Hi all- sending everyone my best.
I intended to get this to you much earlier today. But.. times being what they are, I must say I’m pretty impressed it’s still Tuesday on both coasts as I send this out.
I began writing this song in 2019 but felt it was not yet done and perhaps not quite right for Temple. I remembered it today the way one remembers something painfully indelible, that is to say, I’ve never forgotten about it and was just enjoying a reprieve. It will be called “Scene” and it will quite definitively capture a moment (and unfortunately, represent many more) I endured and haven’t known how to address outside the solace of songwriting. It will exist in the world as its complete self as soon as I believe it’s ready. I share this snapshot demo for anyone who can use it, but I wrote it for me and I extend it in particular to Asian women who might find some solace, commiseration, recognition and validation within it.
Lyrics:
I gotta leave my body
Where were you when they laid their hands over me
I gotta leave my body
He was a tower of a man
Wasn’t he
Oh what the memory of his hands does to me
My feet were kicking above the ground
Weren’t they
Didn’t they
Easy does it
Yes even her
Cause easy wants it
Easier
My feet kicked above the ground
Didn’t they
Easy does it
Yes even her
Easy wanted it
Easier
So many eyes see
Please cause a scene for me
yours,
t
P.S. Thank you to these writers, scholars, and artists, and humanitarians whose work has kept me fortified: Thi Bui, Cathy Park Hong, R.O Kwon, Min Jin Lee, Amber Ruffin, Nancy Wang Yuen.
So beautiful
Beautiful and haunting*