Circle Songs – Emma Azelborn

In August 2023, I gathered a group of my friends and we sang some of my song circle songs together. I wanted to capture the feeling of socially singing with friends in a living room, so that’s what we did. It was a wonderful afternoon of music, and the feeling of community in the space was tangible. I hope some of the joy of singing with friends I felt that day comes through in these recordings.

Liner Notes & Lyrics

Toss the Bones

My friend Penny Gale posted about learning to stay in the moment and be authentic about who you are, and letting things go which are outside your control. Amidst posts about coming out, discovering who you are at any stage of life, and general turmoil in the world, her post was a light of inspiration and hope for me. She ended with these words which evolved into the chorus of Toss the Bones:

“So toss the bones high. They’ll fall where they fall. I’ll shrug, and dance while they spin. That’s all one can do.”

lyrics

You’ve been afraid for far too long
So hidden away
So scared of a change and what could go wrong

Toss the bones high
Be steady and small
And dance while they spin in the sky
They’ll fall where they fall

The truth will grow so hard to hide
And every time
You build on the lies will eat you alive

Toss the bones high
Be steady and small
And dance while they spin in the sky
They’ll fall where they fall

Your stem could be cut, your leaves could wilt
Discarded aside
So suddenly dry yet drowning in guilt

Toss the bones high
Be steady and small
And dance while they spin in the sky
They’ll fall where they fall

But roots could expand so solid and deep
Your branches could grow
Supported by those whose hearts you keep

Toss the bones high
Be steady and small
And dance while they spin in the sky
They’ll fall where they fall

Whatever may come your strength will hold
Stop hiding away
You’re ready for change, go out and be bold

Toss the bones high
Be steady and small
And dance while they spin in the sky
They’ll fall where they fall

This Old Floor

I saw a community space posting about a fundraiser to replace the wooden floors in their building, with a photo of the visible wear and tear along common walkways through doorways and other high traffic areas. This idea of a space showing the ways people have moved in it stuck with me. The feeling of being part of something with a lineage that is older than I’ve been alive that comes when entering a well loved dance hall is so special. It makes me feel like I’m part of a tradition that has been happening for generations and will continue once I’m gone.

lyrics

Today, my friends we stand upon these boards so old and worn
They’ve served us well but now they’re done
We’re pulling them up on this crisp autumn morn

This old floor has held us a hundred years
It’s marked by the soles/souls of those who’ve gathered here

Our footsteps wore at the finish and the bare wood started to show
A faint, familiar oval
From the line of dance where we’ve traveled the most

This old floor has held us a hundred years
It’s marked by the soles/souls of those who’ve gathered here

Remember the night when Ben dropped the light and it crashed with a thunderous sound?
We swept up the glass, but here is the scratch
A little off center and perfectly round

This old floor has held us a hundred years
It’s marked by the soles/souls of those who’ve gathered here

On contra night you could see that we had a slightly tilted floor
Our sets would drift and our dances left
Diagonal stripes from the stage to the door

This old floor has held us a hundred years
It’s marked by the soles/souls of those who’ve gathered here

We’re finding hidden initials left for the generations to see
A heart for newlyweds L and R
Their daughter’s granddaughter is here next to me

This old floor has held us a hundred years
It’s marked by the soles/souls of those who’ve gathered here

We’re laying down a new floor today, adding marks near those from before
So take a knife, and carve your name
It’ll help hold us all for a hundred years more

This old floor has held us a hundred years
It’s marked by the soles/souls of those who’ve gathered here

The Hall Remembers

When I was writing This Old Floor, I had a chorus and sat down thinking “ok it’s time to write verses for This Old Floor”. I ended up with The Hall Remembers, but realized it didn’t actually work very well as verses for This Old Floor and was in fact its own song. So now I have two different songs on the very specific topic of “dance halls reflecting how communities use them over the years”. This one is fun because since it’s a zipper song, it is easy to swap out anything and make it go as long or short as the room desires.

lyrics

In this hall, we dance together
We dance together
We dance, we dance together
And the hall remembers when we dance

In this hall, we swing our partners
We swing our partners
We swing, we swing our partners
And the hall remembers when we swing

In this hall, we stomp our feet
We stomp our feet
We stomp, we stomp our feet
And the hall remembers when we stomp

In this hall, we play the fiddle
We play the fiddle
We play, we play the fiddle
And the hall remembers when we play

In this hall, we call our dances
We call our dances
We call, we call our dances
And the hall remembers when we call

In this hall, we sing the chorus
We sing the chorus
We sing, we sing the chorus
And the hall remembers when we sing

In this hall, we dance together
We dance together
We dance, we dance together
And the hall remembers when we dance

Sea Creature of Greenland

An academic paper went viral a few years ago, and the second I saw the title I knew I wanted there to be a song about it. Cetaceans, sex and sea serpents: an analysis of the Egede accounts of a “most dreadful monster” seen off the coast of Greenland in 1734 is a very fun read arguing that this often cited sea creature sighting was probably actually whales waving themselves in the air. There are translations from descriptions of the sightings in the paper, and I used many quotes from those passages directly as lyrics in the song.

I had this concept on my list for awhile but was stuck on how to start. One morning while at camp Dance S’More I woke up with the first phrase of the chorus in my head, and then over the next few days it all came together. It was fun writing this while at camp because a bunch of my friends added ideas and jokes to the song.

lyrics

Oh the year was 1734
When disciples set sail on the word of their lord
The lookout exclaimed as they crossed Baffin Bay
There was something emerging from within the waves

It was a most unusual sight
Wondrous and wiggling and wrinkled and white
Its head as high as the ship
Its tail behind so long and thick
The sea creature of Greenland
Most dreadful and monstrously big

Oh it truly was a magnificent beast
So curving and floppy, a king of the sea
It rose up above the ship’s yard arm
And excitedly waved to the sea men’s alarm

It was a most unusual sight
Wondrous and wiggling and wrinkled and white
Its head as high as the ship
Its tail behind so long and thick
The sea creature of Greenland
Most dreadful and monstrously big

Every port, the sailors would spread the word
A serpent of gobsmacking, glorious girth
With every retelling it doubled in scale
And then old Willie whaler caught wind of the tale

It was a most unusual sight
Wondrous and wiggling and wrinkled and white
Its head as high as the ship
Its tail behind so long and thick
The sea creature of Greenland
Most dreadful and monstrously big

Old Willie he knew what the whales would do
When they’d see a whale they wanted to woo
They’d float on their backs, put it all on display
Oh yes, inviting that whale to play

It was a most unusual sight
Wondrous and wiggling and wrinkled and white
Its head as high as the ship
Its tail behind so long and thick
The sea creature of Greenland
Most dreadful and monstrously big

When We Sing Together

lyrics

My friends we have traveled far to gather here today
The light is dim, the shadows long our time is slipping away
Our voices blend so easily just like they always do
As we join again in joyful song and let it bring us through

When we sing together it’s like we were never alone
We want to forever believe our music will ring where green things grow
We know it’ll fade so we sing ever stronger, fill up our hearts with home
When we sing together it’s like we were never alone

The air, how it shimmers as we sing in harmony
And we can feel the floorboards shaking underneath our feet
We lean against each other and pretend it’ll never end
For we’ve built this song together and we’ll sing it once again

No matter how much we try this moment cannot stay
Our songs will turn to silence and we’ll go our separate ways
The heartache it will have us as it ever has before
Cause we cannot know where we will go or when we’ll meet once more

And now when we’re in the world, the little things we see
Can bring to mind our times gone by, the ghosts of harmony
The rumbling train, the evening light, a warm cup of tea held near
We all carry with us memories like those we’re making here

Midnight Pizza

Just before midnight one evening, Harris and I were in Central Square looking for a snack. Harris really wanted pizza, so we looked up the closest pizza-by-the-slice place and walked that direction. As we walked, we passed so many other places and I realized it would be a fun song idea. Originally the idea was that it would be a list building song, where every verse you add another snack you don’t want, but I ended up going a different direction.

lyrics

Late at night we’ve got the munchies
No, no, not the munchies
We could go for something crunchy
We don’t want the munchies