Intolerant of intolerance

Intolerance has been on my mind lately. Violent intolerance of the religious kind; the intolerance a friend experienced at a restaurant because of who he loves; intolerance of red or blue; intolerance of black or white. If there is one thing I can't tolerate, it's intolerance (and lactose)!

Not that its antonym, tolerance, is a very lofty ideal. Simply being tolerant of others and their views is better than seeking to annihilate them, but surely we can do better.

Tolerate one another, as I have tolerated you?

How uninspiring.

I choose love.

"Love as you would be loved."

Swimming downward: Part II

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about a childhood experience in which I almost drowned trying to lift a capsized rowboat off of me. I ended the story with the following thought: "Instead of struggling to swim upward, I had to swim downward to reach the surface."

As promised, I am now revisiting that thought.

We struggle so hard to rise to the top. Sometimes, the very act of struggling is what keeps us from getting there. We can literally kill ourselves and each other as we fight and claw our way toward a pinnacle we may never reach. It takes a lot of courage and wisdom to know when to abandon the struggle so that we  might truly live.

-Danny

The Milwaukee Sikh shooting and art as a teacher

The Sikh shooting in Milwaukee was disgusting,  and terrifying, and  serves as yet another powerful reminder that love and acceptance are increasingly important to our human experience.  Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families.

The shooter - Wade Michael Page - was the vocalist and guitarist of several white power bands.  While I will not suggest that music led Page to this hate crime, I do firmly believe and assert that some music teaches people how to hate; it helps people become better at hating and better at being angry.  Music and art can plant seeds of anger, self-pity, insecurity, revenge, and pride. Great art plants virtuous seeds that inspires us to think and feel in ways that enrich our experience and foster appreciation for others.

I think it is critical that we own our thoughts and emotions - that we recognize that anger is inherently deceitful and destructive. Art has powerful influence over our thoughts and emotions.  We should seek art and entertainment that supports our best self.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/08/07/us-usa-wisconsin-shooting-idUSBRE8740FP20120807

Local artist spotlight: Matteo

I recently heard an interview on KUER's Radiowest with a Salt Lake City band, Matteo. They play thoughtfully written American folk, infused with traditional Chinese instruments. I found both their music and their story really inspiring. Take a listen:

http://radiowest.kuer.org/post/matteo

Swimming downward to reach the surface

When I was about seven years old, I went with my family to a lake in the mountains. There was a little rowboat floating in the shallow water near the shore, so I jumped in and started playing in it by myself. I don't remember how, but the boat capsized and I suddenly found myself underneath it, unable to breath. My brain went into panic mode and all rational thought was shut down. I needed oxygen- which lay just inches above my head- but there was an obstacle between us. I needed to remove that obstacle. Desperately, I began to try and lift the boat up out of the water so I could take a breath. I pushed until my arms ached, but it wouldn't budge.

Still hopelessly pushing, it suddenly occurred to me that I didn't need to lift the boat off of me to reach the surface. I wasn't trapped, I just needed to dive down a little bit and simply swim away.

Had I continued to push on that boat for much longer I would have passed out and probably drowned. Getting out of the situation alive required the following paradigm shift:

Instead of struggling to swim upward, I had to swim downward to reach the surface.

Perhaps on another post, I will elaborate on that last sentence. For now, I think it's worth leaving with you to ponder on your own.

-Danny

Influential Americans

Time's list of the top 20 most influential Americans.  The article provides a brief wiki-esque overview of some important people in US and world history.  Worth a read if you have a minute.

http://newsfeed.time.com/2012/07/25/the-20-most-influential-americans-of-all-time/#all

Milestone For Women's Issues In Corporate America

It has been one week since Marissa Mayer assumed the role of chief executive officer of Yahoo. Mayer - who is currently six months pregnant with her first child - has been the target of a barrage of chatter and criticism surrounding her ability to both lead a struggling company and raise a child. I personally believe that her appointment symbolizes a milestone for women's issues in corporate America. I appreciate the faith that the board of directors placed in her despite her decision to balance motherhood and career.

-Michael

Mommy Wars Rage Anew Over Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer's Pregnancy

Walden Pond and a Deliberate Life

I recently visited Walden Pond for the first time and touched some of the rubble of Henry David Thoreau’s simple home.  Near the rubble stands a sign bearing a famous line from Walden “I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.”

I have read and reflected upon this sentence during several intervals of life.  Each time I read it the words pierce through any comfortable routine I have created and push me to question what it means for me to live deliberately.  I find it hard to make out a crystal clear image of a deliberate life. 

Over the last few years I have had to make some very difficult decisions about what living deliberately means to me.  My intuition and sense has guided me a few scary steps into the dark. 

 “One cannot expect to discover new lands without consenting to lose sight of the shore for a very long time.”

-Andre Gide

With All My Love – the final track on our recent mini-album – describes some of the heavy fears and hopes I have wrestled with as I have tried to understand myself in relationship to other people and the world. I wrote the song as the experiences of a few confusing years converged into a metaphoric chemical reaction; the result was a new song – my favorite to date – and a guiding epiphany:

Ultimately I want to have exceptional relationships with people that bring out the best in me and pursue activities and dreams that are meaningful to others and me.  Nearly everything else remains unclear.

-Michael

Discovering others

Not unlike many others, as a young college student, I was obsessed with the process of self-discovery. I was deeply influenced by stories like Herman Hesse's Siddhartha. I would wander off into the mountains for long stretches of time in and effort to “find myself.”

Lately, I am becoming interested in a more challenging, yet more rewarding process of discovery: the process of discovering others. This is not easy to do. We tend to see the people around us as merely playing a role in our own lives. Once these roles are cast, true discovery can rarely take place.

How do we overcome this tendency to cast the people in our lives into these confining roles? How do we better discover their true worth and true beauty?

The song With all my Love describes this problem and hints at a possible solution. The song describes a dream in which Michael is floating on a boat off the shore and sees hundreds of people on a beach. He desires to truly connect with these beautiful people, but finds himself drifting farther and farther away. “I tried to wave, but they didn't see me. Still, I'm not sure I was seeing them.”

In the end of the dream, the only way Michael feels he can reach across the distance and connect with these people is to share a part of himself. He knows that he won't reach everyone, but is content to touch anyone.

I have found recently that as I am willing to open up and share my true self with others, they in turn have opened up and shared amazing things with me. Through this process of trying to discover those I love, my relationships have been strengthened and I've gained new insights. We have grown together, instead of growing apart.

-Danny

Life crushes and impressionist art

I recently spent a few weeks in Western Europe with my wife and son.  We had a wonderful time.  I found insight in the Musee d’Orsay – an art museum highlighting works from the impressionist and post-impressionist eras.  I was struck by the idea that so many of the talented artists were great friends with one another and great friends with many of the thought leaders and revolutionaries of their day.  These artists drew inspiration not only from the ideas of other’s but from their relationships with people that inspired them and helped them see the world in new ways.

I think that each of us should be friends with a few people that energize and inspire us.  A friend who helps you come alive, helps you reset, helps you redirect, helps accelerate you.  I will call these friends a “life crush” for lack of a better term - someone who you platonically crush on for life. You can speak about things with your life crushes in ways that you can’t speak to anyone else because you think differently around them than you do when you’re with anyone else. Even between the years the relationship is fresh and revitalizing; even when distance and circumstance are such that you see your life crush only every several years.  I am grateful to crush on many people – both men and women – that inspire me and bring me to life.

Jumping back a paragraph… artists in the impressionist era and other areas drew inspiration from their life crushes and shared perspectives that helped them form revolutionary beliefs and ideas.

We live what we believe.

-Michael

Alternatives to mass media

Today I read a really fascinating blog on media consolidation and the lack of media choice. While none of the information presented here should be too shocking to anyone, it's worth a quick glance and some thought:

http://frugaldad.com/2011/11/22/media-consolidation-infographic/

This infographic left me thinking about how inexcusable it is in this digital era that we consumers continue to gobble up the high-fructose garbage we are fed by the mass media. I am not trying to say that commercially successful media is always bad media (though it often is). Rather, I am arguing that we can and should seek alternatives. As I write, I am acutely aware that many of the world's people are still left behind in the information age and truly have little choice as to what media (if any) they consume. But this simple exchange in which you and I are engaged -this simple, yet amazing digital exchange- is proof that at least we don't have to be passive consumers of media. We can seek out good film, literature, news, and music without sitting in our highchairs waiting to be fed. We can decide for ourselves which media are valuable and then we can choose to share with others.

Michael and I have both expressed on this blog the desire we have to offer something new and unique through our music. We now invite you to do the same. Share with us a favorite film that wasn't released by one of the major studios. Share with us a song or a band that we wouldn't hear on the radio. Share with us an important article or story that didn't catch the attention of the major news agencies. Tell us about an amazing visual artist that we might not know. Tell us where you discover new ideas and new media. Enlighten us.

You can post your thoughts as comments to this blog post or you can post on our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/SongsBecomeWater

The Frightening and Wonderful Process of Discovery

“Sometimes I want to see beyond all this haze; sometimes I wish I'd never cared enough to open up my eyes.”

These are the opening lyrics to Luna sin Moonlight. I wrote the words as a young college student trying to find my place in the world. They expressed a longing to return to innocence without descending further into ignorance. For years, I struggled with whether or not to record the song. I felt like the lyrics expressed a more cynical view of innocence than I would have liked them to. At the same time, I didn't feel like I could change the lyrics without discounting the real and raw emotions I was feeling when I put pen to paper.

In 2009, a couple of years after writing the song, my son Noah was born. His birth restored in me a sense of wonder and amazement in the world that had long been missing and helped me to appreciate the beauty of pure hope, pure faith, and pure innocence.

These childlike emotions are encapsulated in the music box -the child's toy- heard throughout the song. They are woven together with the very real emotions of confusion, doubt, and disbelief. In order for the song to be complete (and as part of a creative quest for honesty) all those emotions needed to occupy the same space.

As I watch my little Noah grow up, the song has begun to take on new meaning. I realize that his own beautiful state of innocence will soon pass. The frightening and wonderful process of discovery awaits him, just as it awaits us all.

Wherever you are in your own path of discovery, I invite you to read the lyrics to this song carefully. I then invite you to listen. The instruments are admittedly unconventional and it may take a few listens, but I think you'll find it worth the effort.

-Danny

"Who are you to tell me how to live?"

As I was driving in my car today, I was listening to a radio interview with the philosopher Alain de Botton that caused me to linger a moment in my car and ponder before going in to work.

De botton was discussing his new book, which urges non-believers to embrace some of the positive aspects of religion. Himself a committed atheist, de Botton was arguing for the secular world to be bold enough to teach and guide people to live better lives. All of us -whether we believe in the supernatural or not- need guidance to live the best life possible.
 
Speaking of our obsession with individual freedom, de Botton says "freedom basically means I want to be left alone and no one should guide me, no one should teach me anything. I am an adult, and being an adult means not listening to anyone else about the art of living." As traditional moral institutions crumble, we are constantly asking anyone with any advice at all for us, "who are you to tell me how to live."

Obviously, these traditional institutions have often abused their persuasive powers and earned our distrust. We are now left with not only a reluctance to follow on moral matters, but a reluctance to lead as well.

As de Botton put it: "Some of the people with the best ideas will retreat and say, 'well, it's not for me to influence anyone.'" When artists and intellectuals have abdicated their responsibility to use their wisdom and insight to influence others to be better, the voices of our consumer culture are ready to fill in the void.

This problem is one that Michael and I have often discussed. As lovers of art, music, and literature we feel deeply the absence of voices advocating for a better way of life. As musicians, we feel an urgency to offer an alternative to the pervasive nihilism of popular culture in a way that is meaningful to both believers and non-believers alike.

In doing this, we don't wish to be preachy. We aren't trying to persuade anyone to accept things they don't already believe in. But as de Botton put it, we all need to be reminded from time to time to act on those things that we already believe to be right.

-Danny

If you'd like to hear the entire interview with Alain de Botton on Radiowest, follow this link
http://radiowest.kuer.org/post/religion-atheists

Something beyond... Remembering a Great Writer

In a previous post, I shared with readers the profound effect Spanish and Latin American literature has had in my life. I was saddened to learn of the recent passing of the great Mexican writer, Carlos Fuentes. While reading his obituary, I came across the text of his final tweet and felt it was worth posting here. It may seem a grave injustice that such a prolific writer of novels, short stories, essays, theatre, and cinema would be honored here by a tweet. But once you read it I think you'll understand why:

"Debe haber algo más allá de la masacre y la barbarie, para sustentar la existencia del género humano y todos debemos participar en su busca."

"There must be something beyond slaughter and barbarism to support the existence of mankind and we must all help search for it."

May we all have the courage and strength to continue the search.

-Danny

Stepping Stones through the Underbrush

Many of our dear friends and family that have listened to our song Upwards, beyond the Onstreaming have found some of the lyrics unsettling. Admittedly there are elements of the song that are a little uncomfortable, and they are there by design. Asking really difficult questions of ourselves is not a comfortable exercise, but it is one that is crucial for personal growth. The greatest art, literature, and music can force us to confront these darker aspects of human nature while still urging us to seek the light. Perhaps no one did this better than Dostoevsky, whose work has influenced both of us greatly.

If you have not yet heard the song in it's entirety, we invite you to give it a few very careful listens. If you have listened to the song already and felt uncomfortable, we invite you to listen again and to read the listening notes provided below. We hope that our own thoughts on the song will help provide stepping stones through the underbrush of dark and dangerous emotions and eventually lead you to the real message of the song: "Love as you would be loved."

Listening notes

"The title from this song is taken from the short story, Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius by Jorge Luis Borges. Although the song has little to do with the esoteric ideas of Borges, I feel that the title describes beautifully the surreal and distant place that the guitar takes me when I play the song. A place where it is safe to be ourselves.

In my interpretation of the song, that distant place is not real. The darker moments of the song even question if it's possible to continue dreaming of such a place. Michael's interpretation of the song and his added composition infuse a degree of hope that such a place is real, even if it always seems just beyond our grasp."

-Danny

"To sing this song I imagine I am someone else. The words grow my empathy for others. They are not my words. The words awaken me to other’s stories. They grow my appreciation for the individual challenges we each face and further my respect for the human experience. The words remind me to love."

-Michael

lyrics

Contributing works

-Borges, Jorge Luis. "Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius." Ficciones.

-Dostoevsky, Fyodor. Crime and Punishment.

-de Unamuno, Miguel. Abel Sanchez: Historia de una pasion. 

-"The Rhetorics of Religious Violence." Radiowest. KUER, Salt Lake City. 15 February 2007. Radio
C59YM7963346

300,000 Tons of Plastic Shopping Bags: Thoughts on resolution

Three years ago I made a firm resolve to stop accepting plastic shopping bags at the grocery store.  Americans send over 1 billion plastic grocery bags to landfills each year, adding 300,000 tons of unnecessary landfill waste. I find this fact both disgusting and striking: - striking because reusable shopping bags are such a viable solution.  The average American throws away 4.5 pounds of trash each day. I believe that we need to identify the most accessible solutions to cut back on waste creation and plastic shopping bag reduction is clearly a low hanging fruit.

I bring all this up to give context to a phenomenon.  It took me nearly a year after I made this resolution to actually stop accepting plastic grocery bags. One year! Why does it take us so long to change our behavior?  My wife and I now always keep reusable bags in the trunk of our car.  Why did it take me a year to get in the habit of storing reusable bags in my trunk?!

The song Words Leave Out The Rest was born out of the desire to actualize resolve.  To be who we know we are and who we know we should be.  To walk the walk. To follow our sense of right.

-Michael

Ivory Towers Need Ladders

When I think about all of the most important pursuits of my life (of which making music with Songs Become Water is definitely one) I find that they have been driven by two main impulses: the desire to ponder and analyze the great challenges of life (I'll call it the thinker impulse), and the desire to do something about them (the doer impulse).

I think that both of the impulses exist in us all. I imagine that for most people one impulse is more dominant than another. For me, pursuits that allow me to use both of those impulses equally are typically the most satisfying.

It was the thinker impulse that led me to pursue a degree in Spanish Language and Literature. I loved the exercise of analyzing, criticizing, and deconstructing texts and using them to debate the big existential questions. At one point, I had strongly considered getting a Ph.D in Spanish Literature.

However, many of the most powerful texts I studied were so harrowing that I decided eventually not to pursue a career in academia. It became clear to me that social and economic injustice were more than abstract literary themes. While the characters in those stories weren't real, their experiences were and those experiences were being lived by people who were suffering. Eventually, the doer impulse forced me to climb down from the ivory tower.

I now work for a nonprofit agency that provides programs to help people out of poverty. I love the work I do. I am now satisfying the doer impulse. But I can't (nor should I) prevent the thinker impulse from creeping in. It prompts me to ask important questions about the effectiveness of the work I'm doing. It invites me every so often to climb back atop the ivory tower to get a clearer view.

-Danny

What is "Words Leave Out The Rest" all about?

Please listen to the song and read a few of our impressions from the song.

"I began writing this song late one evening in November. I penned the words before i picked up the guitar and wrote the tune. For me the song explores a distinct angst that had been growing for over a year. I had a feeling that I wasn't working hard enough toward my goals and that I lacked the courage to aspire to the things I really wanted out of life.  That November evening Words Leave out the Rest became a plea to both myself and a dear friend to summon the courage and commitment to make the sacrifices necessary to follow our sense of right."

-Michael

"This song reminds me that there is nothing necessarily valiant or virtuous about living the way others expect you to live. Too many of us ignore our sense of right and 'let our fear and busyness be our god.'"

-Danny

Words Leave Out The Rest

lyrics

I think that we are getting closer - closer to each other and further from our goal

And it seems when ever we get closer that something tries to stop us and we fail

But I believe that you've got something special - together we've got something and I feel the world would benefit from us

And I want to sew our dreams and time into a quilt and drape it over us as we sit by the fire of our hope

And we'll talk of all the beauty that we feel from the world and lament the fact that our words leave out the rest

It frightens me that though we feel a calling we let our fear and busyness be our god

But I believe that what is scaring me is that this is just iconic of what is happening in the world

Is this song a warning? A prophecy? A wake up call? Some jumbled words? A battle cry? A desperate plea for help?

Maybe the kindling of our hope?

And I want to sew our dreams and time into a book and turn its pages as we sit by the fire of our growth

And we'll sing of all the beauty that we feel in the world and lament the fact that our words leave out the rest

Songs Become Water is on iTunes!

Hypnopompy our first album just hit iTunes today! Please download the album and give it a few critical listens!

Click here to download

More cell phones than people with access to toilets and clean water...

Woke up early. Lot of homework. Little time. A Lot happening in the world right now. The “Sudans” seem intent on catalyzing the next major East-African war in a series of regional tragedies. Cristina Fernandez – president of Argentina – has officially opted to nationalize YPF - the largest oil company in Argentina. Spains's Repsol claims majority ownership of YPF and the choice to nationalize will no doubt have substantial effects on European trade, further slowing the Argentine economic recovery. The supreme court will soon reach a verdict regarding Arizona’s notorious immigration law. And with nearly 6 billion cell phones currently in service there are far more cellphones than people with access to a toilet or clean water.

I visited a friend this afternoon who recently concluded a several week stay in the hospital with complications from cancer and diabetes. She said “I prayed this morning and thanked God for my birthday.” “Happy Birthday!” I told her. “It’s not my birthday” she said. “ I’m just so thankful to have another day of life that it feels like my birthday.”

I went home and held my son and celebrated life. Life is beautiful and today – right now – there are people in every nation and every region celebrating their beautiful and unique life.

-Michael

With All My Love describes the tension between sensitivity to the injustices in the world and gratitude for the beauty and sanctity of life. If you haven’t had a chance to listen to this song I invite you to do so by clicking on the link below.

 http://songsbecomewater.bandcamp.com/album/hypnopompy

What instruments were used in making Hypnopompy?

A wide range of both acoustic and electronic instruments were used to create Hypnopompy. Most of the percussion was composed and recorded using an MPC 1000, which allowed us to use both synthetic drum beats as well as our own samples of various percussive sounds, such as pots and pans, a jar of quinoa, and a microphone scratching a scruffy face to add texture and rhythm to our compositions.

The lead instrument heard in "Luna sin Moonlight" was created by sampling some of the notes of "Pop Goes the Weasel" from this jack-in-the box. The notes were manipulated and rearranged on the MPC to imitate a musicbox. 

This acoustic guitar, most prominent in "Upwards, beyond the Onstreaming," was custom made by Reo Stika of Great Salt Lake Guitar Company to compliment Danny's soft finger picking style.

A Paraguayan folk harp used in "Luna sin Moonlight."  

Christopher Escalante also played trombone and tuba for"With all my Love."

Remember that Hypnopompy is available for download. You can purchase the album at:

http://songsbecomewater.bandcamp.com/

Thanks for listening!

Setting Out To Do Something Unique!

Danny and I were very conflicted about whether or not to set apart the time to record an album together. We are both extremely busy! Danny just finished a masters degree, has a full time career managing programs for a non-profit organization in Salt Lake City UT, and has a family that is his number one priority.  I am fully immersed in a masters program at Yale University in CT, and my wife and I just had our first child - a beautiful boy!  While Danny and I love writing music together, the project at first thought seemed strikingly quixotic if not borderline frivolous. The situation was further complicated by the fact that we live thousands of miles away from each other. In the end we couldn't ignore a growing belief that songs ought to marry music and words in meaningful ways.  We couldn't ignore a call to write substantive lyrics and music.

Before arranging the album we committed to doing something unique.  First, we wanted to marry music and words in meaningful ways.  In other words we wanted to cut out fluffy words, overly abstract images, filler lines, unnecessary rhymes, and write lyrics that have a point - lyrics that are about something that actually matters to us.  We tried to write words that would be accessible to listeners. Second, we wanted each song to explore a different topic.  Some artists get stuck writing about the same thing over and over again.  We challenged ourselves to think and write about different issues.

We hope you will take the time to give our new album a few critical listens and tell us what you think! Click on the link below to listen to the album.

http://songsbecomewater.bandcamp.com/album/hypnopompy

Thanks so much for your support!

-Michael

Hypnopompy is now available for download

The wait is over. You can now listen to and download the entire album at:

http://songsbecomewater.bandcamp.com/album/hypnopompy

Literature in the spirit of "One True Lullaby"

The recent warm weather in CT has brought warm thoughts...

In One True Lullaby I write about my desire to feel and communicate honest and clear emotions toward those with whom I engage.  I also explore the courage that commitment requires and the inherent beauty of honest and supportive commitment.  I want to share a few quotes from eloquent writers who have pondered similar themes.

“Intimacy requires courage because risk is inescapable. We cannot know at the outset how the relationship will affect us. Like a chemical mixture, if one of us is changed, both of us will be. Will we grow in self-actualization, or will it destroy us? The one thing we can be certain of is that if we let ourselves fully into the relationship for good or evil, we will not come out unaffected.”
-Rollo May

"Truth is beauty, beauty truth."
-John Keates

“Some things are only real because they represent what we think. When we learn the truth and think it, the old reality is no longer real to us and loses its hold on us. The truth sets us free.” 
- C. Terry Warner

“Everybody is original, if he tells the truth, if he speaks from himself. But it must be from his *true* self and not from the self he thinks he *should* be. ” 
- Brenda Ueland

Thanks for reading and listening.  Be well.

-Michael

New Song: Luna Sin Moonlight

Very Pleased to release this song.  Danny and I poured dozens of hours into composing and arranging this piece.  Soon we will talk more about both its meaning and its unique composition.  For now we appreciate you taking a few minutes to just take in the song.  Thanks for listening! Please share with your friends!

-Michael

One True Lullaby

"One True Lullaby", The words

dedicated to Jodi 

Take your time
but do it now
Lock yourself in a darkroom
where the evidence can resound
If you feel the most lonely
when you're among your own
It's time to peer at the problems exposed
when you develop your doubts

Sketch yourself
Draw a face with no eyes
You call for my name
but you should listen to your own advice
That writing songs is easy
Unless you avoid all lies, so
I wish I could creep into your mind
and sing you one true lullaby

Sing that...
Fear will take your hand
and guide you far from here
but I will stand and hold
to the hope that we feel

Videos and magazines
make everything look easy
Videos and magazines
make true feelings seem trite and rusty
Burn the words and pictures
Burn away the lies
Life's not a game of cards or dice
Create the future with your own decisions

Fear will take your hand
and guide you far from here
I will stand in shallow water
Because I'm afraid to go too deep

I will take your hand
and hold you close to here, and

I will take your hand
and hold you close to hope, and

I will take your hand
and hold you close to me

And I will take your hand...
I will take your hand

Listening notes

"One True Lullaby is a deeply personal song that seeks to convey my desire to communicate honestly with people whom I love. The song reflects the idea that we only experience honest emotions when free from self deception. It is challenging to convey honest emotion and I sincerely "wish that I could creep into your mind and sing you one true lullaby." While writing this song I had to rework the words over and over because it would begin to take on a tone that was exaggerated and melodramatic. I felt that a melodramatic or over-romanticized tone would dilute the meaning of the song. I wanted the words to be honest and simple."

-Michael


"One True Lullaby is a sincere and beautiful love song. For me, it is also the scariest song on the album because it exposes a lot of the fear and insecurities that come with being in a committed relationship. As frightening as the concept of isolation is, opening up to another human being fully and completely can be just as frightening. This song always gives me chills."

-Danny

Contributing literature to "One True Lullaby":

Bonds That Make Us Free - C. Terry Warner
The Courage To Create - Rollo May
Arm The Children - Arthur Henry King

Thank you for your interest in Songs Become Water!

This blog will be used as a space for us to share more fully and intimately the thoughts and feelings that have informed our songs. We do not intend to interpret our songs for the listener nor to tell the listener how the song should make him or her feel (our lyrics are not intended to be coercive and a distinctly didactic voice is incongruous with our vision and mission as songwriters). While our Lyrics are personal, we believe that they explore themes that are universal in nature and therefore relevant to many listeners.  We hope our songs will rekindle or catalyze thoughts and feelings about important topics and by so doing enrich your personal quest to find beauty.

With Love,

Michael Escalante and Danny Jasperson