How Was Your Year?

This one was recorded live with my collaborators at a recent songwriting retreat.

At the Writing a Song That Matters retreat in August, I made a last-minute decision to snag a spot in a collab group. For 48 hours, I was part of a group called The Morning-After Maybes, with bandmates Morty Rosenbaum and Tiffany Lafferty-Johnson.

We wrote this together over the course of 48 hours, with just a few meetings and a little bit of practice. We touched on a lot of themes when we first met, including COVID-era loss, grief, and not having anywhere to put our feelings about and memories of those we've lost in the last few years.

I think the magic of collaboration worked, and this touched a lot of people in the room.



How Was Your Year?

[VERSE 1]
C
How are you?
F G
How was your year?
C
To tell you the truth
F
It isn't quite clear
G
To me

[VERSE 2]
Am Am7/G
There's probably some easy way
Dm Fsus2
To have a normal thing to say
G
To you
C
But I have no idea

[CHORUS 1]
C
How are you?
F G
How was your year?
C
Tell us the truth
F
You know that we're here
G
For you

[VERSE 3]
Am Am7/G
There must be something we could say
Dm Fsus2
To pull you back—we're worlds away
G
From you
C
How was your year?

[BRIDGE]
Em Am
I don't want to make you think about
Dm G
Someone that you have to live without
Em Am
I don't want to take your mind off a
F
Painless thought
G
It's working on
F
Maybe you forgot
G
That he's really gone
F
Maybe I can too
G
Maybe he's still here
F
If I play it smooth
G
How was your year?

[PRE-CHORUS]
C
Oooooo
F G
Oooooo
C
Oooooo
F G
Oooooo

[CHORUS 2]
C
How are you?
F G
How was your year?
C
What do we do?
F
Without him here
G
With you?

[VERSE 4]
Am Am7/G
There must be something we could say
Dm Fsus2
To close the gap—we're worlds away
G
From you

Am Am7/G F G
We do want to hear
C
How was your year?

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posted by limeonaire (2 comments total)

This seems like quite the retreat! This isn't the kind of music I seek out, but it works for me because you're all really letting it all out in the singing.
posted by ignignokt at 10:42 PM on October 2, 2023 [1 favorite]

Yeah, this is all much folkier than I've tended toward before. I've always been much more punk-rock and gothy, and I felt like one of the least folky people in the room. But it was a great challenge and really kick-started my songwriting of all kinds. Finding that it's possible to write and perform a song like this in 48 hours made me want to do it a lot more. I do love singing harmony, I love Dar Williams, I love country, and since the retreat, I've started familiarizing myself with a lot more contemporary folk singers.

Definitely a journey I'm on with all of this, and there's more to come!
posted by limeonaire at 7:47 AM on October 3, 2023