Hope (part 2)

It felt like September 1995 - when Douglas gave me a pile of lyrics he'd written whilst exiled in Ilkley.  'Strength to Strength', 'Demons and Angels', 'Minneapolis Blue', 'Dance on', 'Dream a little dream', 'Easy Money' - they all combined to make the album 'Intermezzo' which was finished by November that year.  Simple pop songs with heartfelt lyrics, telling stories which on the surface seemed quite simple but had a depth to them that made you think Douglas had actually lived through these himself.  Not that Ilkley was much like Minneapolis, he still managed to paint a picture of heartbreak with a snowy metropolis backdrop, leaving the huge cold city on Christmas day having planned to spend it with that one special person.  It's lyrics like that which make the music appear without much effort (Douglas actually wrote the chords and structure for that particular song but you get what I mean).

And so, this morning it felt like it did on that day in September 1995 when I was looking through that pile of lyrics.  I have a set of about twenty gems which I'm gathering ideas and sparks from but the one that screamed at me this morning was from a word processed and printed sheet, without a date and this time without the usual comment on the bottom of how Douglas sees the song being represented - it's called 'Hope'.  A couple of years ago I was comissioned to write a song for a local healthcare company's annual conference - something for them to walk in to that represented the company's vision.  'Hope - we're holding on to what we've got, can't make the dream something it's not' - not my best attempt at lyrics - but I'm assuming this Douglas lyric came from the conversation I had with him about writing said song - I remember they needed it quite urgently so I 'knocked it up' in about an hour and didn't have time to get Douglas' lyrics - I'm wondering now if this printed sheet that's been wedged among the other is that very lyric. 

However, it's a simple, short, punchy, to-the-point piece that fits a tune I've been working on extremely well.  It feels like September 1995 - it really does.