I've gotten into songwriting the past year. I guess it's my new Covid hobby. Most of the songs I've written so far are part of a series that I'll introduce soon. But this one, "Homebody," stands alone, and even though it's my most recent, I'd like to share it first.
In the group where I originally shared it, we had a "no disclaimers" rule. Each participant had to play their song and share the lyrics before explaining anything. So I'll abide by that policy here and give the background below.
The Lyrics:
1. What’s it like to leave Peoria
After a whole century?
Looking out your bedroom window,
Do you ever have to blink?
Daddy’s fields are far from sight.
You’ve always been a homebody.
Why see Chicago?
All you’d ever wanted was right there.
You delighted in the flowers and birds
And people you’d known all your life
Like your love could never fade away.
2. I tasted travel as a toddler.
Now it’s in my blood, I think.
Looking out my bedroom window,
Still some days I have to blink.
Phnom Penh streets are bold and bright.
I’ve never been a homebody.
Why shut out the wide world?
My heart has scattered pieces here and there.
Fighting to delight in the flowers and birds
And people revolving through my life,
I pray my love will never fade away.
3. A third your age and triple the hometowns,
Both of us are moving on.
You finally outgrew your old house,
Hungry for a deeper bond.
Home beckoned you across the night.
Now you’ll always be a homebody.
Why miss Peoria?
All you’ve ever wanted is right here.
You’re delighting in the flowers and birds
And people like you’ve known them all your life
Filled with love that only grows more dear.
4. What’s it like to trade your body
After a whole century?
Looking in your bedroom mirror,
Can you even help but blink?
Abba’s beauty floods your sight.
Nobody does homebody like you
But someday I’ll be a homebody too.
The Story:
In August, just before returning to the US, I joined an online workshop on songwriting. It included two Zoom sessions with a facilitator and a small group of peers who performed original songs for the others to critique and encourage. I was way out of my league, but I loved hearing what they'd written, and their insights for me were valuable!
For the second session, we were asked to write an original song with one week's notice, incorporating these four elements:
- Starts with a question
- Addresses someone we haven't talked with in a long time
- Mentions a room in our house
- Uses only three chords (in any combination or order) in the chorus
I was intimidated by the thought of combining all these aspects, but if you search for "creativity constraints quote," you'll find many different people who have observed that the latter fuels the former. My song flowed quickly once I started.
I decided to write a song for my step-grandma, Irene Hoeltje, who married my grandpa (both were widowed) before I was born. She loved my family and me like there was no "step" about it. She passed away in July, a month shy of her 100th birthday, which was literally during the workshop in August. A lifelong Peoria resident whose retirement community was built on land from her parents' farm, Grandma Irene was never a big traveler, but in recent years she couldn't wait to go meet her beloved Jesus.
My song is inspired partly by my 2016 blog post about visiting Grandma. It's also reflecting on the parallel between her passing and my decision the same month to leave Phnom Penh and start over in a small Cambodian town next year. I'm excited to move to this community that's drawn me since my first visit years ago, but part of me wishes I could put down deeper roots with one place and group of people, like Grandma did. This song explores how our sharply contrasting lives are shaped by the same love and hope. Heaven holds what neither of us have been used to, but what both of us have always wanted most.
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| With Grandma and her daughter, my Aunt Linda |
If you've been reading my blog for a while, you might remember that last year's Hutchmoot conference initially sparked my interest in songwriting. Specifically, I was moved by Hutchmoot's discussion of the Tolkien short story "Leaf by Niggle." (Hutchmoot is coming up again October 8-10 and I can't wait! It's about art, music, story, and faith. Join with me and we'll have fantastic conversation starters. Tickets are $20 for dozens of hours of online content, which you can livestream or watch later.)
As I explored lyrics and music last fall for the first song I ever wrote, unsure which should come first, I came up with the guitar riff used in "Homebody." It never fit right with that song, but there's a clip of just the guitar in my blog post about "Niggle."
In August, after I wrote the lyrics and started the melody for "Homebody," I realized that this guitar riff worked perfectly for both the verses and the chorus. Plus its arpeggios use only three chords, complying with the songwriting prompt. I wasn't sure I could play something so complex while singing, but it came together with a bit of practice. I was amazed! It's like this was meant to be.
