Day 9: The Coward Falls Away

Lyrics:
My soul went up to heaven when I saw her
My soul went up to heaven when I saw her
I heard her voice, I lost my heart
To me she was a work of art
My soul went up to heaven when I saw her

I worked alongside her for the season
I worked alongside her for the season
We filled the hours with laughter and
At times I'd share my woes with her
I worked alongside her for the season

For a special moment, I would wait
But when the time would come for me to say it
The coward falls away
The coward falls away

She moved away and I was lost without her
She moved away and I was lost without her
I texted her, I sent her memes
Sent photographs for her to see
She moved away and I was lost without her

I wanted her to know that I was fearless
I wanted her to know that I was fearless
I said I'd scale a rocky face
With nothing but my shoelaces
I wanted her to know that I was fearless

At the peak, I'd finally tell her all
But my feet were swept up by a squall
The coward falls away
The coward falls away
The coward falls away

Details: Today was a really tough write. The Fearless Songwriting prompt was "gathering courage". 

The music came fairly quickly, and it felt old-timey, so I started looking for some courageous historcial event. I was hooked by the Ludlow Massacre (in a nutshell: coal miners on strike were gunned down by their mining company back in the 1910s), but worried I couldn't do the story justice in the short time I had to write the song.

I decided to explore more personal forms of courage; unfortunately, I don't feel like I've been a very courageous person in my lifetime. Sometimes I come off as bold, but it's more likely because I'm reckless, desperate or there simply isn't that much at stake. So I decided to write about that: how we try to look courageous when we're not.

The lyrics are actually deeply personal to me, even though they're steeped in metaphor (that is, I never actually fell off a rock face while trying to impress someone). Not that I'm here to give real details; I peddle in truths, not facts.

This took about 3.5 hours to write and 30 minutes to record.