Week 9 – February 28th – Whisper to the Bees

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ENqyNMXF2sQ

I wrote this song yesterday and haven’t really let it sit properly yet, but I was excited by it’s arrival and wanted to record it.  My friend Godslove arrived and filmed me playing so it’s a little more interesting than a locked off shot – though my performance is still not dynamic.

This is a song where I would love to be able to do more with the piano – and I will probably record a proper demo soon

Just over a year after my husband died I lived in New Orleans for a few weeks.  Whilst I was there I read about this idea about whispering your sorrows to the bees.  I tried to write a song about it at the time.  I’m not sure why it came back to me but I’m happy it did.  The following summer I actually did some beekeeping at my friend Pip’s house which is the third verse of the song.

Lyrics:

New life, new days dawning
Days spent in New Orleans
Reading of the French settlers
Who grieved in a way that comforted me
They believed you must
Whisper your sorrows to the bees
Who fly away with your pain
And make it into something sweet

I ran where streets used to be
A city in recovery
A pleasing metaphor for me
But I didn’t see any bees
My grief stayed with me
Couldn’t whisper my sorrows to the bees
They couldn’t fly away with my pain
Turn it into something sweet

Months and miles away, encased in mesh
I stood in horror at the swarm
I felt only panic, breathed hard not to panic
My sorrow was gone
Not in a dreamy summer time flutter by
But in the frantic heat of life
In their desperate fight to survive

We are killing the bees
That fact means what it means
But it stands for losing touch
With panicked heat of love

They believed you must
Whisper your sorrows to the bees
Who fly away with your pain
And make it into something sweet

 Chris the beekeeper and Chris in New Orleans