"Adios To The Blues" is an original song, prompted by this week's Steemit Open Mic Songwriters Challenge. Here, you can be the first to hear it.
“Adios To The Blues”
The Story
The songwriting theme is "Til We Meet Again," and so I remembered many of the meaningful farewells in my life. Mostly, I thought of a time when I lived in Missoula, Montana, during an especially harsh winter. There, the mountains create a bowl-shape that occasionally traps the clouds and blocks the sunshine for weeks–this weather pattern is called an inversion, and the end result is air stagnation, with colder, cloudier skies. For me, that winter was brutal.
When I refer to "the blues" in this song, I'm speaking purely of the emotion: melancholy. I've studied the colors as they relate to behavioral psychology–this was required coursework for my master's degree–and the color blue is commonly associated with sadness. Interestingly, dark blue was the color I wore most often in my clothes, when I first learned about this, and since that time I've worked to wear a broader and brighter array, just as I worked to choose more pleasant moods. I felt very blue, writing this song.
I thought of Pablo Picasso, who painted a series of artworks with dominating monochromatic blue shades. This "Blue Period" apparently followed his friend's suicide, leading him to a series of cheerless subject such as an old guitarist, a lonely woman, and an impoverished outsider. According to the Wikipedia article on this subject, Picasso suffered terribly through this period, and it is even claimed that his paintings of the poor people made him poor himself.
Similar to Picasso's suffering during his Blue Period, I felt that slumping feeling of depression during this songwriting journey. It brought me back to the moody, creepy, hopeless feeling that haunted me through that spell in Montana. I'm not sure why I chose this path for this song, because I tend to focus on the lighter emotions, and in fact the songs I play most often are medicine songs, designed to cultivate peace and happiness. This song is deeper. Darker. Bluer.
I think of myself as an upbeat, friendly person, filled with love and lightness, and I nurture these qualities. But I do experience heavy emotions, most often in the Winter months. I'm sure we can all relate with this. If you're familiar with Seasonal Affective Disorder, you know we are similar to the plants, relying on the sunlight for life and then suffering in the absence of the sun. Going into the darkness reminds us we need the light–this is the message I see in this song.
The Lyrics
Adios to the blues
The coldest of hues
I’m choosing a warmer color
To help me through the Winter
Navy blue baby blue royal
I’m letting every shade go
Every sign of depression
Every reminder of cold
Oh depths of the sea
Oh heights of the sky
I will wait for you in the night
In the black absence of light
Here in the dark
Where no blues to harm me
I close my eyes and go far
Through the tones of my guitar
Red minor chords sensual
Yellow chords intellectual
Bringing me to the eventual
Blue chords spiritual
Oh depths of the sea...
The Acknowledgements
I'm grateful to @meno and @luzcypher for bringing us the #openmicsongwriters community challenge. This eighth week completes the event, and I'm happy to say I participated with a new song each week, just as I promised (although I did miss a due-date or two). It has been wildly fun to create eight new songs alongside my peers here, some of whom I think of as new brothers and sisters. Such a joy participating in this event as a songwriter, and an audience member. I'm proud of all of us, and thankful.
In case you're interested, here are the links to each of these eight new songs:
- Broken Mirror
- Lost Until I Found You
- The Pearl
- Ah Eve
- Far Out In Oregon
- Rosebud
- Right Place Right Time
- Adios To The Blues
This post contains 100% original content by @cabelindsay.
