Day 16: Fear the Water (with Kevin Dooley)

Lyrics:

Held in the arms of the canyon
The cottonwoods cradled me
The hush of the creek
Like a soothing lullaby
Under a baby blue sky

Weary of the commonplace
The lack of grace
Wishing the river would carry me
Back to my ancestors
And the questions that they raised
From the cradle to the grave

And the rumbles tumbled
Lightning was seen
The voice of Providence
Called out to me
And it said

You came here looking
For a change
You came here looking
For someone else to blame
Feel the thunder in your blood
Fear the water, embrace the flood

I looked for shelter
In an ancient cave
I asked for guidance
But guidance never came

I went outside Lightning was seen
The voice of Providence
Called out to me
And it said

You came here looking
For a change
You came here looking
For someone else to blame
Feel the thunder in your blood
Fear the water, embrace the flood

Free from the arms of the canyon
The willows whispered to me
The rush of the creek
Like a newborn battle cry
Under a baby blue sky

Details: I met Kevin last summer at one of my "Songwriting in the Park" events. He's a seasoned singer-songwriter and even used to teach at Song School, so I was both excited and a little nervous about working with him. But any anxiety I had was quickly asuaged once I got to his super stylish pad. Kevin is a natural storyteller, and it's easy to relax when the person you're hanging out with has interesting tales to tell.

Turns out that Kevin has been trying to drink more water, and has found it kind of rejuvenating, so we ended up focusing on water. Neither of us are big ocean dwellers, and I've had some minorly traumatic experiences with water as a kid, so I suggested we work around a theme of "Fear of Water". At one point the song was going to involve a flood literally sweeping away the protagonist, but as we wrote the words, it ended up being a little less eventful, but more poetic.

Kevin really kept me on my toes with the lyrics; he wasn't going to allow too many lazy lines (though a couple may have slipped in because we had a deadline). We ended up with a song urging you to embrace the chaos in your life and take responsibilty for changing it, and I think it has some power.

It took us about 4 hours total to write and record.