Hi friend!
I’ve been wanting to make covers for a while now and I finally made it happen — and captured it on video!
A few months ago I upped my dose of a certain medication and it has given me more physical energy, which means I can actually sit at the piano for a whole song — on some days. It hasn’t done much for my brain capacity unfortunately…
I still can’t sing most of my own songs all the way through in one sitting as the range is too wide — my voice falters half way through.
But I found a few songs that I can sing with the energy level and range that I have right now and this is one of them.
It’s a traditional English folk tune from the 18th Century and it is a dialogue between a person who is leaving and the lover and best friend they are leaving behind. It’s called Ten Thousand Miles.
I first heard it sung by Nell Ní Chróinín with Danú and it is such a beautiful tune.
I find it stirs a lot of old emotions for me singing this song as I lost two best friends who couldn’t handle this illness that took over my body and life. They weren’t lovers, but I find losing best friends can be equally, if not more disheartening, than lovers. I still do miss them.
It’s nerve-wrecking for me to send this out because it is very raw (it is unmixed and unedited, I’ve only added a tad bit of compression so the vocals aren’t swallowed by the piano). And, as many of you know, it is not possible for me to practice my craft or songs. So this is just me, unplugged, unpracticed, un-everything. And the first time in a long time that I’m singing a song all the way through in one go. Phew!
I also cannot memorise songs with the brain I have right now, so I do need to look at a chord sheet with lyrics. This makes me nervous and slightly emotional, because it feels so much safer to have internalised the song and know it by heart.
My friend told me it would be better with a video that showed my face more, but I couldn’t find an angle where I didn’t look immensely tired and I was too self-conscious — something for me to work on perhaps.
I so hope you enjoy this song, I certainly enjoyed making it, even though it was physically tough to do.
Tell me…
Have you been left behind, or left someone you loved behind?
Do you have a favourite traditional folk tune?
What creative project are you working on at the moment, if any?
I’d love to read your thoughts in the comments below!
