In conjunction with our Giving Back Tuesday initiative in May, we conducted two online songwriting workshops with groups of adult friends and supporters. These were not only great fun, but they produced two really cool songs.
If you’re interested in participating in future songwriting workshops, let us know. If we get enough interest, we’ll schedule some more sessions.
Of course, another thing this exercise accomplished was test-driving the online songwriting process for our new Virtual Lost Voices process.
Not surprisingly, both songs the groups produced focused on feelings surrounding living through a global pandemic.
Here are the two songs we came up with:
The performer is award-winning singer/songwriter Kitty Donohoe, who is also a Lost Voices facilitator. The slide guitar work is by the very talented Dennis Kingsbury.
The Dream
An old friend came to me in a dream
Didn’t have to keep six feet in between
Didn’t have a mask to hide our face
Didn’t know we were in a safer place
Dreaming… of being together
Living… just to hug you again
Waiting for what tomorrow will bring
Now it’s time to wake up and sing.
Now it’s time to wake up and sing.
There were times, we sat together in a bar
Now we raise a glass from afar
We danced together in a crowded room
Now it’s all just Tick-tock and Zoom
Dreaming… of being together
Living… just to hug you again
Waiting for what tomorrow will bring
Now it’s time to wake up and sing.
Now it’s time to wake up and sing.
Cheers to the workers who help us get through
Risking their lives with all that they do
Family, and neighbors, and strangers as friends
We all have to stand together in the end
Dreaming… of being together
Living… just to hug you again
Waiting for what tomorrow will bring
Now it’s time to wake up and sing.
Now it’s time to wake up and sing.
Nobody knows what new normal will be
I’ll still care for you, and you for me
No matter how alone we may seem
Together we can reinvent the dream
Dreaming… of being together
Living… just to hug you again
Waiting for what tomorrow will bring
Now it’s time to wake up and sing.
Now it’s time to wake up and sing.
The performer is multiple DMA award-winning singer/songwriter Jill Jack, also a Lost Voices facilitator. The slide guitar work is once again by our friend Dennis Kingsbury.
The Roaring Winds of the Silent Storm
Storm as a whisper
Couldn’t run away
Didn’t know the danger
It seems to be here to stay
Looking for a lighthouse
In a night of gray
Courageous men and women
Lighting up our way
They’re out there looking after us
Heroes big and small
Not just first responders
(But all our) Neighbors standing tall
Sheltering in place
Staying safe at home
In little boxes on the screen
We don’t feel so alone
Storms don’t last forever
Sunlight cracks the clouds
Most of us will carry on
Sorrowful but proud
When the storm lifts
Life will start anew
We will think of all the gifts
That helped to get us through
They’re out there looking after us
Heroes big and small
Not just first responders
(But all our) Neighbors standing tall
Life, and love and friendship
Passed from me to you
Peace inside the chaos
As the storm around us blew.
They’re out there looking after us
Heroes big and small
Not just first responders
(But all our) Neighbors standing tall
Storm as a whisper
Couldn’t run away…
