Do you remember last fall when we told you about our friend and composer Stephen Spitzer commissioning us to record some of his compositions? (The post about his piece St. Gaudens is here: patreon.com/posts/41496959) We are excited to share the second part of that collaboration, this video and live audio track of Hallowell, which is perhaps his best-known piece. Like St. Gaudens, Stephen wrote Hallowell as a trio arrangement, and Lauren, Lynn, and Will sang it for many years before Jeremy joined Windborne. With Stephen’s blessing, we’ve added a bass part.
Songs like Hallowell tend to be attached to powerful memories, and there are so many stories we could tell about our experiences with it. However, we’d like to share some what Stephen told us about his inspiration for the piece:
I wrote Hallowell for two friends. At the time I was singing A LOT of Shape Note music but was struck by the fact that often the lyrics did not represent the general mind of the group (“for such a lowly worm as I”, “rivers of blood”) and was determined to write a song that at least 3/4 of any contemporary singing group could actually sing with conviction.
The first was Miriam Bergman who was kind of my best friend from my years at UMass. She was moving to Belfast, ME to join a small family practice in medicine but she got stung by a bee and died. She had been with a friend who left after she got stung: “Are you okay?” “Yeah, it’s a good thing I’m not my brother because he’s allergic.” Another friend showed up 10 or 15 minutes later and all Miriam could say is, “I’m in trouble. I was stung by a bee.”
Prior to medical school she had spent 4 years in Cameroon in the Peace Corps. She was such an excellent thinker about life, healthcare, capitalism, human relationships. She functions as a North Star in my galaxy – someone I think about who guides me on a regular basis; aspirational and loving and funny (too many terrible puns, though.) She represents the Dead who lift me up.
The other woman was a soccer playing friend at Smith College where I played for many years. She was super hotheaded and busted up – would swear and throw her cleats and storm off the field. The social worker in me wanted to understand her better and we started going for popsicles after playing. Eventually she told me that her father had been randomly killed in a total freak violent act. She could never think about his death or life itself without feeling that life was pointless, random, dangerous. In a way I wrote the song FOR her about Miriam. I was hoping that someday she could see her father as a constellation to chart her course by.
We hope this piece is a balm for you, as it has been for us and so many others over the years.
HALLOWELL
By Stephen Spitzer, for Miriam Bergman
I thought when someone died
the spirit flew over furthest field
Now I see death will leave behind
A scrap of light, a broken smile
The remnants by which I might be healed
The dead lift me up
In brightest sky, the clouds below me race
The dead lift me up
I see them face to face
Held high by these strong hands
breathing the wind, I am born again
The mountain flowers, the desert sands
surround me now, comfort me now
In death and dreaming I find my kin
The dead lift me up
In brightest sky, the clouds below me race
The dead lift me up
I see them face to face
Our voices shake in song
For memories we have long endured
Though this begins to make us strong
the combing through of shreds of love
it is through living that we are cured
The dead lift me up
In brightest sky, the clouds below me race
The dead lift me up
I see them face to face
