"Safe Harbor"

 

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PHOTO - Virginia, Paul, and Leo at their Harborside Wedding in Canada

  

Florrie came to me filled to overflowing with excitement about the idea of commissioning a song for her stepdaughter Virginia's wedding. Florrie had just received my Song-of-the-Month on the song "Bright Eyes"  (a father in the late stages of Lou Gehrig's Disease leaving a message for his daughter).  She was particularly moved by this song because her own husband suffers from a similar disease. We conducted a fruitful song interview, and I was on my way. But WAIT!! Florrie's level of enthusiasm about the song was so great that she wrote me the next morning to tell me that she had started hearing lyrics in a dream. She promptly typed them up and emailed them to me--careful to say "Please feel free to ignore these."

 

Now, I will tell you that I pride myself greatly on my lyrics. People frequently write me to ask if I will put their poems to music and ninety-nine percent of the time I decline, because, to the extent that I have a "gift," it is one which involves the simultaneous "coming down" of words and music fused together. In short: lyrics are sacred to my process. So it was with some trepidation that I looked at Florrie's "dream lines."  But guess what!?!!? They appear, essentially verbatim, as the first verse of this song!  They were too good to be true, and they solved the one conundrum I was struggling with in this song: how or whether to incorporate a mention of Paul and Virginia's baby Leo into the wedding song. Problem solved: "Leo" is the very first word in the verse Florrie sent me. Everything else just flowed delightfully from there:

 

 

This song celebrates the way that Paul's groundedness and Virginia's adventurousness have informed and balanced one another. This song gives a nod to some of the hurts and disappointments and losses that had befallen each of them before they found each other. But mostly, thanks to Florrie's jump-start verse, this song is one big arms-raised-to-the-sky celebration of life and love and promise and togetherness. Long may it wave!

PAUL AND VIRGINIA ’S REACTION
I think the email that Florrie sent to me immediately after she and her husband had presented the song to Virginia and Paul says it better than I ever could:

It's the end of a very long day, but I couldn't wait until tomorrow to tell you how powerful and wonderful it was to present your song to Virginia and Paul.  We arranged to be alone with them, and when they came in and sat down, I told them about what my aspirations were for our wedding present to them, and how the idea of commissioning a song came about, plus a bit about the process. Even as I was talking about it Virginia started to cry, and as soon as the first line was sung, everyone in the room  was in tears. It was SO lovely and satisfying. And when I told them that there would be a copy for everyone at the wedding, I thought they'd flip. They are flat-out thrilled. They've decided to use the song as the one they'll dance their first dance to--basically, it will be the theme song of the wedding.

We had to tuck everything away when the other grandmothers started arriving, but later in the day, when it was only the 5 of us, we listened to the song together again--several times! It's so beautiful, Anna, and it's already created so much happiness and good feeling. Thank you!

THE WEDDING: SAFE HARBOR SAILS HOME!
Once again, Florrie’s email to me captures the experience better than I ever could:

The wedding was magical in so many ways. And the surprise of the song was the icing AND the cherry AND the sparkler on the cake! At the end of the post-dinner toasts, I got up and spoke, and talked about how Paul and I wanted to give Virginia and Paul something extra special for their wedding--something that would be unique, and non-materialistic, and that would express authentically things about them and their lives and their powerful, nourishing connection to each other. Then I said a few words about you and about the process of creating the song, and about giving it to them and our delight that they were going to dance their first dance together to the song. I also said that in the spirit of sharing that was so characteristic of Paul and Virginia, we had a copy for everyone there. Then I signaled the DJ and the room was filled with your beautiful voice and the gorgeous melody of Safe Harbor . While I was speaking, Angelita had uncovered the table so that by the time people got up to dance, they could see the sumptuous array of CDs.

I can't count how many people came up to me afterwards to tell me how much they loved the song, and many of them marveled at your lovely voice. It was such a bulls-eye in so many ways, Anna, and it meant the world to Virginia and Paul to be able to share it with everyone, both in the first playing and as a take-home gift from the wedding.

In short, I feel that the wonder of this song has spread and continues to spread in many directions and dimensions--it expanded the magic of the occasion in immeasurable ways.

So thank you, thank you, thank you, dear Anna, for putting so much of your extraordinary self into this!

THE ARTIST
Anna Huckabee Tull is an award-winning Boston Singer-Songwriter with five national CD releases to her credit, including the recently-released "Every Day," a collection of songs exploring the relationships between parents and children, young and old. Anna is also a Psychologist and Life Coach, with a Master's Degree in Spiritual Psychology and Applied Psychology.  [More about Anna]. She has found her own delightful “ Safe Harbor ” with her husband, Jim, and their two sweet boys.  

 LINKS
Return to Song of the Month directory for current and previous installments
Learn about commissioning a song
Learn about Anna's 5 National CDs
Purchase individual songs on iTunes

© 2007 Anna Huckabee Tull. The rights for this song are filed and registered with the Copyright Office as a Sound Recording by Anna Huckabee Tull. Copies of these songs may not be sold or bartered. But sharing? Sharing is all good!