TOPIC: A song for Valentine's Day
Deep love
| "Hearts Wide Open" - Free Download |
For Valentine's Day this year, here is one of the deeper LOVE SONG projects I have ever had the luxury and joy and honor of falling into.
It's also an interesting tale of how one song can, very unexpectedly--from all the way on one side of the country--lead to a song on the other side of the country.
This is a song of deep and abiding love between two partners, whose family is comprised of two loving parents and their two adopted-from-Guatemala daughters.
It's also an interesting tale of how one song can, very unexpectedly--from all the way on one side of the country--lead to a song on the other side of the country.
This is a song of deep and abiding love between two partners, whose family is comprised of two loving parents and their two adopted-from-Guatemala daughters.
AN UNUSUAL WAY FOR A SONG TO GET CONCEIVED
The story of this month's song starts with an Adoption Song that I put out on the internet a couple of years ago. That song attracted so much attention both in the US and around the globe, that my website was nearly shut down with all the traffic. That song changed my songwriting life. It opened up all kinds of windows and doors that I have always been grateful for. That song spoke to a lot of couples who had adopted children from Guatemala, and from countries all over the planet. Jackie and Kathy are the ones who commissioned it. (And here, for those who may not know about it, is that song, called "Every Day" and its story. "Every Day" lives on in many ways, and on many adoption websites around the US. Please forward it to anyone you know or love who has been touched by adoption).
Now it happened that around the time of the release of this song, there was a couple, Melinda and Shiela, out in Seattle, who had heard "Every Day" and were so completely blown away by the way this particular song captured their own story that they called to ask if there was any possible way the song could be re-recorded with the names of their own two daughters. I pride myself on never having done anything like that because of the originality of what I do. But in this case I got a very special dispensation from generous Jackie and Kathy and we did re-record it. And for two years that was the end of that story. Except that in two households, one in Boston and one in Seattle, that song lived on and was played and enjoyed regularly--often nightly--in a very personal way.
A LOVE SONG
And two years later, I got a call from Melinda, who had decided she wanted to commission a song herself--a love song, for Shiela. And then fly me out to Seattle to perform it to her--surprise!--at her 50th birthday party. The song that follows is that song, called "Hearts Wide Open." The writing of the song opened out in front of me very easily because of one simple question that I happened to ask Melinda in the Song Interview. I often use a simple tool called 'sentence stems,' in which I begin a sentence, and then ask the interviewee to complete the sentence differently, ten times in a row, with whatever comes to mind. In this case I offered up a fairly straightforward one:
"Shiela, when I think of you..."
I'm not sure what I was expecting Melinda to say. But I was unprepared for the way her first answer just kind of jolted me into a different way of thinking. She said,
"When I think of you, I see forever."
And out of that rolled an entire lush, wide-open, celebrative song about just how connected two people can be. I thought this would be a great song to share with you in this month of love, because it's a deep expression of what it can truly mean to hold tight to yourself and be truly joined with another.
The story of this month's song starts with an Adoption Song that I put out on the internet a couple of years ago. That song attracted so much attention both in the US and around the globe, that my website was nearly shut down with all the traffic. That song changed my songwriting life. It opened up all kinds of windows and doors that I have always been grateful for. That song spoke to a lot of couples who had adopted children from Guatemala, and from countries all over the planet. Jackie and Kathy are the ones who commissioned it. (And here, for those who may not know about it, is that song, called "Every Day" and its story. "Every Day" lives on in many ways, and on many adoption websites around the US. Please forward it to anyone you know or love who has been touched by adoption).
Now it happened that around the time of the release of this song, there was a couple, Melinda and Shiela, out in Seattle, who had heard "Every Day" and were so completely blown away by the way this particular song captured their own story that they called to ask if there was any possible way the song could be re-recorded with the names of their own two daughters. I pride myself on never having done anything like that because of the originality of what I do. But in this case I got a very special dispensation from generous Jackie and Kathy and we did re-record it. And for two years that was the end of that story. Except that in two households, one in Boston and one in Seattle, that song lived on and was played and enjoyed regularly--often nightly--in a very personal way.
A LOVE SONG
And two years later, I got a call from Melinda, who had decided she wanted to commission a song herself--a love song, for Shiela. And then fly me out to Seattle to perform it to her--surprise!--at her 50th birthday party. The song that follows is that song, called "Hearts Wide Open." The writing of the song opened out in front of me very easily because of one simple question that I happened to ask Melinda in the Song Interview. I often use a simple tool called 'sentence stems,' in which I begin a sentence, and then ask the interviewee to complete the sentence differently, ten times in a row, with whatever comes to mind. In this case I offered up a fairly straightforward one:
"Shiela, when I think of you..."
I'm not sure what I was expecting Melinda to say. But I was unprepared for the way her first answer just kind of jolted me into a different way of thinking. She said,
"When I think of you, I see forever."
And out of that rolled an entire lush, wide-open, celebrative song about just how connected two people can be. I thought this would be a great song to share with you in this month of love, because it's a deep expression of what it can truly mean to hold tight to yourself and be truly joined with another.
HEARTS WIDE OPEN
Anna Huckabee Tull
When I look at you
I see forever
I see us laughing like we do
I see me holding on to you
I see us sobbing just we two
Hearts wide open
Hearts wide
Open
And as I make my life with you
I feel so together
I see you laughing with our girls
I see you holding up the world
I see you turn to me, unfurled
Heart wide open
Heart wide
Open
It’s in those questions that you ask me from someplace deeper
It’s in the strength in you that pulls you into the finer future
And it’s in your gesture, so subtle, from across the room
And it’s in the wonder of a love like this allowed to bloom
You are so loved. So loved. So true.
Shiela, look at you, look at you…look at you!
‘Cause when I do, I really see you.
‘Cause when I look at you
I see forever
I see us laughing like we do
I see me holding on to you
I see us silent, just we two
Hearts wide open
I am wide open…with you
© 2009 Anna Huckabee Tull, CustomCraftedSongs.com
Anna & Shiela HOW IT WENT OVER
One of my favorite things to do is to read the emails from a client when they have heard the rough-cut version of the song they have commissioned for the very first time. Melinda's said,
"Hi Anna. Let me start off by saying that you have such an amazing talent and gift! The fact that you can create such beauty from an interview astonishes me! I have just finished listening to the song several times. After a very emotional period I now feel such a sense of peace. I am almost numb. Feeling this so strongly is the effect I was hoping for and you have achieved it!"
My trip to Seattle for this celebration was truly a highlight of my year. Glowing candles, friends all around, and so many loving people standing up, one after another, sharing their feelings for, and memories with, this incredible woman. I put on an entire private concert, the centerpiece of which was Shiela's song. I felt the whole room "falling in" to the depths of each song I shared. I was lucky enough to have a close college friend, Sharon, there with me, and I had the striking sensation looking out at her in the audience, that she was really proud of me. I felt proud of me too--not proud in that self-focused love-me, love-me, love-me way, but proud like realizing in that moment that it is truly a fine way to spend time and energy, helping people bring love to the forefront in a larger way. I was standing up there thinking, "Wow. This really feels good."
So to all of you, my readers, whether you are one of those who hang on every word of every Song of the Month email (thank you for existing, writing in, etc.), or whether you're one of those--"quick, cut to the chase so I can just load this on my mp3 player" subscribers, I salute you on this day, for placing yourself among those who follow the energy wavelengths of thoughtful, meaning-filled translations of love--long may it wave. Love! What a glorious thing it is. May your life be filled with it, heaps and heaps of it, so much of it that you are overflowing onto everyone around you, today and always.
THE ARTIST
This one's an Anna-Eric Special. That's me, Anna Huckabee Tull on leads and harmonies, and Eric Kilburn on acoustic guitar and mandolin and bass.
One of my favorite things to do is to read the emails from a client when they have heard the rough-cut version of the song they have commissioned for the very first time. Melinda's said,
"Hi Anna. Let me start off by saying that you have such an amazing talent and gift! The fact that you can create such beauty from an interview astonishes me! I have just finished listening to the song several times. After a very emotional period I now feel such a sense of peace. I am almost numb. Feeling this so strongly is the effect I was hoping for and you have achieved it!"
My trip to Seattle for this celebration was truly a highlight of my year. Glowing candles, friends all around, and so many loving people standing up, one after another, sharing their feelings for, and memories with, this incredible woman. I put on an entire private concert, the centerpiece of which was Shiela's song. I felt the whole room "falling in" to the depths of each song I shared. I was lucky enough to have a close college friend, Sharon, there with me, and I had the striking sensation looking out at her in the audience, that she was really proud of me. I felt proud of me too--not proud in that self-focused love-me, love-me, love-me way, but proud like realizing in that moment that it is truly a fine way to spend time and energy, helping people bring love to the forefront in a larger way. I was standing up there thinking, "Wow. This really feels good."
So to all of you, my readers, whether you are one of those who hang on every word of every Song of the Month email (thank you for existing, writing in, etc.), or whether you're one of those--"quick, cut to the chase so I can just load this on my mp3 player" subscribers, I salute you on this day, for placing yourself among those who follow the energy wavelengths of thoughtful, meaning-filled translations of love--long may it wave. Love! What a glorious thing it is. May your life be filled with it, heaps and heaps of it, so much of it that you are overflowing onto everyone around you, today and always.
THE ARTIST
This one's an Anna-Eric Special. That's me, Anna Huckabee Tull on leads and harmonies, and Eric Kilburn on acoustic guitar and mandolin and bass.
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