Lyrics: Scars

[Carlton Carr]

Scars: Lyrics

For me, creativity has always been a solitary endeavor but recently I discovered that something wonderful and miraculous happens when the process of creation is shared with others who have a common vision. My nephew Darren is an accomplished musician, singer and song writer and his mom, Jennifer, is equally as talented.

The three of us got together to write a song. We listened to music that Darren had composed, jotting down lyrics that occurred to us. There were brilliant suggestions, words were written down and then discarded, the pile of crumpled pages grew and then, just as we thought we were getting nowhere Jennifer ‘heard’ how an existing poem of mine might be adapted to accompany the music. Darren and Jennifer ‘hear’ songs in their heads just as I ‘hear’ poems before they are written.

Writing a poem and writing song lyrics require completely different sets of skills. Writing a song from an existing poem is not as easy as it may sound. I was a little dubious about being able to successfully make the transition but as Darren began to tease a melody from his beautiful backing track everything seemed to fall into place. When it was done it was difficult to imagine that the song that emerged from these unrelated strands of creativity had not been our initial intention, it sounded so right.

SCARS

Verse 1

I am the keeper
of images and words
the treasurer of memories
healer of the scars
sail into this harbor
from seas of the past
set anchor in my treasure chest
of memories and miracles
that life will not allow me to forget
all the many wounds
the birth and deaths of all our days
are buried in the stars
stars of my eyes

Chorus

Scars of exclusion
scars of regret
scars of the moments
I swore I’d not forget
wounds that I could never hide
for I am the keeper of the scars

Verse 2

I embrace the seconds, minutes, hours of our years
reminder of the things that went so wrong
so my battered, broken voice
has to sing this song
for I am the keeper of the scars
all the many wounds
the birth and deaths of all our days
are buried in the stars
stars of my eyes

©CarltonCarr2014