I posted a picture and a story of a wren a while ago on this blog. This week in our online songwriting circle we’ve been challenged to write a song about nature and our fragile relationship to planet earth.
The picture of the little wren that had been stunned by a car was the first spark, the doorway into my song. Then I recalled the story about the wren who was able to fly higher than an eagle by cadging a lift, without his knowledge, upon the eagle’s back.
I had wanted to include a simple guitar picking technique, which I had just been practising, into a song. And so that was how things kicked off musically, using the same chord loop I been practising with. The melody fitting awkwardly (as usual with me) around the words at the start.
And after that the story developed. And it gradually became clear, to me as I was writing it, that this was a song about perspective, and the way in which all of our point of views so often become skewed. The story is about the true heroes in life and how we should never rule out the value of those invisible ones and the unseen sacrifices they make. And, of course, a reflection about how easy it is, to take our home, this planet, for granted. How much have we messed it up?
I’m just describing the process as it happened for me. Part of why I’m doing that is to note that it is our subconscious that will do the heavy lifting when it comes to creating anything. Whether or not it produces something good (and that is never a guarantee) we need to learn to handle the material lightly and to enjoy and appreciate the journey, the road, that the song takes us down.
Hopefully that doesn’t sound too highfalutin’. Below is the lyric part of the song that emerged on this occasion. It made me cry.
Jenny Wren
Jenny Wren
She hangs on for dear life
Flying high
On the back of the eagle
Rising up
On the thermal winds
Her tiny heart
Is pumping oxygen
Can’t be far
To the stratosphere
Where she can gaze
Back towards planet earth
And it looks smaller from there
Than it does from here
Smaller than she is
Smaller than all of us
Jenny Wren
Is praying for good days
Like a nun
In a holy cathedral
Rising up
On the thermal winds
Now and then
She glances down
To the blue azure
From far up on high
But she’s not sure
If that’s really planet earth
It looks purer from there
Than it does from here
Purer than heaven
Purer than all of us
And while she sings like
An angel of the dawn
She carries
The poison
Of the world
Jenny Wren
Is about to take off
Flying high
On her final journey
Rising up
From the back of an eagle
Tell me when
She jumps up and flys
A little higher
To the stratosphere
And say goodbye
From me and the planet earth
She looks bigger now
Than she did from here
Bigger than Jesus
Bigger than all of us
Jenny Wren
Jenny Wren
Jenny Wren