My Eyes Are Opened

My Eyes Are Opened has been sung by community choirs all over Europe! It is more infamously known as ‘The bup bup song (I refer to it as my ‘one hit wonder’).  Not everyone knows, however, that it has a sister song called Yes which is designed to follow straight on from My Eyes. Both songs were originally inspired by poetry by  e.e.cummings’ poem I thank you God for most this amazing  

My interpretation is very different to Eric Whittaker’s! But I love his too!

September

I wrote this song after 9/11, inspired by a conversation I had with my (then) eight-year-old children about how the WTC events had made them feel. September sees those events through the eyes of children, who just wanted to lock the door, close the curtains and forget about the rest of the world.

In the subsequent 16 years, I have written many songs around the theme of strength and solidarity through adversity, but this song is still as powerful for me as the ‘stand up and be counted’ songs, as the headlines continue to bring terrifying news of division and bigotry.