Songs of hope, for protest and solidarity, songs to change the world!
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!
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.
I wrote Hands for Tongue and Groove, who were an a cappella quintet I wrote for and sung with for many years. It is about the rite of passage and transformation of a relationship from lovers to friends. Enough said! It has always felt like a really positive song, though it is slow, bluesy and reflective. I always think it needs serious stadium rock drum accompaniment!
This is a real golden oldie! It has been sung in many incarnations over the years. The words were originally by Leeala and Rachel Buchann, two poets who have published their poetry in We’moon. A call to creativity….get stitching!
This song was commissioned by Walcot Community Choir, in Bath, many moons ago – it was the beginning of a beautiful friendship! They requested a song about ‘positive ageing’ – I got the words of the intro / outro from Das Energy by Paul Williams. The song ended up having a slow, reflective dub-vibe.