A song about being somebody to someone.
“Lost Until I Found You”
The Story
This is my second entry in the Steemit Open Mic Songwriters Challenge. This week's theme is "Lost and Found". As always, I thought of my family first as I worked on the song. I imagined what life was like before I found my family, before the kids arrived, before I met my wife... I remember the loneliness. I was a solitary person then, and even in my relationships I approached most connections with one foot in and one foot out. That all changed when I started to make space in my life for a family, and when it arrived I jumped in with both feet!
Lucky me–my life partner came to me with a 1-year-old, so we were a family right from the start! And now we're a family of five. They've given me the feeling of being home. And because I feel at home with them, I recognize how nomadic I truly was before them. Both literally and figuratively, I was bouncing from place to place, job to job, person to person. I think a lot of young men can relate with this, and maybe it's written in our DNA. Maybe it's the way the stars aligned us. Maybe it's a Scorpio thing. Or maybe I'm universalizing my own unique experience. In any case, I'm happy to be on the flip-side of this phenomenon now, landing in a place with the people I call "home."
I chose to record this song in the kids' bedroom, because of all the family photos on the wall. These images are some of my most cherished belongings, because of the memories they stir up. There's the story of a Christmas portrait when my dad set the camera on a timer and then tripped as he raced across the living room, and we waited and waited for the camera to snap its picture while I laughed on full blast! There's a picture of a camping trip with my mom, when I was a baby. There's a picture of my niece, and another one of my brother and his wife. Many more of my loved ones belong on this wall. Fortunately, I know a camera guy! ;)
The Lyrics
My heart remembers a winter when
I was colder than the snowmen
And the clouds refused to let the sun shine
Shadows dominated my mind
I was lost until I found you
I was a nomad without a home
Lost until I found you
I was a nobody with no one
My heart remembers a summer when
I was wilder than a forest fire
And the smoke refused to let the sun shine
Ashes dominated my mind
I was lost until I found you...
My heart remembers another sky
I was floating in the clouds featherlight
Drifting like a kite without a string
When I met you in the heights drifting with me
I was lost until I found you
I was a nomad without a home
Maybe I’m still lost but I found you
Now I’m somebody with someone
The Songwriters Challenge
As I've already mentioned, this song is prompted by the Steemit Open Mic Songwriters Challenge, co-created by @meno and @luzcypher. This challenge began last week, and I submitted a solid first song, in my opinion, called "Broken Mirror," and I even managed to recruit my wife to sing the chorus lines with me. I stand by this work as a very strong original song. I'm grateful for the invitation to create it, and the platform to share it, and the audience to hear it.
Gratefully,