Song #10: I See You Sitting There

"A child's spirit is like a child, you can never catch it by running after it; you must stand still, and, for love, it will soon itself come back."
(Arthur Miller)

One Saturday afternoon I was watching my five-year-old daughter playing and realized I had never written a song for her. I grabbed my guitar and a pen and "I See You Sitting There" was written right there on the spot.

NOTE: I'm cheating a bit on my rule of writing one NEW song each week, as I wrote this piece several months ago. When I initially finished this, I shared it with a few of my close friends, but am now finally releasing it publicly since I've been on vacation for the holidays.

PLAY:

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LYRICS:

I see you sitting there
In your painted chair
You've got your dolls out
Fingers in your mouth

I see you sitting there
In your ballet tights,
it's almost time to say goodnight

And when I catch your eyes
I can see that life's worthwhile
Couldn't be more proud of you
And your precious smile

I never knew I could fall in love
so quickly, so fiercely with someone
You are my favorite blessing from God

I see you dancing there
Twirling around the chairs
It nearly makes me cry
You got your mama's eyes
And your pretty face
Is lighting up the room

I know it's cliche to say it:
But I don't know when you got so big
Makes me want to hold on to just this moment
It too will go with the wind

I never knew I could fall in love
so quickly, so fiercely with someone
You are my favorite blessing from God

Sweetheart when you get older,
I will still remember all these times

I see you lying there
You got your PJs on
One foot hanging out
From that ratty old blanket you drag along
I say a prayer for you
And kiss you on the head

I never knew I could fall in love
so quickly, so fiercely with someone
You are my favorite blessing from God

Song #6: The Attic

"Anything worthwhile takes effort."

One of the easiest traps to fall into in life is that slow disintegration into drifting. You know what I mean: it's that place of cruise-control, of reacting instead of acting, of going through the motions. Unless we consciously intend to live and love "on purpose", gravity tends to pulls us into that old sinkhole time and again.

Sometimes we're fortunate enough to get a wake-up call - whether that comes from some sort of internal a-ha moment or perhaps more commonly from an unexpected outside event. In "The Attic", the narrator has just such an experience after stumbling across a box of momentos that had been tucked away.

Musically, this song is a bit unorthodox and experimental. It doesn't follow a normal song format, nor does it really have a hook or even a real chorus. Maybe we could best describe it as "a short story set to music."

PLAY:

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LYRICS:

brown banged up boxes,
all taped and stacked up
pull one to the ground
and blow off the dust
let's see what I can find...

well, here's that old album
with pictures of us
and scraps of old letters
professing our love
the remnants of a life

I can see what we had
but look how I've been
I guess I just didn't feel prepared for this
It's all passing me by

it's said, life is what happens while we make our plans
remember when we said we'd always hold hands?
(but) the urgent trumped the day, and exhaustion, the night

my God, I have been entrusted with so very much
it's lovely and good but I didn't keep up
somewhere we got lost and failed to try

I can see what we had
but I know what I've been
I guess I just didn't feel prepared for this
somewhere I got lost and failed to try

----

well no more, no more
from here on I put my best foot forward
I don't want to take you for granted
well no more, no more
it's time that my own heart I restore
I don't want to take you for granted, again

tonight when I see you I'm gonna ask you to dance
and show you I still have the time for romance
I'm still amazed and you should know it

so I restack the box and climb back down the stairs
and find myself grateful for all that we've shared
you have my heart and it's past time I show it

Song #2: Alone

"One is the loneliest number..."

What I find most interesting about "Alone" is not the way in which the character "uses" love, but that he's self-aware enough to be doing so consciously. A rather somber exploration of isolation, loneliness and loss of identity.

PLAY:

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LYRICS:

One love that started to fade
He moved towards her and she moved further away
Now he's left standing

He's never known himself all alone
When she's gone, he doesn't know
who he is

"I loved you for who that made me
And I know that that's not healthy
Oh God, no... it seems I don't like me
when I'm left standing alone"

As long as there's her, it masks all the pain
Devious voices inside, they whisper his name
In deafening silence

Now without, his head in his hands,
Forced to peek inside  
at the dragons within

"I loved all them because they saved me
And I know that that's not healthy
But still though, I need them to like me
I can't stand being alone"

Now what is this?
New eyes look his way
He feels again, his worth from within
He's got his fix, there's fire in his veins
He knows again he's claimed
And everything's OK

"I love you because you'll take me
And I know that that's not healthy
But just hold me and don't you leave me
Anything but just not alone"