When I was last in LA to perform I stopped by my friend Ben’s studio to play a song we wrote almost 4 years ago called “Halloween”. His wonderful band Cuddle Magic released the song on their last album (sung by the incredible Kristin Slipp of another favourite band of mine Mmeadows) and although our recorded version remains unreleased for now I thought I’d share this stripped down live version we filmed—since it is Halloween and all.
When I wrote these lyrics for the chorus I remember thinking they may seem quite depressing to someone listening first time… “take it from me, it’s only gonna get harder”…. but when I wrote them I felt such a sense of release because there is nothing like just saying the truth even if it’s kind of heavy. And honestly it does feel like as we get older everything just gets more acute; the joy, the grief, the loss and if we’re lucky, the wonder too, but no doubt it gets harder in many ways. I think I wrote these words affectionately to my younger self as a proclamation of what is inevitable but also as a triumphant gesture of acceptance. I wrote this song after a break up and somehow singing those words to myself helped me prepare better for what was coming and own the reality of what grief would entail rather than trying to deny it.
The video also now lives on my YouTube channel and if you want to run down a little rabbit hole, the Cuddle Magic version of “Halloween” is also so beautiful—you can hear it below and check out their whole new album here.
Thank you to the amazing players who performed this song with me.
Benjamin Lazar Davis on pump organ
Cole Berliner on guitar
Michael Sachs on bass clarinet
Video shot by Jacob Blumberg
Produced, Mixed & Engineered by Benjamin Lazar Davis
Enjoy & Happy Halloween
🎃
Ps. Fun fact for the heads: Ben & I also wrote my song “Right Direction” together! He is an amazing songwriter and if you want to continue the rabbit hole running, I highly recommend checking out this crazy beautiful song he wrote called “A Love Song Seven Ways”.
