Bluebirds

the brief

a ‘love you but goodbye’ to gordon’s first wife Leanne, the bookend to Proposal — and the first song in the karosongs ‘karma track’

Bluebirds, the 7th karosong to start channeling, started by playing around on the guitar, 'finding' a chord (A minor 7) with an airy ringing quality I really loved, then 'finding' a chord sequence around it. (Meaning the energies pounded on my fingers until they did whatever was wanted.)

At first, it seemed this new song wouldn't be autobiographical since the relationship described in the opening lyrics did not exist in my life.

So we went up to Frisco
'n down through the streets
searching for that place where
we first found our love.

And there on a corner at the edge
of night, under a tree, beneath a light
we stopped. . .

to listen to a bluebird sing. . .

That lasted until the third verse where the big reveal (to me) was that the song was about my first wife Leanne. Then the fourth verse revealed that she and I were soulmates, “sailing on the winds of eternity” and that the song was actually my goodbye to her until we met again. Like some earlier songs, there was no chorus per se but a 'chorus form' that changed with each verse.

bruce and leanne
it's your destiny
to walk upon the stars
the path to love

but there's nothing says
it will be easy
and there's nothing says
it will be fun

fact there's nothing even says
it can be done

(In case you're wondering who bruce is, well that's my actual first name, the name I was using at that point in my life.)

soul mates, yeah that's what we are
bluebirds on the winds of eternity

our task to live and learn through living
our joy to find some lifetime
we'll be together again
to try it again

Laying the spokesong version of Bluebirds against Yanni's With an Orchid, I had the sense much of the song would remain spokesong in the 2.0 version. In fact, about two thirds remained spokesong.

The lyrics stayed mostly the same, with a minor few nips/tucks until the end, where the original extro was expanded to include a final throwaway line that “besides, she'd sue”. To me, that line comes straight from funi-karo. (And everytime I deliver it, I can almost hear Leanne chortling at it.)

Bluebirds was also the first song I felt to acknowledge the band in the opening credits, in this case Yanni's incredible orchestra. This became a recurring feature of the opening credits whenever there was time in the async track.

and I wouldn't sell it for a million bucks
and I wouldn't swap it for a hundred rollers
fact I wouldn't trade it for all the tea in china

and that's a lot

i should know. i lived there. Yeah i did.
that’s where we actually met
but that’s a whole other story.

Besides she'd sue!
She'd sue my lying ass.

Post-script

Bluebirds was the second song channeled for my first wife Leanne. It was also the start of what I came to call "the karma track", a series of songs and/or themes exploring the action of karma in our lives, that reached a peak with The phoenix must burn 3.3 in 2021.

Over the years, I have abandoned the popular notion of soulmates and all the romantic baggage it carries in favour of the term 'karma partners' as a more accurate description of the relationship.

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