Name: Always Be a Child
Duration: P00H05M10S
Description: This song was born one winter morning when I could tell by the light coming through my bedroom window that snow had come overnight. The other verses emerged during long hikes in the river valley where I live. The last verse was a complete surprise -- and still brings tears when I sing it. The process of recording this with Steven and Tony was sheer joy. They made the song shimmer.....

Always Be a Child

by Barbara McAfee

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about

This song was born one winter morning when I could tell by the light coming through my bedroom window that snow had come overnight. The other verses emerged during long hikes in the river valley where I live. The last verse was a complete surprise -- and still brings tears when I sing it. The process of recording this with Steven and Tony was sheer joy. They made the song shimmer.....

lyrics

I will always be a child on a morning after snow
When I wake up in my bed, open up my eyes, see the change of light, I know
In the secret hours of night
The drifts have piled high and white outside my door
Then my feet hit the floor

I put on lots of clothes, step out into the day
Feel my spirit leaping up to the dawn-pink sky that says sun is on the way
I kick up sparkling clouds
And I just have to laugh out loud
And fall right down on this hallowed-pillowed ground

Chorus: To live wide awake to joy and wonder
To welcome the gift of each surprise
To let go of the need to understand - yet still ask why…..

I will always be a child when I jump into the lake
When I float between the worlds: up above, down below, that the sky and waters make
Set free from gravity
I feel the water that’s in me
Reach through my skin
To dance with the water that I’m in

I will always be a child when I’m making something new
I’m obsessed from day to night, talking to myself
It’s just what artists do
I take it to the woods
And if my listening is good
It will come through
And I’ll sing the song for you.

Chorus

May I always be a child in the way I see the world
May my growing elder’s wisdom stay connected to the girl’s
And when my time is at an end
May I greet just like a friend the Mystery
With child-like curiosity…..

I will always be a child on a morning after snow
When I’m jumping in the lake
When I’m making something new
When it comes my time to go

credits

released January 2, 2024
Piano: Steven Hobert
Bass: Tony Axtell
Recorded and mixed by Jason Shannon at Zoo School Studio

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about

Barbara McAfee Saint Croix Falls, Wisconsin

I write songs to nourish what lives within and among us. I've made 8 solo records over the last decades. I'm also a voice coach, speaker, and author of Full Voice: The Art and Practice of Vocal Presence. Grateful for this life!