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When you’re afraid or angry, hurt or sad
Some say, “Don’t cry, calm down, it’s not so bad”
Away perhaps they send you
The only thing they know to
No thought of the impatience that they had
Sometimes it feels like there’s too much rainfall
We try to force the storm from big to small
And yet whatever we try
The clouds stay up in the sky
They only go away once they’ve rained all
It seems that it’s here to stay
But see what it’s trying to say
Just a feeling, coming from part of you
Just a feeling, take a walk in that shoe
Step right in, but also aside
Close up shot, but also a wide angle view
And you’ll be feeling, you’ve a clue what to do
You’re full of happiness, love, hope and pride
It all seems right, you’re smile’s oh so wide
Everyone says it’s so great
They wish that they had your fate
And even you don’t want to turn that tide
A hot fudge sundae sets your taste aflame
But if it’s all you eat, then you’ll feel lame
Even when we take to it
We still can overdo it
It goes for things like broccoli just the same
It seems that it’s here to stay
But see what it’s trying to say
Just a feeling, coming from part of you
Just a feeling, take a walk in that shoe
Step right in, but also aside
Close up shot, but also a wide angle view
And you’ll be feeling, you’ve a clue what to do
Sometimes we bottle up, sometimes explode
Yet always something new comes down that road
So whether sure or in doubt
With one part in and one out
You just may be surprised where things will flow
Just a feeling, coming from part of you
Just a feeling, take a walk in that shoe
Step right in, but also aside
Close up shot, but also a wide angle view
And you’ll be feeling, you’ve a clue what to do
This song and the album it comes from were written using Appreciative Inquiry and Internal Family Systems. With IFS, we can talk about different parts of ourselves as if they are separate people. Hopefully that clarifies why these stories at times refer to he, she and we!
Part of me likes to keep things calm and controlled. Originally after finishing the song written before this one, another part was going to have a turn at writing a song for the album. But I’d just had a couple of really difficult days, one thing after another coming up. At one point I’d expressed some feelings in a pretty unconstructive way and knew that it wasn’t helping, so this part stepped in to help head that off. But keeping things bottled inside wasn’t working either. So instead I let myself just feel the feeling and be with it for a while. And that seemed to help quite a lot.
This part then wanted to jump ahead and have his turn for writing a song, since he felt he had something worthwhile to offer. The moment we started an Appreciative Inquiry for his song, he said it would have to be about expressing feelings, and how important it is to always express them but to also be careful about how. That was really the main thing, not whether, but how to express them, letting them be felt while at the same time keeping enough presence of mind to step back from them as they’re happening and channel them toward positive ends.
What he really liked about this topic was how level-headed it was. That it was about acknowledging that we all have so many different things inside. Even when one emotion or aspect of us might seem more obvious, the rest are always still there, too, and they all need to be recognized. All different feelings and aspects of ourselves need to come into play, and that’s what would help keep things level, keep things balanced. And the way to do that was to always have some part of you staying level-headed and calm, able to let the other feelings happen without being taken over by them, so that it could help see the feelings through without either acting them out destructively or pushing them down and ignoring them.
Thinking about the music, he really liked that music could create a sense of serenity and calmness, just like the calmness he felt a part of us should keep at all times even while other feelings go on. This made him think of peaceful songs, like the theme in the William Tell Overture — not the fast and busy “Lone Ranger” theme that’s most famous from that piece, but the part right before that one, where flutes quietly play a calm melody. The part often used in old cartoons when the sun would just be coming up over a quiet new day. He also thought of Hawaiian music, with its mellow, jangly guitars. That made him think of Jack Johnson, himself from Hawaii but doing his own contemporary brand of mellow, jangly guitar music. He felt that this direction would help his song serve as a sort of companion piece to Let It Out, showing the other side of the importance of emotion — not just the importance of feeling it to the fullest and letting it out, but the importance of having part of you stay in control while other parts experience strong feelings. This is what actually allows you to feel your feelings to the fullest without letting them take over.
From there, the song more or less wrote itself. It would talk about different feelings, and show how that’s all they are, feelings, different feelings we all have. Letting ourselves feel them, we could get through them. Unpleasant feelings could help us instead of being something to push away, and sometimes we might even need to stop ourselves from acting on pleasant feelings, since they could sometimes lead us to things that weren’t good for us. We just had to always hear what our feelings were trying to tell us in each situation, and we could only hear that if we stepped back and listened. Musically, it would take after Jack Johnson’s songs, since not only were they an inspiration for calm, but his songs for the movie Curious George were a nice example of the kind of all-ages appeal this album was trying to go for.
The next song written for Everyone’s Invited was Rock Paper and Scissors.
Share your own stories — of art or other things that have inspired you, of how you came to do something artistic or creative, of how the OHB’s songs have impacted you, whatever you like — at the Fan Clan.
Written by and
&© 2008 Mark S. Meritt (BMI). All rights reserved.
Dianne Mucci – Vocals
MSM – Instruments
Produced, arranged, recorded and mixed by MSM in the basement in the village, Red Hook, NY, using a MacBook Pro, MOTU Digital Performer 5.13, Native Instruments Kontakt 3, Quantum Leap Colossus, and an M-Audio Keystation Pro 88.
Vocals recorded in the garage on the mountain, Bloomingburg, NY.
Release Date: November 11, 2008
Album: Everyone’s Invited
Track Number: 9
Length: 4:35
Written: 10th of the 12 songs for the album, February 2008
Key: Written in Db, transposed to G for recording
Arranged: 9th, starting April 6, 2008
Vocals recorded 9th, October 7, 2008
Mixed: 9th, starting October 8, 2008
Just a Feeling — MP3 Single
Last modified on 1970-03-17 15:50:42 GMT. 0 comments. Top.
From the album Everyone's Invited
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