Blog Posts

Songs for Our Journey 50

10/28/2020

I learned this song in around 1990 in a Goddess circle in Philadelphia. I didn't know the songwriter, Susan Arrow's name till many years later, thanks to the internet. Thanks so much to Susan for this wonderful song, which we sing in chorus both to call the elements and also to express our deep gratitude for Gaia, our Earth Mother. The recording is of a rehearsal for an interfaith celebreation a few years ago with Raymond Smith - guitar, Jude Casseday - tamborine, Xopher Thurston - bass, Diantha Rau - flute and myself. That was in the days when people had rehearsals in a room together! May those days come again before too long.

Thank You Mother Earth
© Susan Arrow

Thank you Mother Earth
Thank you Sister Water
Thank you for our birth
From your sons and daughters

Thank you Brother Sun
Thank you Air in motion
Thank you everyone
Earth, Wind, Fire and Ocean

Songs for Our Journey 49

9/17/2020

This song was born as fires burn throughout the western US and Canada, in a year that has been, as my partner and I like to say,
one pandemic after another. I know I am not alone in feeling a great deal of heartache, as well as a tremendous love for all beings on earth living through this challenging time. This song is dedicated to all of us, that we may meet our many feelings from our own compassionate heart. And get out the vote. Love, Kathleen

River Of Tears
© K Hannan 2020

Will I drown in this river?
River of tears, oh the tears
I have found there's no way out of here
And now I fall on the ground
And wait for the strength
To weep, and weep, and weep

Oh will I burn in this fire?
Fire of hate, oh the hate
And we have found there's no way out of here
And now we fall on the ground
And find the strength
To breathe, and breathe and breathe

And will I die in this ocean?
Ocean of love, oh the Love
For I have found there's no way out of here
And now I fall on the ground
And rest in the strength
Of love, of love, of love

And now we fall on the ground
And rest in the strength
Of love, of love, of love

Songs for Our Journey 48

8/28/2020

There is a youtube recording of the composer, Carolyn McDade, leading this song here. During 25 years of singing it, I have inadvertantly changed a note or two, and a bit of the timing, so please check this out for accuracy and to hear the feeling and timing of Carolyn leading the song.

I learned this powerful and healing song at a workshop with Carolyn McDade in North Carolina many years ago...probably 1995 or thereabouts. As I recall, the workshop consisted mostly of gathering around a piano and singing together for two or three days. A beautiful experience. Carolyn told us the story of when this Serpent of Life song arrived. She was at a meditation retreat on Cape Cod, and one day had not been comfortable sitting for a session. Instead Carolyn walked her meditation through the silence of a very foggy misty day. I have a vivid memory of imagining the scrub oaks and pines of Cape Cod brushing her face, and that she could barely stay on the path, it was so hard to see the ground. And suddenly she found herself singing this song, which arrived with no conscious work on her part. It came whole, out of the mist. At least that's the way I remember it these 25 years later; but of course I was not there in the mist with her. But that is the power of a story and a song! To learn more about Carolyn's work in spiritual feminist community song, please check out her website. I love moving as a snake or panther moves as I sing this song, and for me "her only garment" is fear.

I just found a recording of this song from 7 years ago, with Carolyn playing the keyboard and a group of women singing it. I realize listening that I had made some errors in a couple of notes...I sang it for so many years, I can understand how that could happen. But do listen to these women if you'd like to hear the subtle difference in the notes from my recording. The song is labeled
Serpent Song on that recording, but I am keeping the name
that I love for the song too.

Serpent Song
(Serpent of Life)
© Carolyn McDade

In the places that reek of impossiblity
The Serpent of Life coils
She crawls upon the swollen stone
Crawls upon the swollen stone
Crawls upon the swollen stone
And loosens her only garment

Songs for Our Journey 47

8/18/2020

This recording of Nur Julie Purcell's beautiful Love's Song
was made one evening at Bodies, Voices & Spirit Chorus.

Love's Song
© Nur Julie Purcell

Ya Rachman    Ya Rahim
The Sun and Moon of Love

Ya Ra-uf   Ya Rahim
The deepest Love within

Ya Hayyo     Ya Quayuum
Love is what remains

Plum Fiesta Fabric Millefiori Heart by Meg Hannan

Songs for Our Journey 46

8/13/2020

Photo © Lorie Hollar

Lately with the pandemic and the other big changes in our country, impermanence has been on my mind quite a bit, as I am sure it is for many of us. And reading the wonderful book In Love With The World: A Monk's Journey Through the Bardos of Living and Dying by Tibetan Monk Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche for the second time, I am more in love than ever with a phrase he uses to describe impermanence: the continuity of change.

Hearing the word "impermanence" my attention tends to go to what I don't want to lose. With "continuity of change" we see the truth of the world....that life is a river of always new always new always new again. And Yongey Mingyur points out that it is in seeing the impermanence of every "thing", including our thoughts, emotions, and bodies, we can notice that which is not a thing. That which does not change at all. The pristine empty awareness that is our true nature. I dedicate this song to the Buddhist tradition, and to Rinpoche Yongey Mingyur for the beautiful teachings he passes on in his book, especially that magical phrase, which I have of course included in the song.

Die Before You Die
© K Hannan 2020
Mutu Qabla Anta Mutu - Islamic phrase meaning Die Before You Die
La Illaha Il Allah - There is only one God, God

Mutu Qabla Anta Mutu
Mutu Qabla Anta Mutu
Mutu Qabla Anta Mutu
La Illaha Il Allah
Mmmm Hmmm

Die before your body dies
Leave all thoughts about yourself behind
In silence watch the continuity of change
La Illaha Il Allah
Mmmm Hmmm

La Illaha Il Allah
La Illaha Il Allah
La Illaha Il Allah
Die before you die
Die before you die

Songs for Our Journey 45

8/6/2020

The Tao Te Ching is my favorite book, and Stephen Mitchell's is my favorite translation. There is no run-around with Lao Tzu.
He goes straight to the essentials. And of all his verses
I think this one is my favorite; it sums up the truth so succinctly.

See The World As Yourself
lyrics Lao Tzu from translation by Stephen Mitchell
melody © K Hannan

See the world as yourself
Have faith in the way things are
See the world as yourself
Have faith in the way things are

Love the world as yourself
Love the world as yourself
Loving the world as you love Love itself

See how you shine in everything
Now you can care for all things
Now you can care for all things

Songs for Our Journey 44

6/17/2020

I wrote this song in 1994 after hearing a South African man and woman being interviewed on the radio. They were standing in line waiting to vote in the first free South African elections. The man said, "That this has finally happened in my lifetime, I am filled with joy, like a dreaming child." The woman followed, "We only know what has gone before, we can't say what's coming now."

I was struck by the balance between the visionary and the practical, even skeptical. Perhaps that balance is what is needed to create change.

June 13, 2020
In the Georgia primaries this week people stood for 4, 5, 6 hours, many of them wearing masks, to cast their votes during the pandemic. And Republicans in Iowa want to rescind universal voting by mail after the highest ever primary turnout thanks to universal voting by mail.

It seems like it's time to sing this song again.

May we vote out the people who do not want everyone to vote, towards the day when we will finally have truly democratic elections in the USA. Love, Kathleen

Count My Heart
© K Hannan 1994

"That this should finally happen in my lifetime,
I am filled with joy, like a dreaming child."
"We only know what has gone before,
can't say what is coming now."

But this has finally happened in our lifetime
We are filled with joy, like the mountainside
So we stand in line
Thousands at a time
To be counted

Count my heart, which is beating
Count my eyes, which are open
Count my children, my sisters, my brothers
whose hearts were once beating
Their voices once sang with us
Their spirits will always sing

Their spirits will always sing
Freedom is coming.... Freedom is coming
Freedom is coming.... Freedom is coming
Freedom is coming we paid with our lives
Because no one gives freedom away

Freedom is coming.... Freedom is coming
Freedom is coming.... Freedom is coming
Freedom is coming, we're coming to take it
'Cause no one gives freedom away
Because no one gives freedom way

Songs for Our Journey 43

5/18/2020

I wrote this song in 1979 in Hinesburg, Vermont, and sang it in a band called Witch One. Then in 1993, bandmates Deb Venn and Organa met me in Maryland to make this recording. The photos are from 2017 in Hillsborough, NC. I still love snow peas, and I still love this song, but I do sing it a bit slower now! . Blessings to you and to your gardens. Love, Kathleen

Peas
© K Hannan 1979

Well I know life isn't easy
And I've heard love doesn't last
Still I'm lookin' for some answers
As my days go rollin' past
It was late last Friday afternoon
I was down on my hands and knees...
Found the truth temporarily
In the garden pickin' peas

chorus
In the garden pickin' peas
By the twos and fours and threes
I found a sign in the grand design
Of the tendrils and the leaves
We'll steam some up for dinner
There'll be plenty left to freeze
Meantime I've found peace of mind
Pickin' edible pod snow peas

Well it's hard to explain what happened
As I crawled along that day
Mosquitos buzzed around my head
Stingin' nettles got in my way
And I wasn't thinkin' bout all that much
When it was suddenly clear to me
That hangin' there was a sweet truth
In each edible pod snow pea

chorus

Well I guess truth isn't permanent
And visions fade away
Cause where I once saw answers
There are only peas today
But I'm keepin' my eyes wide open
And I'm tryin' to be aware
Cause next month the watermelon's gettin' ripe
And there's bound to be some answers there

chorus

Yeah next month the watermelon's gettin' ripe
And there's bound...... to be some answers there!

One more story about this song. In 1980 I think it was, or 1979, Witch One played at a music festival called Getting To The Same Place. It was in New Hampshire as I recall, and Organa got us booked by telling the organizers that they did not have any Lesbian band booked yet, and they needed one. To their credit, they booked us, despite our lack of fame. So we were booked at the last minute and shared the stages with Paul Winter, Ram Dass and others. At the time I didn't know who Ram Dass was. I was pretty much a nervous wreck after we played our four song set on an outdoor stage, and I put on a poncho and a hat to try and disguise myself. Moments later, Ram Dass walked right up to me in the crowd and thanked me for the Peas song. He said that it was a match for where he was at, trying to see the sacred in everyday things like doing the dishes. Of course, finding the sacred in a patch of snow peas is quite a bit easier than in doing dishes, but I knew what he meant. And I was grateful for his kindness, which took the edge off my fear.

Songs for Our Journey 42

5/13/2020

Om Mane Pehme Hung
Om Mane Pehme Hung
Om Mane Pehme Hung
Om Mane Pehme Hung

This particular melody for the most well beloved chant in Tibetan Buddhism was taught to Darvesha MacDonald, one of the Sufis in the Dances of Universal Peace leadership, by a Tibetan monk named Lama Ngawang Tashi Bapu. He told her that when he was a child, his village would keep chanting this melody for days during festival times. Then when he went to join a monastery, at a young age, he felt lonely until soon after he arrived, when the monks all gathered and sang this same melody that he knew in his village. Then he knew he was at home.

The chant translates as "The Jewel is in the Lotus".
The awakened heart of the buddha is present in all of us.
I have read that in some Buddhist traditions people envision
a tiny little Avalokiteshvara (Buddha of Compassion)
in their heart as they sing this.

This recording is available on my CD,
Seen & Unseen, Songs from the Light of Midlife.
You can order/purchase that CD here.

Songs for Our Journey 41

4/8/2020

The moon was full tonight, which reminded me of this song.
I wrote it in Philly when I was a nanny for Max and Ben,
and then I sang it with Erdin from when she was younger
than she is in the picture. We signed in ASL as we sang it,
which makes the song extra beautiful. Then I sang it
with my nieces, and lots of kids in preschool music classes.
The song took on a new meaning
for me years later, when I learned that in many
Eastern traditions, the moon represents Consciousness.

The Moon Shines Over
© K Hannan circa 1990

The moon shines over the houses
The moon shines over the trees
Sometimes the moon gets very small
Sometimes the moon is round like a ball
Sometimes I can't even see the moon at all
But the moon always comes back.....to me!