“If it were not for hope the heart would break.” Thomas Fuller
Beginner Notes
Songwriting
There’s only so much global madness one can take before it turns itself into a song. I suspect that’s why the chorus to The Highest Heights flew into my head one day when I wasn't looking. The verses were a different story. They came in fits and starts over the next few months. It wasn’t easy squeezing outrage into a little song of hope.
Aha moment: I was never 100% happy with the chorus line, “about the colors that we wear,” because the literal meaning overshadowed its metaphorical one. I wrestled with it a bit but nothing better came to mind. Recently, a light bulb went off which made all the difference for me. I saw the word “wear” as if it was split into two equal parts: ‘we’ + ‘ar,’ or ‘we are.’ “The colors that we wear” contained “the colors that we are” within it all along! I wish I could say that this was intentional, but it wasn’t.
Special acknowledgment: The lyrics to the bridge are based on an interview I saw of a woman whose country was at war. The last question the journalist asked her was, “Is there anything you would like to say to the world right now?” She answered, “Cherish your clear skies.” I held on to her words hoping to use them in a song someday. This turned out to be the song.
Recording
Win some, lose some: I made it through the whole song without singing off-pitch (win). But there’s a glitch (lose). I achieved it on a single-track demo that I made only so I could hear how the song sounded outside my head. It was never meant to be a keeper. That said, being on-pitch made me weak in the knees, so I kept the recording as a crutch, and built the rest of the song on it. I know. That’s a no-no. I tried to mask it with some “creative” panning. Can you tell?
Harmony-love: I’m beginning to understand how to write a simple harmony line by picking it out on the guitar or piano first, instead of winging it and hoping for the best. Holding a 3rd, 5th, or 6th as long as I’d like to is my vocal dream-goal; something to truly sing about someday!
Video
New thing #1: Sometime in the last year, my husband overheard me make a comment about wanting to try digital art. I was in the deep-end of this recording project when he surprised me with an iPad. I couldn’t have been more thrilled! And yet…that brand new, unexpected gift sat on my desk for three months, sealed in its pristine box. I didn’t even take off the plastic wrap! Why not? First, I can only handle one project at a time. Call it hyper-focus, flow, or obsession, but when I’m working on a project, the world drops away, and I get lost in the one I’m creating. Second, I was afraid it might turn out to be another life-ignoring time-suck filled with Google questions, and YouTube demos! Leaving the iPad in its box kept the hope of untold artistic possibilities alive, while avoiding that abyss. Months later, my husband finally asked me, a little hurt, why I hadn’t opened the iPad. I had been anticipating that question for weeks…
Once I finished recording THH, my energy was freed up, and I was ready to look the iPad in the eye. I unwrapped its sleek packaging, clicked on the Apple Pencil, and began to doodle in Freeform. I didn’t stop until all the artwork for THH video was done.
New thing #2: Keynote is one of those apps that comes with Apple devices that I’ve been ignoring for years. I didn’t like its icon, had no idea what it did, and was sure I had no use for it. Until recently… I found out it can animate my handwriting! That’s something I’ve wanted to learn for a long time. (Thanks to Gary at MacMostVideo for his helpful how-to).
Ultimately, I think the subtitles are fun, but they may be a bit distracting rolling across the screen one letter at a time. I spent a lot of time learning and laboring over them though (stop laughing, Gen Young-uns), so editing them out is out of the question.
Zen time, Beginners time: The Highest Heights was just a twinkle in my eye thirteen months ago. That feels like a really long time for a bun to be in the oven! With three more songs ready to go, my goal is to get them all recorded, videoed, and blogged before another year goes by. Dear Blog, if I can swing it, you’ll be the first to know!
Lyrics:
Stones engraved every day say truth is buried alive
And we keep losing ground to deep dividing lines
Called to set our sights on the highest heights above,
With eagle eyes that see through clouds
and minds like mourning doves
So we never lose the way to love
And the moon doesn’t care
neither does the sun
about the colors that we wear
Or where we come from
They rise the same they shine the same and set the same
On everyone, on everyone
Wolves don’t even bother to wear a sheep’s disguise
They just reign with lightening like they own the skies
How can we keep our sights on the highest heights above
When clouds ignite and take down our eagles and our doves,
Oh cruel are the ways that lay waste to love / Chorus
We want to dance again, and sing
cherishing
Being alive
Beneath our clear skies
Remembering those who are suffering, in the war torn areas of the world…
Set free our skies
Spinning heads, spinning tales on a road of wayward lines
Life keeps moving forward while going back in time,
So we’re gathering to ring in dawn on the highest heights above
To sit beside the eagles and mourning doves
For a birds eye view that’s wide awake for love
Cause we don’t care, like the moon and the sun
about the colors that we we-ar
or where we come from
We rise the same, we shine the same, and set the same like everyone
Like everyone
Oh come, calls the moon, come, calls the sun
There is room in the sky for everyone,
there’s room in the sky, there’s room in the sky
There’s room in our sky for everyone.
© 2024 Ani McManus
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