FAWM: "the gardener"

the gardener

Liner Notes

for the longest time, my wife has had one request of the songwriter she's married to: "WRITE ME A BANGER!" i've written so many love songs *about* her, but this one is really *for* her. i don't typically write bangers (the more serious and somber, the better), so this is new!

i realized belatedly that structurally, this is totally a palindrome! species verse, species verse, story, story, species verse, species verse. it's not “rats live on no evil star” or anything, but i'm counting it!

i still have... many mixed thoughts about this song. is it incomplete? or just part of a larger whole? any insight would be much appreciated!!! i'm rusty!!! also the only way i could figure out a fade was by physically walking away while playing and i nearly tripped over one of my cats and died

(i should also mention that i started this at @judineal's house and couldn't have arrived here without the concentrated songwriting energy she and ellis have cultivated in their home!!!)

anyway, shoutout to appalachia, one of the most biodiverse regions in the world

(and yes, all plants listed are natives that my wife has planted, and all birds and bugs listed are new friends that have come to our yard because of her efforts to restore this little patch of land to what it might've been once upon a time. there are so many more critters too that i couldn't fit!)

#folk #filk #alternatetuning #singersongwriter #guitar #acoustic #girlwithguitar #queer #ecology #lovesong #critters #garden

Lyrics

bee balm, wild indigo,
crossvine, carolina rose
eastern bluestar, early meadow rue

redbud, aster, summersweet
hearts-a-bustin’, ironweed
beautyberry, milkweed, alumroot

growing up, the slush of michigan
would hang through april, pressing in
until you half-forgot the warmth of sun
but the miles ticked the gloom away
the blooming green would thaw the gray
until these mountains held you once again

and now they hold you safe and close
the grass and dirt cling to your clothes
when you come in from planting irises
and as your native garden grows,
the house we bought, it feels like home
to us, and to the species moving in

dark-eyed junco, chickadee
blue jay, eastern wood pewee
chipping sparrow, carolina wren

long-tailed skipper, mason bee
tufted globetail, green lacewing
clearwing moth, and monarchs on the breeze

D A D F# B D (open D6?) capo 3

species:
C6sus4/F
Gm7
Bb Db6/9/F

story:
C6sus4/F Gm7 Bb
C6sus4/F Gm7 Bb

Comments

@cmharwood89 2d

As somebody who shares the tendency toward the somber and serious, I applaud the break from tradition. This is pure joy in musical form. I love the taxonomies sandwiching a little vignette of a happy and content life in nature. It's beautiful. I also applaud the precision of the lyric. For being so constrained to native flora/fauna for two third of the song, you maintain both the rhyme scheme and the meter with such satisfying ease. It's a master class.

@ductapeguyMod 4d

The structure is beautiful and you use it very well to paint the landscape. The style of music also lends filling out the portrait of Appalachia.

@andread 5d

I felt such joy when I listened to your song. For some reason, I could see this in a musical about Wendall Berry or Barbara Kingsolver (this makes sense if you have read her novel "Prodigal Summer.") I also adored the gorgeous guitar notes flung into the song by your strumming and percussive guitar playing. It has been too long since I have heard you sing and play, my friend. 😊

@abudabard12514 1w

Also I would absolutely count it as a palindrome, form counts!

@abudabard12514 1w

God DAMN that's delightful! Love an acoustic biodiversity love fest jam in an open tuning with a capo.

What a joy this was to be with

@janeg 1w

So lovely, as so many have already said. So relatable to me as a gardener. I have mason bees too! I hope and trust your wife loves her song.

@nancyrostMod 2w

I love the tender vocals here, and the resonant sus chords, and the life-affirming lyrics! Hope your wife loves it, and that the cat has forgiven you for the fade-out ....

@tan482 2w

This is just gorgeous. I’m ALWAYS a sucker for an open tuning! And a song about gardens, birds and love = perfection!

@almask17 2w

I really like this despite the dubious palindrome link . Great lyrics and subject , and a good use of builds on a single guitar .

@dh3 2w

This is so beautiful. Something about the strummed chords and your voice make me feel like I'm really in a garden. I love the mix of spare, poetic storytelling and the lists of species

@harperjen 2w

So my stupid browser's adblocker hid the Soundcloud bar! That was wild. But I finally got to hear the song--and what a great chord progression and song. I love how the song builds and then comes back down, and then the bouncy guitar chords take us out, like walking away down a deer track in the hills.

@harperjen 2w

did. . .did you take the recording back down? I am not seeing it, and everyone else's comments clearly indicate they heard it. . .help?

@thebanjowitch 2w

physically i am in new york city and it’s sleeting emotionally i am twerking to this in a sunny garden

@sexybass 2w

Love how this starts and builds. Wonderful imagery and the tune fits it well. Nicely done Lauren!

@cathymc 2w

I love the way this builds, just like a garden in bloom. You paint such a lush, lovely picture with your lyrics - made me misty-eyed in a really wonderful way. Exquisitely beautiful vocal performance, too.

@caroline_ro 2w

This is absolutely stunning! My favourite song I've heard on FAWM so far this year!

@kissiejr 2w

gorgeousssssssss! what is that chord on "milkweed?" I must have it. really satisfying repetitions of consonants and vowels within these lines. such a rich lyric. big yes to that bounced rhythm near the end. ugh aaand we get a fadeout – dreamy ❤

@mikedebenham 2w

Ah, so great to be listening to you again. The world always feels a little wider after I hear one of your songs. Your lovely rising vocal lines feel like shoots growing up through snow. Those open strings ringing out probably help too. What a beautiful song.

@fearlessflight2014 2w

Oh the lyrics of this song resonate. Even though my garden is full of different things over this side of the world. @leepat was right I love this! Beautifully and reverently sung and that percussive guitar like the heart beat of the earth that just goes on and on. Great song!

@nwhosings 2w

Ooh, palindrome structure this way too! Cool!
I want it to go.....faster? I like the build in the story, the climbing melody, like climbers.
Love the list of species and the groove you get into towards the end is just, "yes!"

@kludge 2w

That structure! Wow. And I love your guitar here… it really brings out the resonance and magic of the instrument.

@drivebylovefest 2w

Well firstly, I think the fact that you chose the actual structure of the song as the palindrome is very fun to me and I think it absolutely passes as a palindrome. It says a lot to me about how you view things in general. That you have a keen sense of perspective.

Lyrically I'm loving the naming off of all these various species and how you are conjuring them up in your song as bookmarks and then in the middle verses you call them home in the same way as calling your love home.

I love what you did with the instrument. It sits really nicely under your clear and thoughtful delivery with the slight chord changes chiming in like wildlife.

I would say it is as bangin' as a Pileated Woodpecker

@philnorman 2w

You've created a wonderful vibe here, like Joni hanging out with Nick Drake, like spending an afternoon in a lovingly tended garden.

I adore the way you structured this, from the flora to the fauna they attract and belong with. What a beautiful way to frame a love song, to recognize the way a life is shared by growing together.

@leepat 2w

love the alternate tuning sounds and the melody ascent in the middle parts is quite uplifting. the species parts offer a glimpse into a whole other universe. I believe @fearlessflight2014 (another gardener) would dig this...

@peteralway 2w

We've got some of those species up here in slushy Michigan. I enjoy hearing of your blissful domesticity.

@danielkelly 2w

Botanical bliss in the lyrics Lauren, and I love the heartbeat that starts in the second part, nature is beautiful.

@dr_griff 2w

Your voice is so lovely here. I love what you're doing with the guitar; it just draws me in and puts me in a place where my whole world becomes the song. You've painted such a vivid picture of the gardener communing with nature and with life. I hope to hear this at a circle someday.

@quadrivium 2w

I love your rich, velvety, expressive voice Lauren. Gosh it’s such a pleasure to hear you sing! Loving that guitar percussion that comes in the last three quarters of the song. Enjoying those chords too!
Lyrics that list all kinds of wonderful things always make me happy—and here each of the species of insect or plant is precious portrait in miniature.
I love that you got to visit somewhere that made you happy and inspired you like this! And I hope you get to keep experiencing it throughout FAWM and the spring.
So excited for your new album!!!!
<3
Mary

@tawny249 2w

This is beautiful and complex. So many species! And they fact that it's home to all of you is incredibly sweet. It's like the song is giving you a hug. Yes, it's kind of alternative-ish in tone and structure compared to many of your other songs - but branching out can be good. It still sounds very much like you. ❤️

@ericdistadMod 2w

This is so lovely! This is indeed a banger!

That tuning and that progression are fantastic! The images and the vibe and the specific species naming is fantastic - both nerdy and heartwarming and I'm here for it . The melodic ascending line at "and now they hold you safe and close" *chefs kiss*

I love it Lauren! It's a keeper!

(And... I may have ideas on things you could do production wise... 😀 But it's solid exactly as it is!)

@infilktion 2w

This is beautiful! Such a wonderful way to capture all the life your wife is adding to your home! I love your chord progression and the rhythm you used on this one. The song feels left open (instead of incomplete) to me... like it is leaving space for the story to continue, but we hit the final page of the book and are left to our own devices to decide where it goes. - Natalie

@hankbanks 2w

As someone who probably uses the word banger twice a day, this is real banger. Transports me to the wooded acreage around my parents' house--so many of these plants have their place there and are defining parts of that home I grew up in. This is such a pretty line and your voice makes it sound as nice as the words are "and as your native garden grows, the house we bought, it feels like home to us, and to the species moving in". Thanks for writing and sharing this.

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the gardener

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