A friend e-mailed me yesterday – “Julia! Where’s the family Christmas video?!” And I realized I had only posted it on Facebook and not shared it through my other usual online portals.
I’m so touched and encouraged to hear every year from loved ones who look forward to this. Yes I am unmistakeably an introvert, but the older I get, the more I treasure the presence of others in my life.
So – happy holidays to you and yours! May you be filled with courage and kindness as you step into the new decade. We need you today and always – your voice, your face, your perspective, the passion, joy, challenge, wisdom that only you can bring us.
It was especially fun to work with Nathan on this one – it had been a while since we made a videosong together (except our annual holiday greeting in December).
“Why do we always lose our childlike faith/ the moment we attain our childhood dream?” A song about aging, moving west, failure that heals and progress that kills. And some other stuff I’m not sure about . . .
Take this song and shove it if you want to
Take this tune and turn it out of doors
These words are just a caffeinated frenzy
Scribbled on the napkin of your soul
I used to be a ballerina poet
Dancing through a rainbow-colored world
Now I dig for water in the desert
Jump for joy each time the thunder rolls
Oooh, I’m taking everything slow.
Oooh, how slow, how low can I go?
I rode out west to chase the infinite sunset
To swallow ghost towns whole inside my heart
To lose my old religion in the canyons
But morning always catches up with me
Oooh, I’m taking everything slow.
Oooh, how slow, how low can I go?
Hold that thought close to your unblinking mind
Watch how it withers right there on the vine
They’re taking applications for a mystery
They’re ticking off a transcendental(bucket)(l)ist
In case you aren’t in my family or among my brother’s Facebook friends, here’s a little video song he and I co-created that you may not have seen yet. He filmed his son solving a Rubik’s Cube, then posted it on Facebook sped up, with “Flight of the Bumblebee” for a soundtrack. But he was concerned about copyright laws, so he asked if I would write a song for the video, which he then reposted, copyright-infringement-free.
Julia Bloom 