Amy Lu's View

I wrote a song–my first ever–and I like it. 

This is rather surprising.

I’ve never had any serious aspirations of writing a song, beyond thinking it would be cool, and would be a good way to have a song that I could ensure was in my vocal range. But when Chad signed up for a songwriting class at Sarah Jane’s, a local music school where I’ve taken voice lessons and been in band camp, I thought, “why not?–this will be a good opportunity for Chamy Together Time, right?” I was a little concerned that the class would be too advanced as it was songwriting TWO, but Chad said he’d help me fake my way through any music theory stuff. 

During the first class, I quickly felt like I was WAY in over my head. If Chad hadn’t had our car keys, I may have bolted at about 10 minutes in and just went home. But I was brave, and I stayed, and in what may be a testament to my acting abilities, I don’t think any of the other students could tell I was on the verge of hyperventilating. 

I think not feeling like I was qualified to be in the class actually ended up as a positive for me because it allowed me to have a beginner’s mind (at least as I understand that concept). I didn’t get in my head about writing “good” songs. My goal was just to be a successful class participant–to show up, to try, to do my best, and not burden the other students or the teacher with my self-doubts and recriminations. 

And thanks to my wonderfully supportive teacher and students (including the one I happen to live with) I wrote a song, a real song! It’s nothing that I expect to be a chart-topper, but it’s something that I can take out in the world–I’ve even performed it at open mics a couple of times (and yes, it’s in a range that I feel good singing in). I even wrote more than one, or at least have a really good start on some other songs. 

My song is called “I Don’t Know About You” and it’s inspired by one of my mom’s favorite sayings. We got the assignment for the song around the time of the anniversary of my mom’s death, so I thought it would be nice to write something based on one of her (many) sayings, and Chad suggested “I Don’t Know About You.” Of course, Chad is the person I want to understand the most but often feel the most confused by, so my song took off from there. 

I didn’t set out to write a Chamy confessional, but I did try to ground it with specifics (I’ve often heard and read that the more specific writing is the more universal appeal it has). So my song opens with a reference to a real “incident” when I was startled by Chad coming home when I didn’t realize he had ever left the house (and yes, our house is not that big) and includes a tad of grumbling about Chad telling me I’m not curious. 

I really appreciate that Chad was okay with me mining our relationship for material especially as the song does end up being rather romantic.