I write this from the hills near where my mum grew up and my Grandparents lived. After prolonged time in the city, it's wonderful to experience this place, space, stillness and this particular kind of quiet. I write 'kind of quiet' because, of course, there is sound here. There are birds. They call out to one another. There are other sounds too, some of which I haven't identified. It's a consistent wash of the natural world.
Here, my mind roams. Time shifts. Each moment is more moment. Within a fraction exists a thousand other fractions.
Arriving here is an adjustment to a different rhythm and, as I have steadied myself in its entering, I've asked myself what I will share: "What can I write that hasn't been said before? What can I say that doesn't sound trite?"
For me, these questions are judgements in disguise. For me, these judgements are a sign of creative and mental exhaustion. They are borne of the fatigue that comes from an overstimulation of thought and sound and sight and touch and feel. The busy life eventually does this to me.
Here is a song. A love song. There are two versions. The first has an electronic background created by me on GarageBand. The other has a piano accompaniment. I prefer neither more but the sound background alters the piece a lot. The words and melody are exactly the same (it's the same recording of me singing) and yet the whole feel of the piece is made utterly different by the background. Each version conjures different things. They create different stories, with different characters, different subtext and, if imagined, a totally different outcome. Perhaps one is more hopeful? Perhaps one more mournful? Does one have more forward momentum and the other wind back on itself? Which? How? Why? In what ways?
Our background matters! It alters what we see and feel and, ultimately, the state of our instrument/organism/system/whole person and how that operates and responds. What is your current sound background? How is it effecting your experience and the way you show up in the world?
Writing You a Love Song was written just a few short months before the end of '22, when I was preparing to return to Australia from the UK. These are the original and first versions.
To listen to Version 1 (electronic), click here
To listen to Version 2 (piano by Carl Pannuzzo), click here
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