Letter No. 55 {lullaby}

Dear Friend,

I’m releasing my first lullaby. It’s a love song too, and I wasn’t expecting to write it, but it just came to me during an evening of songwriting earlier this month.

Inspiration:

It came about quickly, almost entirely in one night (at least the melody). It started with practicing piano. I’ve been trying to be more consistent with practicing, and one of the pieces I’m refreshing is Rachmaninoff’s Prelude in D Major, Op. 23 No. 4.

Rachmaninoff is one of my two favorite composers (the other is Bach), and when I was in college, I started playing this piece my sophomore year and performed it in my junior recital. It’s been in my repertoire ever since, and I absolutely love this piece. I come back to it all the time. It reminds me of the ocean, and my sisters, and home, and longing.

Writing:

So I was practicing this piece one afternoon, and when I got home that night, I chose one of my favorite keyboard sounds and recorded the first pattern of Rachmaninoff’s prelude. I started expanding it, switching to the four and five chords and loosely following the structure Rachmaninoff uses in the first page of his prelude.

Then I opened an audio track. I’m getting tired of the formula I seem to always follow with my other released songs so far…you know, have a melody, add a harmony, add a second harmony. I wanted to switch it up a little, and I was in a strange mood that night, so I put the reverb all the way up and just started singing.

I wasn’t exactly sure what I wanted to say, but I was focused on the mood and feel of my voice in that moment that evening. It felt like an intimate moment between two people—something quiet and private.

The next several days, I listened to the song in my car whenever I drove anywhere. I loved the melody and mood, and I knew I wanted to release it, but I had no idea what I should be singing about. There isn’t room for a long story in this song, so it was a little tricky deciding. I racked my brains for several days but still couldn’t think of anything.

After a few days, I put aside the lyrics and just decided to notate and record the keyboard part and get that finished. I figured the words might start to come to me if I was working on another aspect of the song. I worked on the song all afternoon and evening, and sure enough, almost all the lyrics came to me that day. The final stanza came the next morning.

I’m still learning to notate, but this is the beginning stage of notation for what I did for the keyboard part.

At the end of that long evening!

Lyrics:

The song ended up being a love lullaby. I don’t have someone in my life right now, but this is what I want my husband to know one day, and it’s what I see acted out in the lives of the couples I admire who have been together for years, my parents included.

Here are the lyrics, and you can listen to it on all streaming platforms on November 19 (this Friday):

Come rest your head on my heart

Lay it down

Go on

Take off your armor

Lay in my arms

I know you've battles to fight and to win

Come lay it down

Rest in my arms

Go on

I don't know what time holds

All I know

Where you go

There'll I'll go

Take your stand

I'll be here

Hand in your hand

Come lay it down

Go on

I don't know what time holds

All I know

Where you go

There'll I'll go

Let your guard down

You're safe in my arms

Nothing can harm

Lay it all down

Go on