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| Little Words Cover Art |
I invited high school students from my former workplace to create the artwork for my most recent album, Little Words. Students were given lyrics and mp3s for the songs from which they were to create a vignette expressing the heart of the song in the shorthand of imagery. I would then choose from the submissions which to use representing each song in the graph of nine photos on the cover. One girl’s work stood out by each photo’s slightly melancholy, yet sentimental tinge. It was her entry for Scarlet Silence that surprised me in the sneaky way subjects appear when you start looking with a writer or artist’s eye. The old Christmas tree wrapped in a sheet/shroud, leaning over against a broom amidst stacked boxes conveys exactly the sentiment that stirs me around the holidays. The long, dark evenings force us to confront our interior attics; to move carefully among the precariously piled memories that threaten to spill out and bury us.
I wrote the song in the throes of a quiet, dark morning when I lived in an apartment with a window looking out to the downtown plaza where a towering evergreen is ceremoniously draped with lights every Christmas season. Most likely, I was headed out to another job as a substitute teacher, and was making coffee trying to prepare for the day. The lonely, forsaken quality of that tree still lit in the early hours stirred me to pick up the guitar and start picking a quiet backdrop for lyrics that roll over the arpeggios in a stream of consciousness flow.
This song reminds me of a psychological practice I developed when I dream: whenever anything terrifying approaches, I make a point of reaching out for it and facing it head on. It’s a powerful feeling that I would like to experience more of in waking hours. Scarlet Silence invites all my ghosts to unleash their most powerful spells of nostalgia, and gives me an opportunity to appreciate the roll dear people have played in my life even if we are currently estranged. It is one of the most naked requests I make in my music for reconciliation with friends and family.
I recommend this song to your holiday playlist as a way to keep the focus on connection with people during the holiday craziness that is ramping up all around us, or buy a copy on iTunes for a friend. Click on the title or the iTunes button at the end of the lyrics to preview the song. Hearts grow bolder as we join together singing…..
So the saying goes, darkest ‘fore the dawn
Wake up early find Christmas lights still on
And the cars go slowly, slowly walkers make their way
On the radio, Holy, Holy, it’s another holiday
Spin around the sun earth turns again
Something ‘bout that motion makes us remember when
The world was quiet, waiting for a savior’s sound
A time when we were lost, but oh so certain we would be found
Days grow colder, and the stars crown the night as king
Hearts grow bolder as we join together singing
Set the table well, put out the finest glass
Don’t turn away your eyes, let this moment pass
Though we’re feeling lonely, so lonely for those we left behind
Let’s stop and savor slowly, slowly every echo in our mind
Oh, I miss you, mama, I’d love to see you dad
How I pine for, lover, the crazy life we had
Do you ever think about me, my old friend?
It’s times like these I pray that this scarlet silence ends
Days grow colder, and the stars crown the night as king
Hearts grow bolder as we join together singing
