One song, just one song

As we were parking at the church grounds one Sunday, a song that caught my fancy ages ago started playing on the car radio. I never really found out what the title is, who the singer is, etc. and Jenny  didn't know either. Oh well, I thought, it's been ages, I guess I will never know. Nor if I will ever hear it again.

Monday rolled along quite nicely. I was relaxed and clear-headed, thanks to the Pastor's insightful message and the good massage I had the day before. I was ready to complete an assignment which was due that day. I prepped up to finally finish that piece on confidentiality, the last of 13 articles for the resource book I have been working on.

The topic excited me but I couldn't seem to buckle down to follow through what I had started. As I was staring at the Word file, I remembered the song's opening line -- "Hello, morning...hmm, hmm, morning..." Words here and there I remembered but couldn't really figure out how they were strung together.

I set the confidentiality piece aside and started to google "hello morning." A rock tune by a rock group was what kept coming up. I decided to go to a couple of song lyrics sites, then to the free mp3 download sites but still no hit. Then just a few minutes on YouTube and, ta-da -- gotcha!

"Girl Blue" was co-written by Stevie Wonder!!! and Yvonne Wright. The song is in Stevie's "Music in My Mind" album. It was later recorded by the singing group, The Main Ingredient.

Stevie's version is light, with an attempt to be cheery. That of the Main Ingredient's is empathetic, tender, like a patient counselor -- encouraging, passing on hope.

I fell in love with the song all the more when I read the lyrics. It's a bit sad, just like many of the songs I like.

Girl Blue

Hello morning, good, good morning to the one I love,

Crystal ringlets paint a picture of a gold sunrise above.

Little girl you're sad,
The wall you have
is visible to you.
Within your heart
there stays a part
that like the sky is blue.

Shifting breezes grace the inner spectrum of your glance.
Leaves on branches, for your pleasure, perform a soothing dance.

Little girl it seems
in all my dreams
Your happiness is due.
But still they last,

there in your past
events that make you blue.

Thoughts of love are in your mind,
Yet splintered hopes push them aside.
A look at life is what you need to try.

In an instant there'll be sunshine, sprinkled every place.
Drops of rain will kiss the softness of your lovely face.

Little girl be fair
Show yourself you care.
There’s love waiting for you.
Before it's too late,

Cause time won't wait,
Till your heart's no longer blue.

 (2X)

Little girl be smart,

Don't you break your own heart,
There is love waiting for you.
Before it's too late
Cause time won't wait,
Till your heart's no longer blue. 

Perhaps I was making up for lost time. But my iTunes library registered 124 plays of "Girl Blue" on Tuesday, only a little more than 24 hours after I downloaded the song. I changed the control settings after Dodo asked me how many more times I was going to play the song. I started to laugh, realizing the anguish I must have caused my housemates LOL!

When another song started to play, Dodo, with Jenny this time, rushed to my office and, standing by the door, gave me a resounding applause!  Dodo: "Now we do not have to think of what to tell the neighbors." Jenny: "Bet you, she still hasn't memorized the lyrics." (That's how crazy and irreverent my family is. One reason I love them so I guess.)

That song helped me get into what I needed to do, would you believe? I edited about a hundred pages that day, and finished two full-length articles. On Wednesday, I was on to the last, still playing the tune.

As I pounded on the keyboard, I was reminded of a dream nay, frustration, that I still hold in my heart -- to be able to write a song, just one song. I have always been in awe of songwriters. How they can weave words so beautifully. They paint various pictures of life -- the enchanting, the melancholic, the joyful, the inspirational, the romantic, the big events, the day-to-day, even the ridiculous. Set to music, they somehow strike a familiar chord that sends one down memory lane.  They tell their stories and messages in such engaging fashion that they hold us captive enough to play the song 124 times and still going...LOL!

I consider the gift of song one of God's greatest gifts to man. He is indeed "more than wonderful" (to borrow the title of the first praise song that struck a chord in my heart where it has remained to this day.

And I thank Him no matter if my dream to write a song is not part of His plan for me. My finding joy in His gift of music to others somehow makes up for that.