We're just about halfway through the stories from this album. It's time to read along and revisit this song.
Poetically yours,
~Tara
The Art of a Song: "Here We Are"
I’ve long been a poet. I might’ve been born that way. One of my earliest memories is lying on my parents’ bed—definitely under the age of 3—singing some kind of song I made up while my mom was in the adjacent bathroom getting ready. As I grew older, I seemed to like writing pretty, yet dramatic, poetry about life and things that affected me in my world growing up. It was a way for me to figure out how I was feeling, I think—a way to share it, examine it, and get it outside of me to see how it related with the rest of the world. (I guess I’m pretty philosophical too…)
To me, this song is heavy poetry. It’s one of those songs you put on late at night when you’re pondering the meaning of life. A time when you feel in some kind of cyclic futility. Fittingly, it’s the tune on the album that most resembles what you’d hear in a jazz club late at night. I had to have at least one tune like this on the album. Jazz has been, and still is, such an important influence on my life and music. Some of my favorite jazz pieces are melancholy and relaxing—the kind that you put on after a hard day just so you can feel like you’re not the only one who’s feeling a little down, the kind of song you savor and drink in slowly while you take a deep breath and then sigh. Beauty and tragedy; love and loss; life and the art of living it.
When we recorded this one, it was almost like everyone was holding their breath. It's like we were transported to another place and time where every element was working together so cohesively and emotionally that we were afraid to breathe because we might break the spell. To me, this recording really feels like we somehow captured a moment in time. I still find myself sort of holding my breath in a way and drinking this one in each time I hear it. To me, that’s the power of a well-crafted piece of music: it takes you back while bringing you along to someplace new. And well, here we are…