A Song for All Moms on Mother's Day
Dear Moms, everywhere, all across the planet,
Old and young, tired and refreshed, brave and scared.
We are your children.
We are the people you labored to bring here,
The ones who needed you desperately, at times,
And the ones who needed to push out beyond you, at other times.
This song is for all of you. Enjoy!
Old and young, tired and refreshed, brave and scared.
We are your children.
We are the people you labored to bring here,
The ones who needed you desperately, at times,
And the ones who needed to push out beyond you, at other times.
This song is for all of you. Enjoy!
Read on to learn the Story Behind the Song...
THE STORY BEHIND THE SONG
The song "Who You Are" was a gift from three teenagers, Ben, Rangel, and Talia, to their mom Allison, for her birthday this past year. The song interview was just the three of them, and me, in my living room. When I asked them to tell me things about their mom, at first I got silence. And then, eventually, after maybe a little more silence, I got what turned out to be a hilarious list of things I could not imagine how I would fit into a touching, lovely song. (She is unable to flair her nostrils. She hates malls. She used to referee pajama races when the kids were little. And once, in Mexico, she forgot to use the breaks on a zip-line and slammed into the little attendant at the bottom. Hmmmm. What to do here?) Sometimes, I thought to myself, the songs kids might want to write and the songs moms might want to hear are, well, different, maybe. Just a touch.
Eventually, though, when we had worked through all the silly stuff, some pretty powerful things came through, behind it. I learned about the way Allison used to sing to her kids at bedtime, very quietly, in the dark, night after night and, what can I say? I felt something move within me, picturing it, feeling the hushed, sweet essence of it. I learned that her kids can feel her, right behind them, in their lives, even when they can't see her. there And a lightbulb went off in my head when I heard her eldest say, "So much of who we are is who they [my parents] are. And so much of who they are is who we are." And there is was.
What ended up happening is that I wrote two songs. First, one that I knew Ben, Rangel and Talia would love hearing, and love coming into the studio and recording sound effects for (this played out as I hoped: they cracked right up when they heard Zip-Line, and they were, collectively, a real HOOT in the studio!) That first song is called "The Zip-line of Love" and you can listen to it just below. And then there was this second song, that was what I could hear resonating, more deeply, underneath all their words, and the gentle, shy looks they gave as they talked about their mom, and in a few really beautiful things they wrote down when I gave them some quiet space and a piece of paper. So that is how "Who You Are" got born.
The song "Who You Are" was a gift from three teenagers, Ben, Rangel, and Talia, to their mom Allison, for her birthday this past year. The song interview was just the three of them, and me, in my living room. When I asked them to tell me things about their mom, at first I got silence. And then, eventually, after maybe a little more silence, I got what turned out to be a hilarious list of things I could not imagine how I would fit into a touching, lovely song. (She is unable to flair her nostrils. She hates malls. She used to referee pajama races when the kids were little. And once, in Mexico, she forgot to use the breaks on a zip-line and slammed into the little attendant at the bottom. Hmmmm. What to do here?) Sometimes, I thought to myself, the songs kids might want to write and the songs moms might want to hear are, well, different, maybe. Just a touch.
Eventually, though, when we had worked through all the silly stuff, some pretty powerful things came through, behind it. I learned about the way Allison used to sing to her kids at bedtime, very quietly, in the dark, night after night and, what can I say? I felt something move within me, picturing it, feeling the hushed, sweet essence of it. I learned that her kids can feel her, right behind them, in their lives, even when they can't see her. there And a lightbulb went off in my head when I heard her eldest say, "So much of who we are is who they [my parents] are. And so much of who they are is who we are." And there is was.
What ended up happening is that I wrote two songs. First, one that I knew Ben, Rangel and Talia would love hearing, and love coming into the studio and recording sound effects for (this played out as I hoped: they cracked right up when they heard Zip-Line, and they were, collectively, a real HOOT in the studio!) That first song is called "The Zip-line of Love" and you can listen to it just below. And then there was this second song, that was what I could hear resonating, more deeply, underneath all their words, and the gentle, shy looks they gave as they talked about their mom, and in a few really beautiful things they wrote down when I gave them some quiet space and a piece of paper. So that is how "Who You Are" got born.
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Here we are--very silly--in the studio, recording "The Zip-Line of Love." It was a fun recording session!
And then it was time for the other song. I took a deep breath, sought out one of my all-time favorite pianists, who I had never worked with before, but who is a good friend of Allison and, these days, a good friend of mine, too: Gail Carey. And together with Eric Kilburn in the sound booth, we created this song.
It was the second song I've ever composed on piano, after about 200 composed on guitar. The version I played for Gail was pretty simple. But she could hear the deeper nuances of what was possible, and it is thanks to her that "Who You Are" is the lovely piece that it turned out to be.
Shortly after I had composed it, and before anyone, including Gail or Allison had heard it, my own mom was visiting. So I played and sang it for her, late on afternoon, live on the piano in my dining room. I had intended to just "share my latest thing" with her, but once I began, I found myself reduced to tears, as it hit me how much this song tells the story, too, of my love for her, growing up with two siblings, creating a triumvirate of kids just like the one I found with Ben, Rangel, and Talia. So this song goes out to my mom this Mother's Day as well. Hard to fathom or explain how lucky I feel to have been ushered into and through this world on the arm of someone who loves and is loved so much. Happy Mother's Day, Mom!
Shortly after I had composed it, and before anyone, including Gail or Allison had heard it, my own mom was visiting. So I played and sang it for her, late on afternoon, live on the piano in my dining room. I had intended to just "share my latest thing" with her, but once I began, I found myself reduced to tears, as it hit me how much this song tells the story, too, of my love for her, growing up with two siblings, creating a triumvirate of kids just like the one I found with Ben, Rangel, and Talia. So this song goes out to my mom this Mother's Day as well. Hard to fathom or explain how lucky I feel to have been ushered into and through this world on the arm of someone who loves and is loved so much. Happy Mother's Day, Mom!
But most of all, of course, this song is dedicated to my dear friend Allison, who is a deep, deep river of giving; a wide-eyed learner from the moment she wakes up in the morning till the last bits and pieces of the day are tended to. A connected, curious, attentive wife and partner, and a mother who has inspired me to feel, deep within myself, that universal quality of giving, loving, opening, trusting, and laughing your way through raising kids, from the heart.
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Allison shared with me that when the kids presented the songs to her, on her birthday, they started with "Zip-Line of Love" and listening to it, she laughed and laughed and laughed. Then they played "Who You Are." And midway through the playing of it, Tom, Allison's husband, was so moved he had to get up and leave the room. I can't say for sure why it hits me this way, but that is my favorite part of the whole story. There is something in this life, about daring to create things that allow people to feel, and then learning that it actually happened just as you'd hoped, that just makes me want to roll around on the ground, look up at the big, bright sky and say, "Really? It's this good? Life gets to be this good?! THANK YOU!"
Who You Are
For Mom, From Ben, Rangel and Talia
Happy Birthday!
Who we are is so much about
Who you are, so much about
All the ways that you gave
Of your self and your heart
For us three
And who you are is so much about
Who we are, so much about
How you always are watching to sense
What you feel
We might need
And when we think about all the times
That you were right there, standing behind us
Helping us find
Our own way
And when we think about all the nights
Lying beside us, voices so quiet
Singing our songs in the dark
Making it safe
We think about love, we think about you
We think of that deepest sense of who we are
That always will hold
Something of you
And who we are, wherever we’re going
Will be filled with knowing
And learning and growing
Right here beside you
Here is the song I wrote to "prime the pump" and have a little fun with the fact that in Mexico a few years back Allison had failed to remember to use the breaks on a zip-line family adventure. Ever have one of those "Mom Moments" that you will NEVER be allowed to live down!? Try having it commemorated in song. Now THAT is a brave, adventurous, playful mom!!
The Zip-Line of Love
For Mom, From Ben, Rangel & Talia
Happy Birthday!
She stands up on the pedestal, she is ready to take flight
She cannot flare her nostrils…but she leaps with all her might
Now she’s fiercely shooting forward, like a shopper at the mall
But don’t confuse her with a shopper, she does not like malls at all
She is airborne! Shooting forward on a wire!
In the Mexican jungle, she is a screaming ball of fire!
And down there at the bottom is an urgent, native man
He is flapping, he is calling, but she does not understand
And from this distance he cannot tell how she gently reads at night
How she cuddles, hugs, encourages…and makes everything alright
How she referees pajama races, carpools all over town
Serves healthy organic farm-fare, makes lists & writes ev’thing down
She is airborne! Shooting forward on a wire!
In the Mexican jungle, she is a screaming ball of fire
Her trajectory’s tremendous, the air is bursting with her power
She can’t stop herself from shooting at a million miles an hour
The impact is stupendous, she has slammed him to the wall
She may have just caused…the last Mayan to fall
She was airborne! And she slammed him to the wall
Unaware of her own expansive powers, she is the strongest of them all
They are tangled up and tumbled up, a collapsing, gasping pair
But miraculously he stands, and he seems no worse for the wear
Sometime love can be like that, it can knock you to the boards
But you never need to wonder what all that love is for
She is airborne, on this wire and in her life
She is armed with the power of mother-love
And she can make anything alright
If you’ve been loved by a mother with as deep a love as she
Then you know that zip-line, straight-to-the-heart feeling of what it means to be
Loved with the purity of the strong, sweet jungle air
Loved with a certainty you can carry everywhere
Loved with a power that is stronger than us all
Loved with a force strong enough, to make the last Mayan
Fall (and get back up, and get back up, and get back up…)
SONG CREDITS
Zip-Line of Love
Paul Lenart - Acoustic and classical Guitars, bass, electric guitar
Larry Luddecke - percussion
Himself - Ben Aley
Himself, Urgent Native Man - Rangel Aley
Herself - Talia Aley
Tambourine - Ben Aley
Ancestors - Ben, Rangel, Talia Aley
Vocals - Anna Huckabee Tull
Mixed at Straight Up Music, Arlington Mass, by Larry Luddecke
Harmonies - Ben, Rangel, Talia, Anna
Who You Are
Piano - Gail Carey
Vocals - Anna Huckabee Tull
Mixed at Wellspring Sound in Acton, Mass by Eric Kilburn
Zip-Line of Love
Paul Lenart - Acoustic and classical Guitars, bass, electric guitar
Larry Luddecke - percussion
Himself - Ben Aley
Himself, Urgent Native Man - Rangel Aley
Herself - Talia Aley
Tambourine - Ben Aley
Ancestors - Ben, Rangel, Talia Aley
Vocals - Anna Huckabee Tull
Mixed at Straight Up Music, Arlington Mass, by Larry Luddecke
Harmonies - Ben, Rangel, Talia, Anna
Who You Are
Piano - Gail Carey
Vocals - Anna Huckabee Tull
Mixed at Wellspring Sound in Acton, Mass by Eric Kilburn
ANNA HUCKABEE TULL is an award-winning Singer-Songwriter and a Life Coach with a Master's in Spiritual Psychology. She creates commissioned songs and videos for people all over the world.
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