road tripping and fun-having with our kids before our oldest starts senior year (!) in the fall.
Let’s stay up all summer
Let’s stay up all night
You can be my lover
We can kiss and fight
There’s not a valid reason
for holding back this time
there’s nothing like this season
To slightly lose your mind
Let’s stay up all summer
You and me
I’m highly caffeinated
Did you see my text?
I’m fully vaccinated
Ready for what’s next
There’s lots of roads for tripping
So many stars to watch
There’s cold drinks for the sipping
And loads of summer squash
Let’s stay up all summer
You and me
I Am Love
“I don’t even know how to talk to people anymore,” I heard someone say recently. And I feel that so much too. Not that I ever really knew how to talk to people! But whatever progress I had made in 45 years feels stunted after one year of social distancing.
Emerging from pandemic life, I feel awkward and unsure and even afraid, a little like I did back in junior high – what will people think of me? What if I say the wrong thing? Practically any time spent on social media these days only amplifies those feelings for me.
There’s a lot more I could (try to!) say about how and why I wrote this song, but to sum up, this was one of the few songs I’ve written that felt mostly like a complete gift from the blue – the comforting words I needed just showing up in my thoughts when I most needed them.
You don’t have to be right, you don’t have to be smart
You don’t have to be what you are, you don’t have to be what you aren’t
You are completely loved, you’re forever forgiven
My great heart is enlarged by your wondrous existence
I’m the last to judge
I’m the first to love
I always was, I always will be
I am who I am
You don’t have to make sense, you can tell me what’s on your mind
You can never offend one who sees you from every side
And I love who I see and you’re not the only one
Take a look around, oh I feel this for everyone
I’m the last to judge
I’m the first to love
I always was, I always will be
I am who I am
In the end all that it comes down to is love in everything
And that’s what the world needs, that’s what everyone’s wanting
It feels impossible but with me nothing
Is impossible, no it’s never been easy
but it’s simple enough for a child to see
I’m the last to judge
I’m the first to love
I always was, I always will be
I am who I am
New Again (collaboration with Rich Waring)
I got to do another cowrite this week! This time Rich Waring, a British friend in my song-a-week group, brought a more-or-less complete song and asked for help finishing it. He sent me the lyrics and a recording and I spent some time with it, then we Zoomed and discussed some lyric edit ideas and a plan for recording it. He recorded guitar, drum track, his vocals, then sent it to me. I added my vocals and sent it back. He added a little synth and mixed it all together and here we are!
Rich is a prolific singer/songwriter with a fascinating emotional range and deep creative energy to his music. You can hear much more of his work at his Soundcloud page – https://soundcloud.com/rich-waring.
I’ve been dead and born again
More times than I can count
From smallest to the largest I have grown
The corners turned, the lessons learned
but only to forget
In the silence of the falling snow
Summers come and summers go
And winters never end
until the spring awakens us from sleep
But on beyond the coming fall
I’ll never rise again
These bones will be the final piece of me
But oh – feel the life rising and I’m new again
Oh – does it really matter how it goes away?
I’ve been dancing skyward
with the birds and all the bees
Spinning out the quivering strands of life
Weaving sound and colour til they’re free to be released
Miracles on miracles in flight
Inside the gene you never see
but feel at every turn
I’m the one who steers you through the dark
I’m the love and longing
That can bring you through the hurt
That makes the meaning pulling at your heart
Oh – feel the life arising and I’m new again
Oh – does it really matter that it goes
When there’s a love……
I feel a love that lifts me up and lays me down to my rest
I feel a love that lifts me up and lays me down to my rest
Feel the bees that tickle
as they nibble at your flowers
Knowing how their kisses share your life
Though the birds may wound you
as they’re pecking at your boughs
Only they can spread the seed so wide
Lovers come and lovers go
and wonders never cease
So we travel wide and travel far
Though they fade and fall away
like autumn’s changing leaves
love remains and makes us what we are
Oh – feel the life arising and I’m new again
Oh – does it really matter how it goes away?
Julia Bloom 