What is a siren?

For those of you that do not read Homer or Virgil, sirens are characters in the Odyssey. They sang while ships passed, but they sang so well, no one could resist their songs' lure.

My all-girl band "Sirens' Song" has been writing and performing together for 14 years. We are currently recording our 3rd cd, 'Safe Harbour.'

Sunday, March 30, 2008

Chambers of The Sea

A few nights ago, I took Ryan (my son who is 8) to see the show CATS. I love the poetry of T.S. Elliot that the show is based on. So funny and clever, it fits perfectly into the music and high energy dances. Ryan, of course, loved it, and now sings "a cat so clever as magical Mr. Mistoffelees" around the house.

But T.S. Elliot also wrote "I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each. I do not think that they will sing to me." From "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock". Melancholy and incredibly sad, so very different from his 'book of practical cats.'

I found myself returning to that one line, "I have heard the mermaids singing", particularly since our band takes its name from Sirens, or mermaids. In fact, my husband often refers to all of us as "the mermaids." I took the line and changed it to fit a new song, and our group.

Chambers of The Sea
copyright 2008 LeighAnn Heil
When the earthly no longer knows my name
I will whisper to the silent earth.
I am flowing to the flashing water
To the place of my birth

For I have heard the mermaids singing
And I think they sing to me
I have seen them slowly riding sea-ward
Lingering in chambers of the sea

When the night birds, call and conquer
When the moon is in her sky,
I am flowing to the flashing water
Comb the silver waves so high

When the sea is above me
while its waves they roar and whirl
There will be a ceiling of amber
And a pavement of shining pearl

When the night wind, starts to rise
And the sun has turned to red
I am flowing to the flashing water
With the ocean for my bed

For I have heard the mermaids singing
and I think they sing to me
I have seen them slowly riding seaward
Lingering in chambers of the sea
Lingering in chambers of the sea

listen to CHAMBERS OF THE SEA at http://sirenssing.com/hostbaby/merge?stage=music&substage=5

Gypsy soul

When I was a girl I wanted to grow up to be a princess. Then I actually grew up, and realized I had more in common with the gypsies. I love travel, new places, freedom, music and dance. Perhaps it is my look, which is very Mediterranean. Perhaps it is my soul that has to have an occasional song and dance around the fire.

Back when I was in my 20's I sang in Seville, Spain. We went down to the coast at Cadiz, when friends and I decided to spend the night on the beach. All around us were gypsy camps...playing instruments and singing at the top of their lungs until 3 a.m. Bonfires and music and the moon waxing full created a very vivid memory for me. So of course, years later, a song came unannounced.

Gypsy Soul
copyright 2007 LeighAnn Heil

Red dirt road all before me, Following the caravan
I will travel over mountains, Nothing in my pockets, nothing in my hands.

I will dance before the fire, as the flames are rising high
I will play a gypsy chorus, Singing to the night air, singing to the sky.

See the wind travel through me, See the waves around me roll
Hear the music verse and chorus, Hear it in my gypsy soul

Feel the earth bow before me, Feel the rhythm of the night
Dancing, dancing, ever singing, Gypsy till the day I die.

Sands are ever melting onward, As the road moves ever free
Caravans are moving moving,
Leading to the shoreline, Leading to the sea.

The night air is warm around me, I can feel the desert rise
Tambourines and Balalaikas, Singing to the purple skies

Andalusia all around me, wind is moving through the trees
I will ride over the forest, Drum like hoof-beats under me

the night cloak is warm about me, Covers me within its train
Tapestries of stars and moonbeams, Sleeping on the Spanish plain.

See the wind travel through me, See the waves around me roll
Hear the music verse and chorus, Hear it in my gypsy soul

Feel the earth bow before me, Feel the rhythm of the night
Dancing, dancing, ever singing, Gypsy till the day I die.

listen at
http://sirenssing.com/hostbaby/merge?stage=music&substage=4

Friday, March 28, 2008

The Book

This past Christmas, Hilary asked for Books. Not a surprise. She loves them. They fill her bedroom, her house and flow from one room into the next. Go to Rikie's house, and they line her massive built in bookshelves, and are in every room and every closet. And then there is Marla. Marla not only has enormous quantities of books at her house, but can also either get or recommend others to you due to her vocation as a librarian! Of course, I have always loved books. They are how I have learned most everything of consequence in my life.

I think we like books so much because our lives are so much like books. Chapters open and close. Characters come and go. Conflict, sadness, grief and tragedy line the pages, along with descriptions, places and wonderful news. There are scary chapters, beautiful chapters, love-story chapters, chapters of exotic locations, and chapters about your children. Chapters that you are entirely glad to close, and chapters you wish would never end. We write that book throughout our days, weeks, months, and years.

Perhaps the story ends happily, but really.... if you have already read it, don't spoil it for me.
I don't want to know the ending.

The Book
copyright 2008, LeighAnn Heil

I got a book up on a shelf
A book I have written by myself
Its full of love and tragedy
Just don’t tell the end to me

I got a book I love to read
Full of all life’s mysteries
Like bedtime stories and wedding days
First steps and bikes and kids at play

I got a book with chapters dark
Night time shadows and scary parts
Happy endings shared with friends
I just don’t want to know the end

I got a book, a story to tell
I wrote it long and wrote it well
Trying to keep up as the years go by
Writing as fast as my fingers can fly…
don’t tell the end to me

We all have a book we have to write
Full of all our days and all our nights
The words record our lives, you see
Just don’t tell the end to me
No don’t tell the end to me.

We got a book, a story to tell
Write it long and write it well..
Try to keep up as the years go by,
Writing just as fast as our fingers can fly

We all have a book we have to write
Full of all our days and all our nights
We write just exactly what we want it to be…
Just don’t tell the end to me, no don’t tell the end to me.

listen to THE BOOK at
http://sirenssing.com/hostbaby/merge?stage=music&substage=2

Thursday, March 27, 2008

Ribbon on the Package

As a long distance band, we have to do rehearsing in pieces, here and there when we can. The rehearsals are somewhat satisfying, much like a gift that has been beautifully wrapped. But there is something about a beautiful gift that is made perfect by the bow. Extravagant wired ribbon, with gold and cream, lifts the package from a 'thanks so much' to an 'oh, my!' Which do we rather eat...cake without frosting or a fondant artistic creation with frosted grapes? Nothing lifts the ordinary into sublime like the ribbon on a package.

The times we sing together are special, but the times when all four of us are in the same room, singing and playing and laughing are the best. Marla and Hilary and I are together most, and it is special. But when we add Rikie, (the ribbon on the package)....magic.

Siren, Sing The Light
copyright 2008, LeighAnn Heil

I have roamed over fields of golden wheat
And traveled through valleys deep
I have journeyed long and seen the strong
Misty Mountains with snowy peaks.

I have been in temples across the earth
In the land of the rising sun
I have seen the moon washed with gold
And the stars with silver spun

Chorus
But there’s a song that haunts all of my dreams
And wakens me in the night
And it sings to me, out over the sea
Siren, sing the light.

I have seen the place where life began
And the drums with their refrain
I have seen the desert with sands like seas
And the summers melting with rain

I have stood in the portals of history
And gathered the sands of time
But the same sweet song calls out to me
Calling with tones, sublime

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Moon Song

When collaborating with another person to write a song, something really wonderful happens to the two of you. You both present your souls, they interweave. It is a very powerful communion.

Hilary and I have been collaborating for years, I tease her about her word-wizard ability, but it really is remarkable. She wrote a poem based on a book "the gift." It is a story of a girl who lives by the sea, and longs to hear the whales sing. Her grandmother tells her to give the whales a gift and she will get her wish. She goes down to the sea and drops a flower in the deep...and that night she hears the whales call her name.

It actually made me think of the quote by Winston Churchill, 'make a living by what you get, make a life by what you give.' So I believe I will. Give, that is. In fact, I think I hear whales calling my name......

Moon Song
words and music by LeighAnn Heil and Hilary Walton
copyright 2008 Heil/Walton

Come here to me and listen a while
To my tale of the creatures from a far away isle..
They come when we offer a gift to the sea
And for years they came, and they sang to me...

It was a moon song, high and long
A moon song, sad and strong
The whales are singing in the silent night..
Whales are singing, by the bright moon-light

If the gift you offer, brings joy to their hearts,
They will come and they will find you, in the peace of the dark
Then voices will call you from out of your sleep
And like a siren they will lure you, to the ocean deep

With a moon song,
high and long
a moon song, sad and strong
The whales are singing in the silent night..
Whales are singing, by the bright moon-light

I listened to the whales of the deep
And offered my gift while you were fast asleep
And now they are calling all out on the sea..
Their song it is singing, for you and for me...

With a moon song,
high and long
a moon song, sad and strong
The whales are singing in the silent night..
Whales are singing, by the bright moon-light.

http://sirenssing.com/hostbaby/merge?stage=music&substage=8

Monday, March 24, 2008

Home

Several months ago I wrote a song and sent it to the band. While Hilary couldn't open the wave file on her mac book...Rikie and Marla opened the song and listened to it. There was a tepid response to the song, so I shelved it.

I played it again for them this past month, and they fell it love with it. They said "why aren't we working on that?" My response was "I thought it wasn't any good."

Home is something I took for granted when I was younger, in fact, I couldn't wait to get out on my own. I didn't fully appreciate how truly special it was. Fortunately my memory made a recording of all those days as a child. The song is so much sweeter since I am older, with my own family, and my own home.
Now whenever I want to remember,
I just push play.

Home
copyright 2008, LeighAnn Heil

Something familiar calls to me
Daughters of the deep blue sea
I'm going home, I'm going home

Tell Poseidon I'm on my way
Sailing out at the break of day
I'm going home, I'm going home

I'm going home...forever will I roam
Sailing out on silver wings, Where my heart leaps and my spirit sings
Out on the sea...I'm going home.

Salty spray and the clear night air
Sailing with wind in my hair,
I'm going home, I'm going home

Take me out to the ocean deep
The place to where my spirit keeps,
Its on the sea...I'm going home

sea mist gathers on my skin
Sails unfurled out in the wind...on the sea
I'm going home.

I'm going home...forever will I roam
Sailing out on silver wings, Where my heart leaps and my spirit sings
Out on the sea...I'm going home.

Sunday, March 23, 2008

Time for a change.

Yesterday, it was bright and hot outside. Granted it is bright and warm much of the winter in Abilene, but it was a brighter bright yesterday. It hurt your eyes. Different than the gray light of the winter. Spring is definitely coming.

I love seasons, (wrote a song about them, you know!) so I am pretty pumped when they change. The last few months have been filled with change, but for the better or worse time has yet to tell.

The songs I have written recently have been pretty introspective, less about events in history, less story songs, less about far-away lands. This last song is a very positive song about change.

New Day
copyright 2008, LeighAnn Heil

The moon going down, the stars are starting to fall
The sun is rising in the sky like a big red ball
Something is a-coming and a-blowin’ on the wind
The new day is here, its about to begin…

And I can’t say where the wind will lead
Whether riding over land or sailing on the sea
Feel the change coming with the sun’s first ray
it’s a brand new day

The night was dark, with a brand new moon
Everything just seemed so out of tune
But there’s a new song coming and its startin’ to rise
Calling from the sea, singing to the skies

Tomorrow is miles and miles away,
So we gotta start livin and lovin today
Gonna take away our worries, and take away our doubts.
When you open up the windows…see the sun coming out.