By Gail Lynne Goodwin.
Last night most of America watched the hottest show, The Voice. Although I’d never seen the show before, I watched it, cheering for a young woman named Dia Frampton, who performed a new song called, Inventing Shadows. I was very interested because this song was co-written by my Grammy Award-winning, songwriter son-in-law, Josh Kear.
The lyrics talk about a fearful man who is always inventing shadows where there are none, and seeing negative things that don’t exist. With the combination of the lyrics, the unique quality of Dia’s voice and the haunting melody, once you hear the song, it’s almost impossible to get it out of your head. (If you haven’t heard it yet, you can download it on iTunes.)
Last night and again this morning, I listened to the song and realized a deeper meaning that I believe we can all identify with. Just yesterday a coaching client shared a list of all the things that could go wrong in his life- as if they were all going to go wrong! “What if I get laid off from my job, what if I can’t pay the rent next month, what if my wife leaves me, what if I get sick, what if my kids don’t make the sports team?…”
He’s inventing shadows, as we all do from time to time, imaging everything that could go wrong. But, think about it….If what we focus on grows, then we certainly don’t want to be focusing on the shadows! Life is so much more rewarding when we focus on what we choose rather than on what we fear!
This made me think…. where in my life am I inventing shadows? Where do I create negative thoughts where they don’t belong? What shadowy beliefs do I hold that make me respond in one way rather than another? And more importantly, how could my life improve if I no longer held onto the shadowy beliefs that no longer serve me?
Inventing Shadows is a great reminder for me to look deeper into my own life and to consciously create the life I choose. So for that Josh and Dia, thank you. The only question that now remains is how do I get this song out of my head?
For those who have emailed me directly, here’s the link to Josh’s demo version of the song on his publisher’s website- http://www.bigyellowdogmusic.com/index.html
After you listen to Josh’s version, there’s also a video of Dia performing the song on The Voice. Enjoy!
I love this post. Thanks for sharing!
This past weekend, on a long drive, I took the opportunity to discuss lyrics of songs with my high school daughter, in order to practice in a fun way SAT reading comprehension skills. Not a proven method for studying, but not a bad way to kill a few hours. We came upon inventing shadows. I found myself repeatedly hitting the stop button to allow her (and to be honest me) to cogitate over the last lyric. At first, I prodded her towards the interpretation your post starts with: that the words are from a lover who grows tired of dealing with the stresses being put upon him/her by the partner who cannot elide life’s travails and see the beauty in life. My daughter, however, shocked me into thinking deeper. I don’t recall what exactly she said, but the “aha moment” turned the discussion into a song about an artist who is singing the song into a mirror and, by the end of the song, deciding to take control of her/his life and turning away from a path that she (or he) was not fond of. A maturation of sorts, when he or she tells himself/herself: “you are bringing us down for no reason. Time to grow up.” To my mind, it is a brilliant song; and the artists who created it are a throwback to the greats of the late sixties and early seventies.