Desert Bloom (Story Behind the Lyrics)
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A snapshot of the process I go through when writing a song, from the first question and images through word associations and drafting. Included below the video is the current studio mix of the track.
"Desert Bloom" was inspired when reading the short story, "A Tree, A Rock, A Cloud " written by Carson McCullers. The story depicts a transient man, in a cafe in the early morning hours, who recites his philosophy of love to a young paper boy. At one point, the man recalls after years of searching for his lost love, how he uncontrollably was overtaken by nostalgia.
"But a sudden piece of glass on a sidewalk. Or a nickel tune in a music box. A shadow on a wall at night. And I would remember. It might happen in a street and I would cry or bang my head against a lamppost...You think you can put up a shield. But remembering don't come to a man face forward--it corners around sideways."
In "Desert Bloom" I try to explore the experience of revisiting a loved one through memories. He or she is like an apparition. You meet one another in an unworldly space--in memory or a dream/daydream--and the time spent together, you both know, will end.
The propeller for this song is the question, "Where do I find you?" The environment I envision that best resembles the feeling of this sort of memory is a desert in bloom.
The character in the song is at the mercy of unpredictable triggers that throw her/him into memories. By the end, he/she is waking from a vivid dream of being wrapped in the arms of a lover, only to find an empty room.
I offer my sincere appreciation for the work of Carson McCullers, for her endowment of honest language, and for her unabashed portrayal of the human heart.
"Desert Bloom"-Lyrics
Under the weeping the silver lime I find you
Caught in the sway of three quarter time I find you
And though you won't stay here I know not to plea
I'll rest in your shadow and breath deeply
And tell again the story of a desert in bloom
how you roamed in silence all consumed
Weightless submerged swimming downstream I find you
Huddled and waiting in the last line of poetry I find you
Dapper and green like a story book forest I find you
Singing out of time to your favorite chorus I find you
And though you won't stay here you stay here you still leave a mark
on the borders of this scared and secret heart
And tell again the story of a desert in bloom
how you roamed in silence all consumed
And tell again the story of a desert in bloom
How I wake in your arms some late afternoon
mid fractures of light in an empty room