Category: Lyrics

For Auld Lang Syne

1/1/2022

Well, here we are. 2021 is behind us now on this day between Hogmanay and the first new moon of the year.

I hope that you have downtime today to relax if nothing else. It's a good day for reflection or just hanging out though we're often pressured to decide what we want for the coming year. And oh, those resolutions!

I usually don't send out a note on the first day of the year but nothing is usual anymore so why not?

I heard an interesting differentiation the other day between resolutions and intentions. I found it helpful. You may, too.

"An intention is what you're consciously establishing, creating and setting today in the present moment and it moves the energy forward. An intention is how you are going to move something forward, what you're wanting to create or manifest, what your goals are. So intentions are forward moving.

"Resolutions are about resolving Resolutions are about resolving something that previously occurred or previously happened. So a resolution can be about energy from the past or something that's complete, something that you don't want to experience again. You're resolving not to do that. You're resolving that that's complete so that you can have something new going forward. These are different energies.

"Intentions are about directiing the energy forward. Resolutions are about something that's already taken place, that you want to change or shift, but it's typically an energy you've already experienced and you're basically recreating it, reworking it and resolving to move it forward.

"So i think it can be quite powerful to look at both of these energetic experiences to define if you're wanting to resolve something or intending to create something." --Molly McCord

If you're not ready with resolutions and intentions, that's okay, although I'll bet you really do have an idea of what you'd like to resolve.

You might be ready with new intentions for tomorrow's New Moon in Capricorn at 1:35 pm EST. New moons are the best time to set new intentions and this one couldn't have better timing for the year ahead. You may also want to take a little time tomorrow to add the moon phases to your calendar for the upcoming year. At least the new and full moons.

I am happy to say that I know exactly what I am choosing to resolve and exactly what I am intending. I hope that you have at least your main points. If not, and if you want to discover those in time for tomorrow's new moon, grab a notebook and a pen and start writing. Now.

If you've been following me over the years, you'll know that I mark as many new beginnings as I can through the first quarter of the year. So, if you're not ready, or if you need a restart or a little push forward, stay tuned.

Meanwhile, let's resolve to let things go as much as we can. It's truly exhausting to carry stuff (thinigs, relationships, behaviours, ways of thinking) that no longer serve us.

My dear friend, Carole (thank you!) just sent me my absolute favorite rendition of Auld Lang Syne and I want to share it with you. Dougie Maclean singing Robert Burn's poem (based on an old Scottish folk song).

Enjoy!

Auld Lang Syne

Robert Burns

Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And days of auld lang syne!

For auld lang syne, my dear,
     For auld lang syne.
     We'll tak a cup o' kindness yet,
     For days of auld lang syne.

We twa hae run about the braes,
And pou'd the gowans fine;
But we've wander'd mony a weary fit,
Since days of auld lang syne.

We twa hae paidl'd in the burn,
Frae morning sun till dine;
But seas between us braid hae roar'd
Since days of auld lang syne.

For auld lang syne, my dear,
     For auld lang syne.
     We'll tak a cup o' kindness yet,
     For days of auld lang syne.

And surely ye'll be your pint stowp!
And surely I'll be mine!
And we'll tak a cup o' kindness yet,
For auld lang syne.

And there's a hand, my trusty fere!
And gie's a hand o' thine!
And we'll tak a right gude-willie waught,
For auld lang syne.

For auld lang syne, my dear,
     For auld lang syne.
     We'll tak a cup o' kindness yet,
     For days of auld lang syne.

Shadow Dance

7/27/2021

In the late summer of 2002, I recorded my last album of songs in Eindhoven, The Netherlands. Ankie Keultjes produced, CRS/Rounder Europe paid for the production and manufacture, and I was able to work with two of my fave musicians, Eric van der Lest and Menno Romers. Much of this was thanks to Ankie (who helped produce Ephemera) and Ad van Meurs with whom I stayed and performed while in Holland during each of my European tours.

By the time I finished recording The Glory, I was out of money, energy, tricks, and all of the other things it takes to support and sustain a career as a singer songwriter uninvolved with the “star maker machinery behind the popular song.” It’s a shame because without any promotion or further touring, The Glory was lost and I really love many of the songs we recorded.

Until I unwrapped a CD copy just now, I'd completely forgotten that I included this quote in the liner notes:

"That which is not good for the beehive cannot be good for the bees." —Marcus Aurelius

Indeed.

One of the songs on the album is about a world without trees. As I write this, the air in New York and Pennsylvania is filled with haze and particles from the Western wild fires. Here in North Carolina, the air is hazy, too, for the same reason. In fact, there's now a "code orange" air quality alert across the entire state. I read yesterday that, because of burning, the Amazon rain forest is emitting more CO2 than it is putting into the atmosphere. Yet, still, people are clear cutting lots and acreage for, well, money. A world without trees is a reality that we are actually closing in on now.

But that conclusion assumes that I know the future and none of us knows that. A world without trees is just one possible outcome of our current circumstances, one possible reality.

I've been thinking a lot about reality lately, about how we each create our own. Personal reality is a choice, really, in large part, a projection of our thoughts.

That is not to suggest that any of us play ostrich. Ideally, part of a adjusting a personal reality is taking responsibility for our thoughts and actions. In terms of climate change, that includes curtailing our consumption of energy and pretty much all things. Still, while operating in three-dimensional space, there's only so much we can control. But what we can control is our thoughts and what influences how we form those thoughts.

What influences our thoughts? The culture of our upbringing and education, our general, day-to-day frame of reference, the people we interact with and, of course, the media. The current variations on reality are breathtaking. Maybe it's time to tweak your own.

"We seldom realize, for example, that our most private thoughts and emotions are not actually our own. For we think in terms of languages and images which we did not invent, but which were given to us by our society." —Alan Watts

Recently, I've been seriously curtailing my news intake. The alarmist and fearmongering headlines are designed to reel in our attention in order to sell soap. This "news" affects our nervous systems and mental health which in turn, affects our physical and spiritual health. It's good to stay informed but what and how much of that do you really need to know? Is it news or a twisted form of entertainment with ads flashing all around?

We create our reality. This is not some new age concept. It goes way, way back into Hinduism, Buddhism and isms I don't know anything about. You can even bypass spiritual traditions and look at history. The reality and mindset of someone 150 years ago, let alone in medieval Europe, the Egyptian Empire, or the Han Dynasty is radically different from anyone in the same locations today.

Artists often fiddle with reality. Representational painting is all about working a two dimensional surface to appear as three dimensions. Music does not actually exist in three dimensions. Novelists and screenwriters make up worlds left and right. My favorite play, Calderón de la Barca's La Vida es Sueño is all about messing with personal reality.

It's not just spiritual traditions, historic mindsets, and the arts that rattle the doors of perception, it's science, too. How about the fact that what we look upon changes simply because we look at it. That's the observer effect.

That is good to keep in mind if you're open to considering what sort of world you want to live in. We do create our own reality. It's worth paying attention to who and what we expose ourselves and allow to influence our perception.

The plasticity of your personal reality is at least something to consider. It's on my mind because of my love of the earth, my desire to keep my own well being intact, and because of some inner workings of the course I am launching today.

Too much of the earth is burning but if you're not directly in the flames, you may have alternate options. Keep your well being front and center and remember to breathe, intentionally and fully.

Click here to listen to Shadow Dance. Download at iTunes, Amazon Music, or Spotify. Lyrics below. If you like the song or the album, please share.

Shadow Dance

It’s so hot
I have got to get out of the sun
I am spinning
I’m dizzy, this isn’t much fun

I remember thick carpets of dew
when morning was new
how the vapors arose in the air
with sparkling vows
unfolding in moments of now

Take my hand
you’re just standing around like a fool
Let’s go dance
no place fancy, just somewhere that’s cool

I remember the shade of the trees
the color of leaves
how the breeze moved the branches
and made the sun dance with the shadows
flecks of light shimmered through windows

Sole to sand
rock, dust and bits of bone on the ground
Such a burning
we’re turning, we’re turning around

I remember when night fell
the stories we would tell were filled with the music of
campfires crackling
choruses of frogs croaking
whippoorwills calling
wolves in the hills howling
sylvan wind whistling on high

Let me dance in your shadow now…

©2000 Suzanne McDermott/Drexel Road Music (ASCAP/STIM) All Rights Reserved

Bonus: How To Calm Your Climate Anxiety

For Auld Lang Syne

Shadow Dance

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