In Memory - an only child's death
Live -
Pre-Production version:
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Here is a rough live take in a slideshow.
This is a song, I wrote and sang for Wendy Smith after her daughter was killed in a car crash in New Zealand less than two years ago. |
Recent developments
I suppose it is this song that set me on my path of making a CD of my originals. I sang and played this for my dad - a retired psychiatrist - and he wept and told me of its universal cathartic appeal. My sister Eileen told me that the line that touched her the most was near the end when the image of the daughter runs to her in her dreams and wishes - "She runs to me...and I let her be..."
This song, more than any of my others, is a gift to me from God that I was meant to share with Wendy and perhaps others. I felt it come to me like a baby in labor and I have changed very few of the words since it first flowed out. I want to capture these songs for my own legacy and in case there is someone out there who will resonate with these emotions and be transported, supported and loved in a critical moment. I know that is a lofty aspiration - and I own it and live that in my work as a psychologist and now as a singer songwriter. Even more recently, I must recount that when I heard this song newly arranged with strings and soaring piano in my headphones while in studio production I was moved and sang only one time for the final production. I told Anthony, my producer and mentor, that I could do no more and that the arrangement was driving me to tears and the play back was going to be the final take for that day. My voice cracked once or twice and perhaps my timing was not always on the click-track but the emotion was true and that was most vital. |
Your Thoughts? |