Category: my music & performances

I’m thrilled to present not just a new song but a video to go with it (a new goal of mine for new songs). The song is Outside, which started one day as I sat out in front of my house as a quick shower fell around me.

I started singing: “If I’m not sitting outside then I’m not noticing how the rain is falling on the street…” After a month or two of building and reworking it, here it is.

For the video I found some old public domain footage to go along with my own video of reflections waving in the water.

My DC friends will recognize the Cherry Blossoms blooming from what looks like the 70s.

OUTSIDE

If I’m not getting outside then the sun can’t lay its light
like a hand upon my head and bake my spirit bright.
If I’m not getting outside then I can’t open my eyes
past the walls around my mind, and stretch them out upon the sky.
Feel the breeze go still a while, then the rattle of the leaves,
song upon song from the trees, looping layered choruses.

I need the sun upon my face.
I feed my feet upon the ground.
Get me high on air and space.
Surround me with the open sound.

‘Cause if I’m not getting outside then the birds cannot remind me
that the dawn is filled with song and the wildlife goes on.
If I’m not getting outside then the flowers can’t confide
their sensual serenity, the sense of possibility.
Lay upon the lawn with me. Stare up at the sky and see:
There is no philosophy like the branches of a tree.

Mamacita, let’s go talk along the lake,
like we did so long ago, there’s still so much I want to know.
Hija linda, let’s pretend that we just met
for the 1st time in a long time and we fall in love again.

I need the sun upon my face.
I feed my feet upon the ground.
Get me high on air and space.
Surround me with the open sound.

If I’m not getting outside I need to slip out on the sly
sip a cup and simmer down, circulate around the grounds.
If I’m not getting outside then I’m not really alive.
I’m a part of everything, I feel it in my wiring.
Suddenly it starts to rain, hushing me with everything,
quieting my busy brain, I’m nothing but a weathervane.

I need the sun upon my face.
I feed my feet upon the ground.
Get me high on air and space.
Surround me with the open sound.