SONG WRITING - LETTERS FROM BOSTON

I’ve been lucky these past few months to have had numerous visits from the Muse. I 've written quite a few new songs and finished off some that have been on the back burner for a while.
I've also, just for fun, been researching my family history. I’ve found out that I have English, Scottish and Irish roots, and Scandinavian if I go even further back in time. Some family members also emigrated to America, Canada and Australia, and probably other places that I don’t know about.

I was inspired to write a song called Letters from Boston . It tells the story of two sisters: one who has already emigrated to America, and the other who is making the journey from Ireland across the Atlantic to be with her and to find work.

As is often the case, I had the first couple of lines running around in my head for days:
I’ve found no luck in the Old World,
So, I’m sailing to the new.

This song didn’t write itself, as some of my other ones do. This one took ages to come together, but once I had the sisters as the main anchor, I was able to focus on more personal details rather than write a generic song about emigration.

As with all my songs, every word is gone over and over again to see if it really is the best, both in sound and meaning. Then the process of taking it from the printed page to singing often involves more editing, as I lose words to make it more singable.
In time I’m looking forward to adding it to my set list.