Millions of people across the pond, and the world over celebrated Thanksgiving the other week, and once again, we find ourselves smack in the middle of the holiday season. This is a time of year that emphasises connection, getting together with loved ones, breaking bread and drinking wine with those around us, our colleagues, our friends, our family members.
I usually find myself thinking about the idea of connection during the winter months. Maybe it’s the festivities, maybe it’s the fact that it’s cold and dark all the time and there’s hardly a better way to pass the time than to be with those who make the weather seem less cold and the days less dark, maybe it’s the paucity of Vitamin D that the sun has to offer, which handicaps my melanated skin and puts me at risk of mood swings.
Whatever it is, I tend to get sentimental – even more so than usual – this time of year, and I tend to put that sentiment into some kind of artwork. In previous years I’ve written blog posts and composed studio records. This time around, here I am, writing another blog post, about a song I wrote recently, a song about the epiphany that what matters in the end, is living a life rich in connection, a life spent making memories and sharing the good times and not-so-good times with those we choose to have around us.
If you manage to catch me at a gig over the next few days and weeks, there’s a good chance you’ll hear me perform this song. No worries if not, it just might make its way onto a record I release in the near future. For now, I’d like to leave you with the lyrics. Let me know what you think.
Verse 1 Many years ago, someone told me Connection’s a burden, something to cope with Keep to yourself, or get your heart broken, he said I took this to heart, lived by this code Made my way out of everyone's fold Depended on no one but me for my daily bread Chorus I look back now, and can't help but shudder At the thought that we can live without each other A portrait of life lived alone, no family or friend But what kind of life can you claim you're living If it's lacking connection and void of feeling Cause that's all we've got in the end Verse 2 The years came and went, and with them many lessons Of love and loss, with its curses and blessings And crystallised memories that make me say When the sun goes down at the end of each day When clouds loom and the skies are grey It's the ones that we love that help us find our way Bridge In good times and bad Whether happy or sad Life's better spent with those who care
P.S.: My middle-grade novella, A Hollade Christmas is out everywhere now. My debut non-fiction book, Art Is The Way is also available everywhere now. They’ll make excellent stocking fillers or holiday presents for the children and art lovers in your life, respectively. You can get them in all good bookstores and from all major online vendors.