Optimistic Songs in Hard Times

This week I wrote a song in response to the recent Canadian election, for Take5 on CIUT. I billed it as an ironic love song to Stephen Harper. (For readers outside Canada, he's the frosty right-wing politician who will lead a minority government for the second time in a row. Sixty percent of us voted against him, but he remains our Prime Minister.)

The song (which contains the word "frosty") is called "Right Back Where We Started*. (Here's a live version from the radio show on Friday morning.) It's written in the voice of a woman reluctantly returning to a guy she knows isn't good for her. Depressing, right? Cynical? You'd think so, after an election like this.

But the song turned out to be generally happy-sounding. A cheerful little waltz in a major key. I had written an optimistic song, after a disappointing election outcome, during the worst economic crisis of my lifetime. What was I thinking?

Well, first of all, I wasn't really "thinking". Instead I was writing a song, and that's a whole other thing. When you're fully engaged in the creative process, your heart (or soul, or unconscious) is doing most of the heavy lifting, while your brain (intellect, conscious mind) just navigates the process. "Just a few steps more (one more verse, please)...don't bump into the wall (that line has too many syllables)..." That sort of thing.

Once songwriters become truly proficient, they write what they need to hear. Not only what they want to express, but what they need to hear. It's the unconscious mind, the soul, that midwifes into being the needed song, as opposed to the expected or "supposed-to-write" song.

After a week like this, I can tell you that I needed some good news, more than I needed a re-hashing of everything bad. I didn't want to deny what has happened or hide from reality, but I needed to frame that reality in a way that helps me stay sane and productive. Thankfully, the unconscious mind knew exactly what to do.

I'm glad that, without thinking, I wrote a happy song this week.

Its very existence tells me that optimism is still possible.

* A few notes on the lyrics, for anyone not familiar with the Canadian political system. The Prime Minister (Mr. Harper) presides over the deeply divided House of Commons ("...waltzing round the House again"). The space in between opposing parties is called the floor. Members of Parliament often behave badly in the House. ("Hurling names across the floor...") The Leader of the Opposition (only recently installed and likely to step down now) is named Stephane, and though a man of substance and integrity, he has turned out to be very unpopular. I think the rest of the lyrics are self-explanatory. - lh