I wrote this song just prior to the pandemic of 2020. I performed it once in a solo piano/vocal setting at the Corvallis Art Center. I think it probably came across as "interesting" as I heard at least one person in the audience comment. Yep, that's the way it goes sometimes - or most of the time. Most of us remain islands to each other, few of us really understanding what the true meaning to something is.
Fade Away is a song for my own children. An homage to the seemingly endless (but gone too soon) nights of reading stories. Many times I was so sleepy during our reading times, but I knew how important they were for them, for their imaginations, and for simply connecting and being able to tune out any stuff of the day and go into another world. Fade Away also plays with an idea (in a subtle way) that we all fade away - we grow older, we change, and our dreams evolve. That's all part of it.
But the bigger meaning of the song involves the notion of a never-ending story. Are we at the beginning? The middle? The end? Maybe, but I'm not sure the story ever ends. Now that I'm a "Bapa" I'm seeing the world from that point of view again, only a bit different. So Fade Away may be an "interesting" song or something else. To me, it's much more and very special too.
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Lyrics
Feather words and music by Rob Birdwell
feather falling from the sky
only by chance to catch my eye
from a bird in flight now far away
to a better and brighter day
feather falling from the sky
to the earth from way up high
oh I want to be like you
and shed these heavy things
spread my beautiful wings
fly past every boundary
be just who I want to be
a spirit on the wind
free to fly and then begin
to renew the heart
and heal this soul with love
feather falling from the sky
spinning slowly in the light
like a soft and gentle lonely rain
what did you lose, what do you gain?
feather falling from the sky
from a bird now way up high
oh I want to be like you
and give back all I take
celebrate the love we make
kiss the sky
and dream the night away
like a spirit on the wind
free to fly and then begin
to renew the heart
and heal this soul with love
(instrumental)
I wanna give back all I take
celebrate the love we make
kiss the sky
and dream the night away
like a spirit on the wind
free to fly and then begin
to renew the heart
and heal this soul with love
feather falling from the sky
from a bird now way up high
oh I want to be like you
Copyright © Rob Birdwell / Birdwell Music LLC