Journal

Here’s the Thing About…

Here’s the thing about NEW songs:

I added a new song to the VIDEO page and the youtube channel today.  This is new for me because in the past the new songs have always been introduced on stage – at a show.  I’ve always considered this part of the writing process.  The first weeks a new song is alive – it’s still developing.  Sometimes songs wait patiently and finish developing in the studio – we make a demo or a pre-production track of the song.  But mostly they sit in my basement writing room or my kitchen until I can sing them in front of an audience to really finish being written.  Sometimes songs come out too early and I have to pick at them a tiny bit until they feel right.  Sometimes they come out too late – and I have to weed through them and edit pieces.  But the biggest part of introducing a new song to an audience for me is waiting for the reaction.  Did I get one? What do I think – you think?

Here’s the thing about BIG kids:

If you’re reading this journal entry then you probably know that I have 5 kids.  My husband and I had 3 boys by the time we were 25.  Then the “babies” came 7 years later (we call our 2 youngest the babies – because there is such an age difference – sometimes we call them “the back-up babies” but only in the most loving way).  This summer our 3 oldest kids are 22, 19 and 17.  They all have cars and lives that revolve around someplace other than this back yard I’m sitting in now.  But that’s how it’s suppose to go.  I get it.  It’s ok.  It only makes me cry a little and completely out of pride.

Everyone tells you the day you have a kid that it goes by fast.  Don’t blink.  All that.  I’ve heard it since I was 19 and someone was telling me I’d be a grandmother before I knew it (not yet, thank you).  But those kids do get big and the years do fly.  I watch these huge kids grab their car keys and bend down to kiss me on the cheek “I’ll be home later, bye mom” and I can’t believe they are my kids.

Here’s the thing about writing NEW songs for BIG kids:

It’s tricky.  Super tricky.  I try to stay away from writing specific songs about my kids.  They are such a HUGE part of my brain and heart and they inspire so much.  They’re perspective is all over the place in my writing in general.  They basically MADE me.  I promise I didn’t sit down and think “I’m going to write a song for my kids because they are getting so big and they don’t listen to me anymore….” No, this one really snuck out on it’s own.  It’s called “Grown Up Now” and it was inspired by these tall creatures that invade my refrigerator and text me at midnight to say they are running late. They confirm that time does fly and I am older than I feel (or act).  But the future looks so bright!

xo.lm

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