A new demo of a very old song- written about my first lover, still rings true. My parents met in a Balkan Folk Dance class and singing group and you can hear the drones and beautiful dissonance of Balkan music in this tune. Where are you now my friend
You said you’d be here ’til the end And what do you see now You’re looking out from different ground I’d like to see you I want to reminisce I’d like to feel you Open Open Open up Open Open Can we re-define our bliss Is it you or myself that I miss Where is that girl I used to know Is she buried somewhere deep below I’d like to see her I want to dance again Are you my Anchor Are you my Lover Or my Friend Or another end
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This one just poured out of me this evening and I recorded it. It's really the way I like to create most- from a deep place of processing and healing. I hope it brings you some of the same or provides some kind of window through to a new space. Ever since I was little
Livin in my own world Shut down and belittled Lonely Little Girl It’s not that I wasn’t loved Not that I wasn’t praised But the bloodlines of trauma Are the hell that I raised Oh the hell that I raised I was taught a hard lesson about the nature of love I learned to feel less than I learned to scream and shove and now that I’ve seen you how I want to reach in But I don’t want to lead you To the damage within Oh the damage within Inst (B) So if I scream and shout Will you still hear me out And will you let me touch you When the fire is out When the fire is out Cause it’s nice to be lonely It’s so peaceful and quiet And I can be just as dirty And low down as I like But then hunger sets in Every inch of my skin And I just want you to hold me I just want to begin Can we begin again? Music is beautiful therapy for the blues. Creativity takes the blues and turns those feelings of sadness, depression, anxiety- into rejuvenating lightening to share with the world. This song expresses that beautifully. Thanks for taking a listen to my cover of Hot Rize's "Blue is Fallin'."
To be honest, I've been self-isolating for awhile now. As an only child, solitude feels like a natural state of being. As I've stepped away from the public entertainment sphere in degrees over the years to balance the needs of motherhood, I discover a different voice, one that feels quieter but more true. I remember using this measure of song and songwriting as a young writer- that if my writing and performance felt "True", I had achieved my goal of creative expression. Joni Mitchell's writing is so many things- complex, universal, deeply personal and unique. It was a pleasure to learn this song that feels like it captured the writer's truth and resonates deeply in so many hearts. Please enjoy my piano/vocal arrangement of "Hejira" by Joni Mitchell. Hejira- Joni Mitchell
I'm traveling in some vehicle I'm sitting in some cafe A defector from the petty wars That shell shocked love away There's comfort in melancholy When there's no need to explain It's just as natural as the weather In this moody sky today In our possessive coupling So much could not be expressed So now I am returning to myself These things that you and I suppressed I see something of myself in everyone Just at this moment of the world As snow gathers like bolts of lace Waltzing on a ballroom girl You know it never has been easy Whether you do or you do not resign Whether you travel the breadth of extremities Or stick to some straighter line Now here's a man and a woman sitting on a rock They're either going to thaw out or freeze Listen, strains of Benny Goodman Coming through' the snow and the pinewood trees I'm porous with travel fever But you know I'm so glad to be on my own Still somehow the slightest touch of a stranger Can set up trembling in my bones I know, no one's going to show me everything We all come and go unknown Each so deep and superficial Between the forceps and the stone Well, I looked at the granite markers Those tributes to finality, to eternity And then I looked at myself here Chicken scratching for my immortality In the church, they light the candles And the wax rolls down like tears There is the hope and the hopelessness I've witnessed thirty years We're only particles of change I know, I know Orbiting around the sun But how can I have that point of view When I'm always bound and tied to someone White flags of winter chimneys Wave truce against the moon In the mirrors of a modern bank From the window of a hotel room I'm traveling in some vehicle I'm sitting in some cafe A defector from the petty wars Until love sucks me back that way ![]() Yesterday I spent the day working on learning Joni Mitchell's "Cactus Tree" by ear, working on transcribing the lyrics line by line (an exercise I find really helps with learning the melody and phrasing- feel free to reach out if you want to chat about this!), and also dissecting the harmonic rhythms of the guitar. I made up my own method of notating these patterns with a combination of counting beats and solfege notation about what guitar tones were prominent behind the melody. Just a reminder that music doesn't really exist on the page, and you don't need to understand musical notation to learn- or write!- melodies and songs. As I became absorbed in the lyrical rhythms of Joni's poetry, I got inspired to do some of my own writing in her free flowing style. I wrote a couple of pages in poetic phrase and did a few edits to create the poem below. Thanks for allowing me to share it with you, and as always feel free to share back. I hope you are all finding ways to dive more deeply into your creativity during this time, and enjoying the beauty of Spring. ![]() Dull ache in the back of my shoulders- connected to a dreaming heart Choose solitude, these days Loose promises, fair plays Bright yellow flowers bloom like stars beyond the ether or the kind things that we said in the blacker void of fear Chase those silver linings looking for the sun Sweet singing of the blues I wonder at the dream- The way I resorted to anger, and mean- Ultimately, clean the wound write it on the lines between your house and mine This is a song about secrets. The secrets we keep from ourselves and others that have a way of coming to the surface when we connect deeply- with ourselves, our hearts, each other. I recently had the experience of being hit by a sleeper wave of sorrow as I explore old wounds for the first time. At first I protected my heart with anger. I'm not proud of that but it's true. A friend suggested- maybe the other side of that anger is pain. But when I let myself feel deep sorrow, I discovered that on the other side of sadness is joy. A sweet, gentle, unexpected joy as my heart thanked me for listening to her purely, without the masks of anger, false bravado, distraction, escape. Of course, I've experienced this transformation from sadness to joy for years through songwriting and music. The art of taking an emotion and translating it into song, and then feeling the pure joy of creativity and musical expression no matter what the original source of feeling, has long been the driving force of my life, my heart, my path. It was nice to experience it through pure emotion though, without creating a song around my experience. Just feeling. I realized- Oh! That's why Sad Songs make us Happy! I hope you enjoy this share. Don't hesitate to reach out with your stories, songs, and creative musings. xoxo Alison This year I had the opportunity to be part of a monthly songwriting group. We had the prompt of a phrase every month and the encouragement and inspiration of a monthly gathering to help us work on and finish our songs. At the gathering we'd laugh, eat soup and bread, sit in circle, and share our songs together. I'm a bit of a lone wolf and love creating alone in my living room. I wasn't sure how I'd feel about creating with community this way. I loved it. I couldn't get enough. It was awesome to see how everyone interpreted the prompts differently and wonderful to get to know the group over the course of the year. Here's the last prompt of 2020- "So Many Miles". Enjoy! This one came to me this morning fresh out of a dream. Imagining percussive colorful piano chords accompanying the words and syllables. Perhaps a work in progress!
Sweet Forgiveness/ If Not That Sweet forgiveness springs from the core Sudden, unexpected I find myself at your door Unbidden, unselected Knock, knock, knock No response I leave a single flower Fragile forget-me-not No sense in trying to crash through That just leaves me black and blue Feeling better now, cold winter days Grateful that it finally rained The fire finally contained New green must spring from ash And what is there to celebrate If not that ? - Alison Harris A new arrangement of a song I wrote some years back. This one has lots of dream and ocean imagery in it. Playing with my new harmony looper too, which is SO fun. Enjoy! Let me know what you think. A poem for the coming winter. Creative writing Muse called me today and I felt refreshed after heeding her call. To be honest, I felt a little guilty for napping and writing poetry in the middle of the day. But the way I felt when the deed was done assured me that following my dream into writing and creation was unquestionably the right action. Bliss and Balance.
"anger thwarts lover’s play cull drought, summer rain light touch placed upon the skin so many miles traced within not quite seeing eye to eye lover’s balm, open palm time and phrases coincide 2 hearts slightly misaligned different rhythms, measured strides add uneven rhyme for song sing perhaps still side by side stories hidden in the blinds" |
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May 2022
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