Promised Land

Here is the Spotify link.

I wrote the music back in March 2009, utilising the Power Tab software and I created a MIDI track from it for listening. And the song just sat there in my backlog of songs.

The original lyrical feel (circa 2010) was about a broken promised land and how greed, deceit and abuse (mentally and physically) of people higher up, made life so far removed from the promised land. In other words the lyrics conveyed the message that life is like hell on earth. From an historical perspective, you need to remember that this was post GFC and a lot of people were not in a good state, having lost everything they had owned. People took their lives, lost their families and the ones who still survived, lost their sanity.

Over the last few years, I kept on revisiting the midi track and I always said that I would record it. That started to happen in June, 2019. The first draft was more or less the same as the Power Tab version, with the verse and chorus in the key of Bm, however from August onwards, the song started to change, like the Bm verse and chorus, because they didn’t fit the style of the song anymore however the music was not throwaway music, so all the little bits and pieces ended up as a new song.

The lyrics also started to change, with the theme morphing into a “I am living in the promised land” vibe instead of a “I am living in a broken promised land” vibe. I see life a bit differently now, and I feel like in my circle, I am living in my promised land. I am content, calm and always looking for an adventure. I am still wary of the past and what happened over a decade ago.

Here is a photo of the original lyrics written back in June 2010 as winter was closing in the Southern Hemisphere.

 

And I really like the message of the song to “Live before you die in the promised land” because the life you have and the world you create for it, is or could be the promised land.

It’s our choice. Everything starts with us.

Another day is closing in
I feel the chill on my skin
Living with fear, looking for a pick up
I’m lost in my thoughts as days pass on bye

Thoughts are powerful, especially when you are alone, in bed, trying to get to sleep. And there is something about winter which amplifies these tensions. Maybe because it gets dark earlier and you are indoors earlier. Who knows?

And humans are an addictive species, so we are constantly looking for something to pick us up, like alcohol, a cigarette, a sweet and so on, just so we could get that hit of dopamine and feel our thoughts slip away.

I believe in living the right way
I believe in surviving each day
And no matter how hard it gets
I find the strength in life to carry on

It’s my mantra. The right way is my right way. It’s what works for me. And one thing I do know is that I can lay my head down each night, without fear that someone is going to break down the door because I wronged em, betrayed em, ripped em off or the police coming because I operate on the criminal side.

The final chorus came after so many rewrites;

To walk to the promised land,
In the storm I make my stand,
Hold my dreams in the palms of my hand,
I rise up and walk on,
To the promised land

And the above came in the last few weeks, before I released it, as I was really going to go with;

Kiss the sky, if only I could fly,
Whatever life brings, I keep on hanging on,
I have come full circle, playing the game of life,
Rise from the hopes and dreams
And into the promised land

Basically, I wanted to say, it doesn’t matter how hard life gets or the craziness it brings, believe in yourself, set goals to achieve your dreams and live before you die, because you are living in the promised land.

The wind is here to stay
Each breath is hard to make
All I need is a helping hand
Instead I fall into quicksand

The wind is an analogy for the pressures and the stress of life, which is why each breath is hard to make.

That helping hand very rarely comes from a friend or a loved one. It comes from within, a special piece of grit that keeps us evolving and growing.

And although quicksand in Hollywood movies is seen as something dangerous befalling the person, in this case, quicksand is like the undertow. It’s okay to fall into and go with it. You can’t always be on top or strive to be on top. Being human, means you will have good days and bad days.

I believe in having a say
I believe in surviving each day
And no matter how hard it gets
I find the strength in life to carry on

I had to add the “I believe in having a say” because our voice is our most powerful asset.

One voice can bring change.

Millions of voices speaking as one, real change could happen. And we need some of this, a little bit more these days than ever before. There is no denying that climate change is real, but people in power, sponsored by the biggest polluters deny it. People are speaking out, and more will join the cause, the same way people spoke out about abuses from people in power.

Don’t let life get you down, each day is a gift, be grateful, love yourself and get on with your day.

Live before you die, in the promised land.

Here are some more photos from my manuscript around the writing of the song.