Song #2: Shadow of Your Shadow (2015 52-Song Project)

The first song in this project was one of my newest; this second song is over 20 years old.

I wrote it in October 1994 in the wake of a bad break-up. I was 23 years old. I was just in the process of defining my identity and that is essentially what this song is about.

The first verse of this song is inspired by Jacques Brel's song Ne Me Quitte Pas, which ends with the lyrics: "Laisse moi devenir / l'ombre de ton ombre / l'ombre de ta main / l'ombre de ton chien" – which translates in English to: "Let me become / the shadow of your shadow / the shadow of your hand / the shadow of your dog".

 

The relationship that ended in 1994 had consisted of a great deal of Jacques Brel and also many shadows. 

Song #1: Weather Hold (2015 52-song project)

Welcome to my 2015 52-song project! 

I'm going to post a previously-unrecorded song to YouTube every Sunday for a year and some of the songs will have corresponding blog posts telling a little something about the origin of the song.

I invite you to subscribe to my YouTube channel and request that you please comment or give thumbs up to the songs you particularly like. I'm going to use feedback I receive to decide what to record on my next album, which I'll hopefully record toward the end of 2015 or in 2016.

I will be including some new songs and some songs from my archives. It seems only right to kick off with one of my most-recently written songs, so here goes.

Song #1: Weather Hold

I wrote this song in November 2014 while I was in Happy Valley-Goose Bay for the Labrador Creative Arts Festival. On the first day of the festival, I was scheduled to fly up to Nain to do some workshops with the kids there. But everything in Labrador is weather dependent and the wind did not co-operate. So, I sat in the airport, along with a number of other LCAF visiting artists, for about seven-eight hours, each hour bringing another update saying that we were on weather hold and there would be another update in an hour or an hour and a half or an hour and 15 minutes.

While having fun getting to know the other artists, my mind was also thinking about waiting, and ceasing to wait (taking the bull by the horns, as we say in my family). The next morning I had nothing scheduled (because I was supposed to still be in Nain) so I sat down at wrote this song. It was a wonderful way to transform my disappointment about not being able to travel up the coast into something positive.

I hope you enjoy it.

(If you'd like to read the lyrics, they are posted on You Tube with the song.)

52-song project for 2015

Dear Friends and Folks,

I've been on a performance sabbatical for the past year, which you already knew if you read this blog (I would say read regularly, but as I haven't been posting very regularly, that would be impossible). 

It's been a bit of a rough year for me. I've been struggling with peri-menopausal symptoms and depression. It's been the kind of year where I never knew if, on any given day, going up on stage would be a delightful experience or a torturous one. That made it pretty daunting to book gigs months in advance.

I decided that life is too short to put myself through that kind of uncertainty and difficulty. I decided it was okay to give myself a break.

And I'm thinking about letting that break continue for a while longer. I have only one show booked in 2015 so far, and if that's the only one, that's fine with me.

However, I'm still (always) writing and I want to continue to share my songs. In addition to writing new songs, I have hundreds of songs that I've written in the past and have never recorded – some of which I've forgotten I ever wrote!

(Like this one that I posted to YouTube many years ago – I came across it a few weeks ago when I was posting another song to YouTube and realized I had totally forgotten that I had ever written, recorded or posted it! And it's a pretty good song.)

Sooooo, I've decided that in 2015, I'm going to create a 52-song project. Every Sunday, I'm going to post a video to YouTube. In some cases, there will be a corresponding blog post talking a bit about the Song of the Week. I'll be sharing a mix of brand new songs and songs from the near and distant past.

I would be delighted if you cared to give your "Thumbs up" to songs or comment on them. I'll use your feedback to help me select which songs to record on my next album — which will hopefully get made toward the end of 2015 or in 2016!

To join in on this project, please subscribe to my YouTube Channel (or "Like" me on Facebook if you prefer) and get ready to listen to (and vote on) an original, interesting song every week.