The second track on Sometimes There's a Way is "Walking in the Garden"
Abusive relationships are all too common. Even if you have never been involved in one personally you probably know someone who is or has been on one side or the other of abuse. "Walking In the Garden" is about surviving abuse, and it was surprisingly easy for me to write given the dark subject matter. Part of the inspiration for the song was recurring nightmares that I had which actually resemble the song very little. I took a bit of imagery from the nightmares and shaped it into something different, although no less dark. The image of walking in the garden, a pleasant activity, highlights the horror that such every day pleasantries can mask. The ending is abrupt and appropriate. “He is rotting just the way he should.” It hints at revenge. It’s not a fairy tale ending of people becoming more enlightened and the world being a happier place. There is rot, decay, things still left to deal with, and the certainty that no remorse or apology is forthcoming. I have always gotten positive feedback about Walking in the Garden. It was an obvious choice to include on my first album.
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About my Insights blog posts: I want to share a few thoughts about my what my songs mean to me. I've provided links to the songs on YouTube and Spotify. You can buy individual songs or the entire album on the CD Baby store or other digital stores such as Google Play, iTunes, and Amazon.
When I wrote "Sometimes in the Darkness", I wanted to write a song about how even when things seem dismal there is hope and people can be there for each other. The song starts out with the idea that a light will lead out of the dark. Then one line reveals an underlying melancholy: “Just don’t hate me, and I’ll love you.”
I did not realize until well after I wrote the song that it was actually about fooling yourself into thinking a relationship is better than it is. The idea that just by making yourself and your partner aware hurt will happen means that you have avoided the pain is noble yet false. Love is more than the absence of hate. There is still a hint of hope in the song. I think it is very easy to focus on the more positive aspects of the lyrics and view it as the inspirational people can be there for each other when things go wrong song that I intended to write. Discovering the song could be interpreted in ways I had not originally intended helped me connect with the feelings of loneliness and longing for love that I felt when I wrote it. That, along with the positive feedback I got after performing the song, is why I chose to record "Sometimes in the Darkness" for my first digital album. |
Carmen Kelley
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