“Joy” (iTunes) is the tenth song (of twenty-five) in my Atlas: Year Two series, and the first of four songs written for the four basic human emotions, Joy, Sorrow, Anger & Fear.
A little while back, I asked a question on social media: "what is your personal definition of 'joy'?" I received a lot of deeply beautiful answers. Some silly, some serious, and all wonderful. When I posted the question, I was just curious as to what "joy" meant to different people, but after reading through, I thought it'd be so much fun to nod to some of those answers in the song! So I went through every response and synthesized and categorized each answer and made a list. (To mention just a few: Stillness, Hope, God, Healing, Contentment, Family, Adventure.) As I wrote the lyrics, I went through that long list and tried to weave in as many as I could. Every lyric in this song is a definition of joy. It was so much fun to write! So if you responded to that tweet/facebook question, you helped inspire this song! Thank you for sharing with me what joy looks like through your eyes.
One of the first ideas I had for this song, was to keep it brief. It's just above three-minutes long. Joy itself always seems to end before we want it to. Brief and ephemeral. It felt right to reflect that in the length of the song. Like a spark, of sorts.
My wife and I recently announced that we're expecting our second child later this year! We are SO very excited. Shortly after we found out about our upcoming little one, I was in the early process of writing the song. It was perfect timing to receive such joyful news right when I was researching "joy" for this song. This wonderful news inspired the intro of this song... The pulsating Marimbas (played by the amazing Jordan Kamps!) that start the song out- that's meant to sound like the music of an old "breaking news" segment of nightly TV news. I thought that was a fun way to reflect our family's "breaking news" in the music.
The opening lines:
"it is the calm water
in the middle of an anxious sea.
where heavy clouds part and the sunrise starts
a fire in the deepest part of me.
so i let go and in this moment, I can breathe."
Those words were inspired by the beautiful cover art for this song - painted by the ever-gifted Elicia Edijanto! Before I began writing these four "emotion" songs, she and I discussed how to best visually interpret these four basic human emotions and she had the wonderful idea of reflecting the emotions in the weather of four ocean-scapes. So I had this visual in mind as I wrote those opening words. (Side note: the Sun featured in the artwork for the song before this, "Sight" is a set up to the "Joy" painting! I love it!! Huge high five, Elicia!!)
I've recently been enjoying a guided meditation app called Headspace, which has been a really beautiful island of calm in the middle of my days. I love it. So as I began thinking through what "joy" is, I knew it had at least something to do with the unexpected sense of calm in the intensity of everyday. So those words above also nod to my newly found 10 minutes of meditation a day, my "calm in the middle of an anxious sea."
"it’s the faint outline of the divine
in the hiding place of my periphery."
I think joy lives in our periphery. In the corner of our eyes. Suddenly, it shows up and the surprise adds to its beauty. I've heard it explained that trying to find joy is like trying to get a butterfly to land on your shoulder. The harder you try to make it happen, walking towards it, the least likely it is to land on your shoulder. But if you wait patiently, stand still, there's a good chance it'll happen. I really like that and find it to be entirely true. So you'll hear several tiny references to this idea throughout the song.
I recently had the privilege of spending a weekend in New Mexico with Fr. Richard Rohr and a few friends. The conversations were, of course, incredibly rich and inspiring. Fr. Rohr covered a lot of ground; spiral dynamics, the enneagram, etc. In between soaking up all of that wonderful knowledge (which will serve me well in my upcoming songs for the 9 Enneagram types), I was just beginning to write "Joy" so I asked him what joy looks like to him. He said nature is what came to mind. I share a similar awe for nature, so I pulled in as much nature in the imagery of this song as I could. I have a feeling nature imagery will be very present throughout these four emotion songs.
In the middle of one of Fr. Rohr's conversations, he mentioned the importance of children seeing their parents acknowledge something greater than themselves. I was struck by that idea - how truly beautiful it is to see the people we look up to for safety and life, to overflow with reverence. I began to think about what that looks like in my life - in what ways will my children see me in a state of sincere reverence? Hopefully they will see this in my faith, and as I sort things out in my songs, but I also hope they will see it in my appreciation for the universe we get to live in. One of the things I've most looked forward to as a parent, is to go out late at night and watch the stars together. I know, the odds of them being equally interested in this are slim, but who knows, maybe they'll humor me. So several lines throughout the song, bring in this small picture of joy I've had in my head:
"the countless stars we’re sleeping under,
it’s the brightest sparks that we remember.
when our eyes are closed, we still see embers,
a glimpse of light in a mine of gold."
The music was so fun to write and work on! I began on piano, but realized quickly that this song should abandon all of the instruments that I typically write more melancholy music with. So, no piano. No strings! I called my friend, Jordan Kamps, who is an incredible percussionist and the finest Marimba player I've come across! He's amazing. Marimba became the main instrument of this song, which I felt was perfectly fitting, as the Marimba not only sounds like hope to me, but it also has short resonant notes, which I felt worked well with these ideas of joy being so ephemeral. Jordan came over, set up his massive Marimba and let me boss him around a bunch by having him record whatever weird idea I had in my head. It was a ton of fun! (at least for me!) Huge thanks to Jordan for being awesome.
Joy is electricity in a way, so I sprinkled in a few synths/electronic instruments to represent electricity.
I also had a TON of fun working in a bunch of little sound "easter eggs' throughout the song. Just like asking everyone else what "joy" means to them, I knew I wanted to record a few sounds of what joy means me, so here's a list of sounds hidden in the song:
- Right in the middle of the song, you'll hear my favorite sound in the entire world: my daughter's laugh.
- In honor of my our upcoming little one, you'll hear several of his/her ultrasound heart-beats throughout the song.
- Disney World! When I was a teenager, I recorded tons of micro-cassette recordings. Sort of my way of journaling with sound! Including trips to Disney World. I grew up going to Disney frequently, so for me it truly is one of the happiest places on Earth! You can hear a recording from the year 2000, walking around the parks.
- Another of my favorite places on the Earth: Hawaii. Earlier this year, my family and I were in Honolulu and I recorded the sound of my Mom, my Wife and my Daughter playing together - the three most special women in my life!
- Lastly, you can hear the pacific ocean, recorded from my hotel room, where I began doing my 10-minute meditations (via Headspace!)
Thank you so much for reading!! I hope this song will be a friend to you this Summer!
Side note: my brother-in-law sent me this TED talk, which is wonderful and also inspired me during the writing of this song!
LYRICS
JOY
it is the calm water
in the middle of an anxious sea.
where heavy clouds part and the sunrise starts
a fire in the deepest part of me.
so i let go and in this moment, I can breathe.
the clumsy start of adolescence,
the glue that mends our broken remnants,
an overwhelming sense of reverence,
it’s a glimpse of light in a mine of gold.
a silver lining spilling over,
the rumor of buried treasure,
the starting line of an adventure,
it’s a glimpse of light in a mine of gold.
it’s an afterglow, it’s an echo
still ringing out in spite of me.
it’s the faint outline of the divine
in the hiding place of my periphery.
so i let go and in this moment, i can breathe.
i can breathe.
the setting sun through open windows,
the honoring of every shadow,
a gratitude for all that follows,
it’s a glimpse of light in a mine of gold.
the countless stars we’re sleeping under,
it’s the brightest sparks that we remember.
when our eyes are closed, we still see embers,
a glimpse of light in a mine of gold.
it’s a glimpse of light in a mine of gold.
