Let The Day Unfold…

Greetings!

I first attempted to release this song several years ago, but complications at CD Baby — the company I use to distribute recordings to digital streaming platforms — led me to cancel that initial piano/vocal rendition.

Fast forward three years, and I am releasing a new version — this time recorded with my friends Molly Ruggles (playing piano and singing) and Carole Bundy (singing).

Molly also crafted our harmonies.

I co-write this song with two former bandmates, Scott Kowalik and Javier Pico, with whom I was in a pop-rock band a long time ago.

Here is a photo of us way back when…

Photo by Kymbob

Scott and Javier are on the right side, and I am leaning on Alan.

Robert sits in the middle.

That is when I still had a fair amount of hair.

I think Scott’s girlfriend at the time snapped this photo near the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.

I am saddened to realize that some of the lyrics in this song (“and so we set off to fight another war…”) areeven more compelling today than when Scott (mostly the chorus) and I (mostly the verses) wrote them.

G-d only knows what will continue to unfold in the Middle East… and Ukraine… and so many other active human war zones…

Deep breath in.

Deep breath out.

Image by Mohamed Hassan from Pixabay

I do not want my blog posts to be too discouraging, overwhelming or unhappy.

There’s already plenty of that energy in circulation here on planet earth!

That’s partly why I started sharing shorter, flower-filled Thursday Throwback blog posts this year.

And “Let The Day Unfold” offers a bit of hope and maybe even a smidge of wisdom.

I DO feel that many of us are caught in a losing battle — armored “with the righteous power of the either/or” — about all sorts of very important topics.

For example, I can easily find myself hunkering down in a judgemental, self-righteous, bike-riding, public transportation-using stance regarding our over-consumption of fossil fuels (leading to the increasingly erratic and dangerous weather here on planet earth).

But life is always — or almost always — more complicated and nuanced than a purely either/or position.

That’s why I love the yin/yang symbol — it so beautifully illustrates the concept of “both/and.”

And it reminds me that compromise is not necessarily a horrible option.

Image by Stefan Schweihofer from Pixabay

Sometimes it’s the only option.

Another deep breath in.

And deep breath out.

Thank you to the generous photographers and graphic designers at Pixabay.

Thank you to Javier and Scott and Molly and Carole and Doug Hammer (who recorded us and then patiently helped to mix and master this new version of “Let the Day Unfold.”)

And thank YOU for reading and listening to yet another one of my blog posts and songs!

You can click here to stream “Let the Day Unfold” on your favorite musical platform.

And you can click here to visit my website if you are curious.

Throwback Thursday (#6)

Image by Younggeun KIm from Pixabay

One of my favorite perennials is the Bleeding Heart.

Their flowers are like origami.

How does Mother Nature manage to create such an extraordinary variety of shapes and colors out of a such a limited selection of amino acids (adenine, guanine, cytosine, and thymine) in plant — as well as our own — DNA?

And how do the plant cells unfold in such complicated and exquisite patterns?

Today’s Throwback Thursday heads back to a November 9, 2013 blog post about how people who sing with other people — especially in choirs when they are encouraged to breath together during certain sections of the music — can end up aligning their heart beats.

Image by Younggeun KIm from Pixabay

You can click here to read more about this fascinating topic if you are curious.

It is another reminder that singing — and singing with other human beings — can be a very healthy and uplifting thing to do.

Deep breath in.

Deep breath out.

I am most familiar with the pink + white varieties of bleeding heart, but occasionally I have seen a completely white variant in a neighbor’s garden.

It is very elegant — but I miss the pink/red part of the blossoms…

Thank you to the talented and generous photographers at Pixabay.

Thank you to Mother Nature, who keeps doing her thing regardless or in spite of the mess we humans are making in our own lives.

And thank YOU for reading yet another one of my blog posts!

Another deep breath in.

Image by Frauke Riether from Pixabay

And deep breath out.

You are always welcome to visit my musical web site — willsings.com.

And you can find me singing on various streaming platforms by searching for “Will McMillan featuring Doug Hammer.”