Just Because
I have been on an extended sabbatical from my regular writing... Partly by choice, partly due to unsavory working conditions... but in the end, what does "reason" matter when at last, I am here... writing again.
I've had a story to tell, my friends, for the last couple of weeks... but as I mentioned before... the working conditions have proved to be more stifling than inspiring... So I put it off... and off... and off... and have since come to the conclusion that I need to purge.
It all started, for me, with two voicemails from an extremely talented writer friend of mine, Mr. Ruben Porras. For Ruben, as he would excitedly explain to me upon returning his calls, it began at the end. The end of a movie he had just viewed, "Love And Other Drugs". I'll leave the reviews to Ruben, the expert, and just get to the point as sententious as my artistic nature will allow... lol!
In other words... Bear with me... I'll get there as quickly as possible!
Now, Ruben has called me previously with some fantastic hooks and catch phrases for songs... ones that acted like itching powder for the creative mind. And believe you me, these are still on my corkboard for future endeavors. However, this one was so much more than anything I had ever thought of or heard of... and the way he explained his thinking behind the lyrics... well, I was moved almost to tears by its essence. Right away, my mind was going a million miles an hour... yet standing still at the same time. All the ideas swirled around in a vortex of emotions... I was completely swept away.
When Ruben had contacted me, he was just bouncing an idea... but looking to develop the material himself. I hung up the phone, excited at the thought of finally writing something WITH someone. We MUST get together soon... was all I could think... and then... it happened. It was the "Breathe, 2AM" syndrome. The song refused to leave me be, pumping my veins with poison. No matter how hard I tried... it kept jumping up at me. A lyric here, a chord progression there, a concept, an idea... they didn't just knock at my mind's door... they were beating the damned thing in. I tried to keep it at bay... but he may as well thrown a steak to a lion, and told it not to eat it... It was only a matter of an hour or so, and the chorus had almost written its self.
The piano developed its own gravitational pull and everytime I pushed myself from the keys... they would call me back again. I closed my eyes and started to play... and I could hear the melody. There just weren't any words... only the idea of it all. After a couple of days of me still battling with it... the opening line came to me. It was as if a bucket of paint had been tipped over a blank canvas... the words spilled out over the page... and it was like nothing I'd ever felt before. I wasn't writing this song... I was merely putting into words the emotions Ruben had explained to me. I was writing this song through someone else's eyes.
Most songs I've written are completely autobiographical. But this one was from a place I'd never been before... a place not many women have been. I am hoping when Ruben hears the song, he will find it worthy of the lines he gave me... and I pray I can find an artist to do it justice, because I believe this is a song that needs to be heard.
Thank you, Ruben, for giving me this opportunity, this gift of a song... one that I would have never found without you!
Posted on Friday, Dec 17, 2010
