Helen won a national song/lyric competition (Open Lyric Division) with this poem. I thought it was great and wrote music to go along with it. I hope you think I've done it justice.
The funny thing is, I sent this as a song to the same competition next year.
It was not well-received. Part of the price of submission was an evaluation.
It read the lyrics were "trite" and "predictable".
With a copy of the article with her winning poem, I wrote back:
"One never knows when a 'trite/predictable' lyric will win a national
lyric competition, namely yours, do one?"
They stopped offering critiques after that.
I thought this song would make a good duet. So, I secretly auditioned female singers around town but found none to my liking. I'm on an email list of a local music store and they were sponsoring a vocal recital for the students of Laura Auer. A quick net search and I was visiting her web page where she presents a song she sings a cappella. I knew I'd found my singer. She knocked this out with one set of vocal cords tied behind her back. Her vocal put mine to shame. So, I completely re-recorded it.
She:
He:
She:
He:
She:
He:
She:
He:
She:
He:
He:
She:
S/He:
He:
She:
S/He:
You said we'd stay together until the children were grown
and now that they're older and out on their own
We signed the papers about the house and the car.
It's time to make yours and mine out of what once was ours.
Dividing the memories of all the years,
You take the heartaches 'cause I've got the tears.
Who gets the friends who were once kind and true?
Now, some will blame me. The rest will blame you.
Going through dreams we had in the past,
I can't seem to find the reason our love didn't last.
Dividing the memories of all the years,
You take the heartaches 'cause I've got the tears.
But who gets the swing set that stands in the shade
And who takes the cradle
Where our babies lay?
Who wants the pictures of our wedding day
Or this box of old love letters I thought I'd thrown away?
Dividing the memories of all the years,
You take the heartaches 'cause I've got the tears.