As we are on the road, heading to MacHenry’s for our cd release party (and a quick turn at Central Market for some outdoor music beforehand at 6 pm) ….I am struck about cities…and reminded…the subject line is from a song I wrote, “In the Fields”….And here is what inspired that simple line…
The day I wrote the song…I was thinking about how Dorothy was tripping down through the poppies, excited about the gleaming green glass of Oz, directly in front of her, and how happy she seemed that she was that close to her dream.
And it made me think of cities, in general, and how as I drive into them, or fly over them, they are these centers of hopes and dreams and people working and parking and moving…to quote another song lyric of mine, “like giant ants”….
And I realized that cities represent the epicenter of where people want to succeed, no matter where you are in the world.
It’s why the Mary Tyler Moore show had Mary throwing her hat in downtown Minneapolis. It wouldn’t have the same sense of accomplishment if she was jubilant in the middle of a radish farm in Wisconsin.
Although, now that I say that, I don’t think there is any doubt that the opening scene from the “Sound of Music” isn’t one of the most uplifting, and famous, scenes in cinematic history. And there are no gleaming cities in sight…only thatched roofs and church steeples in the distance…
So, let’s just suffice it to say that when I wrote “In the Fields” I was thinking of how COLD and HARD the glass of cities is, and how SOFT and DREAMY “a city of weeds” would be….which, also, makes me sad because a “city of weeds” could construe a place has died and nature has taken back it’s rightful ownership….
That’s why songwriting is a joy…you focus on what is important out of vast ideas and simplify what needs to be shared immediately.