One day imagining myself as a bird...

We turned all our sharp parts inwards,
Kept our shell from breaking open,
Our love was an idea,
Safe and sound and softly spoken

But ever since I've had a beak,
I've wondered what a beak is for-
What I meant to be a gentle peck
Struck fast and hard right to our core

First there was a bright,
Tiny point of light
Then there was a fissure
That grew into a crack
And under all the pressure
A part of us had shattered
The feeling told us wholeness
Was never coming back

We must learn to fall, before we learn to fly,
It's a test of faith for my love and I

Some try to stop us,
They pluck out our feathers
While they're combing our wings
Some try to warn us
Not to trust doting hands
With our most fragile things

All the red leaves shiver
Overlooking the Hudson River
In their fragile spines I see the lines
Of my tired hands
I've been fortune-telling them,
They'll have long lives and children
Deep inside I know we're all bracing for the fall

We must learn to fall before we learn to fly
It's a test of faith for my love and I

During the Spring, Pierre and I got together to record a French song called C'est Julien.  I discovered it during an afternoon of listening to the magnificent singer Marie Laforet and instantly fell in love with its meditative mood and quirky text.  The song was originally recorded in the 1970's, and we decided to strip down the very orchestral arrangement and create a new version which features Conrad Steel on  cello . 

I'm so pleased to announce that our recording is being released on a compilation called Filles Fragiles, compiled by Guuzbourg, and put out by a label in the Netherlands called Essential dance music.  The compilation gives me the opportunity to participate with a group of excellent female French language singers including Barbara Carlotti, Poney Express, Vanessa Paradis, and many others.  You can order a copy at www.myspace.com/fillesfragiles .  A big thanks to Guuzbourg for the opportunity, and also of course to Pierre and Conrad!

    This is the second edition of the Filles Fragiles compilation, and to promote its release I'll be joining Peppermoon, Francoiz Breut and Vanessa Contenay-Quinones for a concert in Amsterdam and Leiden, and then I'll play a gig with Peppermoon in Maastricht before returning to Paris for a concert the week after with Alban Dereyer. 

Much love,

Erica
     
PS.  Last night Barack Obama was elected the 44th President of the United States.  I am absolutely thrilled for this new chapter we are beginning and for the message it sends to the world. 

I SING the Body electric;
The armies of those I love engirth me, and I engirth them;
They will not let me off till I go with them, respond to them,
And discorrupt them, and charge them full with the charge of the Soul.

Was it doubted that those who corrupt their own bodies conceal themselves;
And if those who defile the living are as bad as they who defile the dead?
And if the body does not do as much as the Soul?
And if the body were not the Soul, what is the Soul?


Walt Whitman, from I Sing the Body Electric



All these hollowed, out empty towns
in the empire dying fast

The last flicker of neon light
leaving empty bulbs of glass too fragile
for this world

All these hollowed, out empty folks
like outlines in pavement chalk

Eyes all narrowed down to slits
from light too hot to be let in

Hot as the push of needles
Hot as the fast food grease

Hot as the nothing left
Hot as the big release

Hot as fluorescent ceilings
Hot as the neighbor's gun

Hot as the children launching their
Waxy-winged flight towards the sun

My land I try my best for you
I follow my own pen, I choose my own route

I follow the brightest star
I follow the brightest star

The body electric
The body electric
electric electric

Through cracks in the blacktop the grass is still growing
I spin like a searchlight I spin like a searchlight
I want to be part of that energy flowing I know that it's urgent
It's urgent it's urgent

Through cracks in the blacktop the grass is still growing
I spin like a searchlight I spin like a searchlight
I want to be part of that energy flowing I know that it's urgent
It's urgent
It's urgent

Through cracks in the blacktop the grass is still growing
I spin like a searchlight I spin like a searchlight
I want to be part of that energy flowing I know that it's urgent
It's urgent
It's urgent

True Love and Water

Let's go up the hill and fetch a pail of water
We'll hold it to the lips of all the sons and daughters
Your parents called you Jack, my parents called me Jill
They've given us the pail, they've shown to us the hill

The path is steep and winding, the sun is hot and unabiding,
but there, there is the well!
There is the well and our bucket sinking,
It comes up brimming
and we keep on drinking

Little Jack is acting wild,
He's made me a crown of flowers (I've never seen him like this)
He's splashing me with water
We've been dancing here for hours
He takes me in his arms, and in this tender thrill,
I marvel at my chances, I'm so happy to be Jill

True love and water
For both of our lips

True love and water
For both of our lips

He has a lovely voice, I adore to hear him sing
He's forgotten he's a peasant boy, he's acting like a king
He's promising me castles and pleasure manifold
He thinks the town will shower him with silver and with gold

When we bring
True love and water
To every son and daughter

True love and water
For all of their lips

He's running down the hill, he seems to have forgotten our task
because the water keeps on spilling
and he's pulling me too fast
He says come on, lovely Jill, the sun is going down
We've got to show the world, show them what we've found
It's written in the stars, it's written in the stars
This true love of ours
It's written in the stars

Little Jack's foot hit a root in the ground
He went tumbling, tumbling, tumbling down as written,
Written in the stars
He had my arm, he holds it still
As I stare up at the dizzy sky and wonder why I'm Jill

True love and water
Were lost in the spill
So very close
To the bottom of the hill

Time Traveling

Crying won't get you a dime,
but you won 't get a dime without crying,
life's greatest balancing act is to sell
fewer tears than you're buying,
at the fountains of sorrow
you don't make a wish,
everyone learns how to swim like a fish,
you save all your pennies for a luckier tide,
if wishes were horses then beggars would ride

But we will stay afloat,
drop our hearts like anchors and rock,
rock like the boat,
my love was born with gills,
a cavernous space that creates, restores, and refills

In the city the walls learn to talk,
screaming slogans in neon and chalk,
people cast their belief like a stone
that betrays but won't leave you alone,
and the cars all fly past in a hot, metal flash,
it's the speed at which moments belong to the past,
and the flood that keeps coming and alarms that won't ring
are the reasons that I started time traveling-

I am with you in heart and in mind,
I am with you in and out of time,
we are rising and rolling like waves
through the dust and the grind and the grime,
you told me that time functions just like a coil,
and bodies are roots if they just pierce the soil,
so let us remember the soft, fertile ground
and stare up the center of time going round

We will stay afloat,
drop our hearts like anchors and rock,
rock like the boat,
my love was born with gills,
a cavernous space that creates, restores, and refills

Hello folks,

      It's my pleasure to announce my next concert, June 19th, at the Perroquet Bleu.  A familial and charming theater located at the mysterious 0, rue darwin in Montmartre, the Perroquet has been the home of many of our favorite concerts including the Songwriters Night with Liam Carey, Jesse Morningstar, and This is the Kit.

This time my friend and producer Pierre Fa will be joining us.  What we have in common is our way of writing songs that are intimate and sensorial.  What will be different is that Pierre's songs will be in French, mine in English (mostly), and that he will be so kind as to play the theater's beautiful grand piano that I have so regretfully tucked behind me at previous concerts there.

I'll be accompanied again by my lovely and talented band members, Stefanos Kotsanis (on many instruments big and small) and cellist Conrad Steel.  We don't know what the summer will bring, so please don't miss us before you all go off to faraway lands more sunny than Paris!

Also, I promise to play a new song.


Bonjour folks (et folkesses),

 C'est avec plaisir que j'annonce mon prochain concert, le 19 juin, au Perroquet Bleu.  Une salle de concert charmante et familiale située à l'adresse mystérieuse 0, rue Darwin à Montmartre, le Perroquet Bleu a été le nid de plusieurs de nos concerts préférés, incluant le Songwriter's Night avec Liam Carey, Jesse Morningstar, et This is the Kit.

Cette fois mon ami et producteur Pierre Fa va nous rejoindre.  Ce qu'on partage est notre façon de composer des chansons intimes et sensorielles.  Ce qui sera différent est que les chansons de Pierre sont en français et les miennes pour la plupart en anglais.  Pierre aura aussi la gentillesse de jouer le beau piano queue du théâtre que j'ai negligé avec regret pendant nos autres concerts.  

Je serai accompagnée par Stefanos Kotsanis (et sa ménagerie d'instruments) et le violoncelliste Conrad Steel; ils sont tous les deux pleins d'esprit et de talent.  

Nous ne savons pas notre programme pour l'été, alors ne ratez pas ce concert avant de voyager vers des paysages plus ensoleillés!

En plus, je vous promets une nouvelle chanson.

Love,

Erica


ERICA BUETTNER and PIERRE FA

Le PERROQUET BLEU à 20h30

0, rue Darwin
75018 Montmartre
Metro Lamarck-coulaincourt
Entrée proposée 5 euros (also, bring wine, du vin aussi)

I'm beginning to post some lyrics in my blogs, so here are the lyrics to the latest song that I put up, called When It Goes. In a few days, I'll add the lyrics to Time Traveling, True Love and Water, and Body Electric. Thanks for taking the time to read them as you listen.

love,

E.

PS. For French speakers, godspeed is an old English expression that basically means good luck. I chose it because of how it relates to the Eden-inspired theme of the song.



Lyrics to When It Goes


Learning is a small sting,
is a small burn on the tip of the finger,
it's a warning, a bitter taste
that lingers on the tip of the tongue

But the soul,
infinite vessel has no tiny edges
safe to expose, for what it wants,
it goes, and when it goes
it really goes

Headstrong, headlong plunge...
and godspeed to anyone who follows

The green space
that we started in, we ruined
in its entirety
but what's divine in you,
and what's divine in me,
is still up to you, is still up to me

We planted seeds of that fruit
you shouldn't eat, and it turns out
the tree's just like any other tree
nurture it and it flourishes
nurture it and it flourishes
nurture it and it flourishes

And the soul,
infinite vessel has no tiny edges
safe to expose, for what it wants,
it goes, and when it goes
it really goes

Headstrong, headlong plunge
(and godspeed to anyone who follows)
when it goes
follow
when it goes

Hello, welcome to my first blog! It is one of those rare sunny days
in Paris, and I have had the pleasure this morning to wake up to a
review in the Telerama newsletter. Thank you to Francois Gorin for
the warm welcome!

I'll start to post some updates and news here, as well as lyrics and
thoughts. I'm currently continuing work on my album produced by
Pierre Fa and will post some new recordings soon. Feel free to leave
comments and visit often.

E.