Stories Behind The Songs

    It has certainly been a thrill to be a part of the birth these songs! I love every one of them. They are my babies. I hope these stories enhance your listening experience of the music.

    I thought you might enjoy reading a little bit about the creative process, as well. It’s always fascinating to me to hear how artists do their work, and what inspires them.

    If you haven’t already done so, I recommend that you visit our About Us page to get more of the background behind this project. I think it will make these stories more meaningful for you.

1. Beautiful Birds

    I woke up one morning feeling very sad and discouraged. But then I heard the birds outside my window singing away, as they went about their day, doing what they do…find food, build a home, take care of themselves and their families…the same things that we all do in our daily lives.

    They sounded so happy to be alive, and they inspired me to get out of bed and go on. For this I felt very grateful, and I decided that I wanted to write a song to thank them.

    Birds are the background music in our world, and I couldn’t imagine our planet without them. My mother used to look up in the sky, see the birds, and say, “I wish I could fly like a bird.” Me too, Mom. Me, too.

2. Majestic Beauties

    My precious friend, Kathryn, came to me one day and said she had been out walking, and several times she had seen a horse in a field who looked very sad, lonely, and neglected. She thought it would be great if I would go sing to him. So I did.

    When I looked into his eyes and saw how surprised, touched and grateful he was, he inspired me to write a song to the horses to acknowledge them for their magnificence.

    I always loved driving through the countryside on summer vacations with my family and seeing the beautiful horses in the pastures. When I told my dear friend, Wendy, that I wanted to write this song, she told me that Native Americans once said that “the horses beautify the landscape”. I couldn’t agree more.

3. Sing to the Animals

    It all started when I spontaneously started singing to my Maggie cat in the car on the way to our vet’s office one morning, and she recovered very quickly from having seven teeth pulled.

    I had an idea for the song title “Sing to the Animals” to, hopefully, inspire others to sing to their beloved animals. Then I had the idea for the album of the same title as a collection of love songs to animals.

    It was a joy to write this song that talks about how important and valuable animals are to me, and the qualities they have that teach me so much about life, like being real, living in the present moment, and being joyful. To me, they are all magnificent creations, and are to be respected, as are all living things.

4. Little One

    Maggie and I have been together since I adopted her as a kitten in 1994. She has had some health challenges in her life, and I wrote this song to comfort her.

    The really interesting thing is that while I was working on it, I would be sitting in a chair in the living room figuring out the chords on my guitar, and many times I would look down and she would be lying on the floor right next to me. She never did this with any other song.

    After several nights of this happening, I said to her, “You really like this song, don’t you?” So I always say that it is her favorite.

    When I sang it to a friend over the phone right after I had written it, she said that she thought it was a lullaby, and she could see a mother singing it to her infant cradled in her arms.

    Then, after I released the album, my wonderful friend Maureen told me that she had sent it to her niece as a gift and received a thank you card, saying that she plays this song every night while she nurses her infant son, because it is so soothing. Wow!

5. You Made a Singer Out of Me

    I had never written songs before, and when a very kind and generous songwriter named Bentley Kalaway gave me some tips over the phone about writing songs, I said, “I’ll do it!” A day or two later, this song title suddenly popped into my head, and I said to Maggie, “That’s a good song title. I’m going to write that as my first song.”

    It’s a song to my beloved kitty Maggie in gratitude for her unconditional love, that made is possible for me to overcome my fear and shyness as a singer by singing to her every day. After several months I just had to write songs, and I asked Bentley for her support.

    I wrote the verses the first night, and as I looked at them on the page with joy and wonder, I said, “Maggie, I wrote my first song!” Then a few days later, I realized that it needed a chorus, which also popped into my head. When I felt like I had the lyrics, I opened my mouth and sang the song…the melody came through effortlessly.

6. Angel Cat

    I heard someone on the radio say that she believed her bird was an actual angel. I thought how my kitty cat Maggie is certainly an angel in my life, and I decided I wanted to write a song to her called “Angel Cat”.

    She really is so peaceful, serene and free. Her calm energy is so soothing to me. All I have to do is look at her sometimes, and I feel more relaxed. She doesn’t seem to be stressed out about anything. She is living in the moment and enjoying life. I want to be like that. She is so sweet, gentle and loving, and that is such a blessing to me.

7. Thank You for Loving Me So Much

    One morning I woke up and Maggie was cuddled up under the covers right next to me. She had never done that before, and it felt so sweet. She continued to do it on a regular basis, and I said to her, “Thank you for loving me so much.” In that moment, it felt like the title of a song to me.

    She has done this for years now, and I love it. I am grateful that she feels so loved and safe with me to want to be so close. Often times, she paws at the top of the covers to let me know she wants me to lift them up, so she can get in. Other times, she finds her own way in, to my delighted surprise when I wake up to find her next to me once again.

8. Paw Prints in the Sand

    One of my very favorite things to do is go to the beach with my precious sister Susan and her sweet dog Bruno. They absolutely love and adore each other, just like Maggie and I do. As I was walking along the beach, I saw paw prints in the sand, and I thought, what a great title for a song!

    To watch dogs playing is always such a great experience for me. It brings me such joy to see them having so much fun, loving life. They sure do know how to enjoy themselves, to be free in the moment. I really appreciate them for reminding me of this by their happy-go-lucky example. Thank you, dear dogs, for being great teachers to me, and the spectacular inspiration for this song!

9. Straight from My Heart

    This is a love song to all animals that is inspired by Maggie. It speaks about how important it is to me to protect the animals, and treat them with the respect and appreciation they so richly deserve. It’s the second song I ever wrote. The whole process took about two weeks.

    When I sat down to write it, I discovered my writing process. I start with a song title that feels like it wants to be written. I ask for the lyrics, listen for what intuitively feels like a lyrical phrase, and write it down, not knowing where it’s going.

    Then, I figure out what are the verses, the chorus, and the bridge. I polish the lyrics a little bit if needed, and when they feel right, that’s when I ask for the melody, and sing the song. Since I don’t write music, I record it on a tape recorder to be sure to remember the melody. Then I find the chords on my guitar. And that’s it!

10. The Singing Veterinarian

    Maggie and I were in the examination room for a check up with our beloved veterinarian Dr. Cindy and a kindly vet tech. During the exam I sang to Maggie to comfort and soothe her.

    Dr. Cindy and the tech took Maggie to do some tests, and when they returned, they told me that they had sung to her also, and that it really did calm her. It quickly became a tradition, and so now every time they do tests, they sing something soothing to Maggie!

    Years later my friend Celia told me that Dr. Cindy had come in to the clinic on Thanksgiving Day to care for Celia’s extremely ill dog Wrinkles. I thought about all of the times that Dr. Cindy has been there for us when Maggie was not feeling well.

    “What would we do without our devoted veterinarians and vet techs?”, I said to my friend. “I want to write a song to thank them for all they do to help us take loving care of our beloved animals.”

11. Loving Presence

    A speaker at an event shared a story about how she had been in a little bit of a car accident. She was okay but a little bruised and shaken up. She noticed while she was recovering that her kitty cat would stay especially close to her, and that her loving presence meant so much to her. Loving Presence…it felt like a lovely song title to me.

    At that time I was going through a divorce, and Maggie’s loving presence was especially healing and soothing for me. She is always there for me. What a comfort she is. And she’s so soft and pretty, too. Thank you, Maggie.

12. Butterfly Wings

    I was standing at the kitchen sink when a beautiful orange monarch butterfly landed on the poinsettia plant outside the window. I knew I wanted to write a song to the butterflies, because they are so light and free and lovely, and I want to be like them.

    When I told friends about my latest song idea “Butterfly Wings”, they said that in Native American tradition, they believe the butterfly represents transformation. I was going through some major changes in my life, shedding my old identity and becoming who I truly am. The butterfly had come to me to point that out.

    Then, I read it has been scientifically proven that when a butterfly flaps its wings, it actually affects the wind currents all over the planet. What this means to me is that each little thing that every one of us does affects everything around the world, and we can each make a positive difference, even through seemingly small actions.

    Butterflies teach me a lot, and whenever I see one, I feel happy and grateful to them for letting me know that something new and good is happening in my life.