Resurfacing, Recovering, and Creativity
Jul 18 2010

One of my favorite female singers is Sarah McLachlan.  My lifestyle doesn’t really allow me to keep up with all the latest things going on in the world of music, but I picked up a copy of a recent M-Music & Musicians magazine at my voice teacher’s studio, Octave Higher, this Saturday because she was on the cover.  The title of the article is called Resurfacing. She just released a new album after 7 years called Laws Of Illusion (Amazon link).  At the bottom of this post is a video of one of her new songs called “Loving You Is Easy,” which is probably the most upbeat song that I’ve heard from her.  She says “It was based on a new relationship, and on hope and excitement and the fact that it is possible to feel this way again.  I didn’t think I could.  It was about the thrill of possibility and, quite frankly, lust.”  She said she is 42 and that she’s going to have “fun” tattooed on her arm because she’s determined to have more of it!  She also said (and I agree) that “Writing about happiness and giddy love is tricky.  It’s not as easy to write about as sadness and heavier things….happiness is quite fleeting.  It’s very light and it’s not something that you can pinpoint.”

She got divorced a couple of years ago and says her music reflects much of her emotional life.   I think most singers/writers works reflect their emotional lives.  I know my writing does.  She has two daughters named India and Taja, whose father is Indian.  It’s nice to see that she has been able to use her emotional experiences to write songs.  She admits it’s harder now with two small kids because “being able to have long periods of time to focus on nothing but myself and writing is long over.  I live in a pretty ADD world right now.”

She is also reviving the female musician focused Lilith Fair tour that she helped start many years ago.  Successful musicians to me are the ultimate entrepreneurs.  They are betting against the odds of making it big that are probably 100 times greater than a technology company making it big.  There are so many more people trying to be successful singers (e.g., just look at American Idol) than there are business entrepreneurs.  I was reading the article and wondering how it would be to go to a studio every day of the week to work with someone as talented as her musical partner, Pierre Marchand, who helps her complete her songs.  I have to say I was day dreaming a bit while I was reading the article.  She has the benefit of great successes behind her before she had kids and she can play the piano as well as the guitar.  I can’t play either…but there’s hope!  They also featured Ozzy Osbourne in the magazine and he says he can’t play any instruments either. 🙂

I sing one of her older songs called Ice Cream (you tube link) to my kids sometimes.  I drop them on the couch during the part where she sings “It’s a long way down” and they laugh hysterically.  It makes me laugh while I’m singing it to them.  “Your love is better than ice cream…your love is better than chocolate.”

I wonder if it’s possible to find someone out there who could be my music partner who is looking for a lyricist/singer like me and if we could both take a month or so off and create music.  A nice little dream…

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