… Or, I should say, it’s a song I wrote and recorded last January, but my friend Michele Womble—who’s a much better singer than I am—recorded these lovely harmony vocals last spring. Anyway, since it’s January again—and it feels very wintry right now in Atlanta—it’s a good time to post it.
Michele is a recording artist whose CD can be downloaded from iTunes here. She and her husband minister in Siberia. (I think she liked the line about the Russian army.) Enjoy!
I played all the instruments, and used a MIDI keyboard for the drums. Apple’s free Garageband software is amazing. Every amateur musician should use it.
Since some people insist on reading lyrics, here they are…
Every move I mistake breaks heart beating
How long will this long, cold winter last?
Outside my window the Russian army’s retreating
Just because it’s gone doesn’t mean it’s past
Ambassador
Despite my lying and trying to look on the bright side
How long till the cracks begin to show
Fall before winter and pride before the landslide
How long will I be the last to know,
Ambassador?
Tell the truth, baby
Tell the truth to yourself, honey
Tell the truth and be free
My pretty little diplomat don’t you think there’s music to be faced
How much longer?
There’s gotta be some truth to that don’t you think I thought it was a waste
To write a song for
Tell a friend of a friend it’s the end of the matter
How long till I’m free, free from this crime?
Hitched a ride to an angel ascending this ladder
Man, I got out in the nick of time
Ambassador
I’m so glad that you were able to use those trax! You know this song of yours just really hit me, uh… where I live. Actually I’m not really sure I can do justice here to all that this song says to me, because it speaks to me on several different levels, but I want to try.
When I first heard the song it was late winter. In Siberia. A time that equals spring for the most of the rest of the world, and a time when here we really begin to become weary of winter and all that goes with it. The hardest part is that you know it’s almost over and yet it just won’t end. And all those facts about the winter here and just looking out the window offer what is for me a profound analogy about life – the struggles in life in general – and the struggle of Life itself, Whose Spring we are still awaiting…so your song has a direct application for life for me (the winter here), a perhaps not as obvious (but for me very deep) application to the whole reason why we live here anyway, and then just in general to life regardless of where I live and LIFE. “How long will this long, cold winter last” is certainly the cry of all of our hearts here in Siberia when it’s long been time for spring – and from here it’s easy I think to go on to another level with that…it’s certainly the cry of my heart about this world we live in, when things just aren’t the way they should be, the way we feel in our hearts they should be, whether we’re talking about specific problems or the whole world in general. “Outside my window the Russian army’s retreating…” I see what the army represents to me. The winter, again, for one thing. It’s retreating. It IS going to relent, it has to. That carries over neatly to Life, too, and all personal applications to problems…but…”just because it’s gone doesn’t mean it’s past” yeah. Even when the last bit of snow from the winter has finally melted…it’ll in all probability snow again next week. It for sure will snow again next fall. So we get a reprieve, but then it’s back again and we know that it will be. (I don’t have to make the general application to life here, I think it’s obvious.)
And all these things neatly transfer over and apply (for me) to my life and the frustrations both general and specific with myself, with sins I’m not able to shake entirely free of, with lies I still find myself believing (and telling myself), and the waiting and longing to be finally free of it all.
I could continue on through the next verse, but I won’t.
Thanks so much, Michele! I’m glad it inspired you. I couldn’t be more pleased with the vocals!