Hungry Words On The Wind
As many of you know... Devon has been playing and performing with his piano and ukulele for many years...
One aspect of being a musician is getting to the point where you start writing your own material. Two years ago, Devon created a little 'ditty' of his own on his ukulele and I was excited to think that he was soon going to be a song writer.
We spent some time creating lyrics for his 'ditty'... but that musical adventure never really took off!
Well... here we are... two years later... and over the last 2 months of his summer vacation, Devon has written 3 songs!!!! Even though I'm about to share what could technically be called his 3rd song... I'm establishing this as his first song... for the simple reason that this is the first - of those 3 - that he has performed in public!!! I'll get to that fun story a bit later... For now, I'm going to share how this song came into being...
Every summer, we rent a cottage somewhere in Southern Ontario, for a week, for our vacation. Air travel - flying to Mexico, Cancun or any other destination - has a massive carbon footprint... so we simply don't do that! Plus, Southern Ontario is very beautiful so we never feel the need to travel abroad to find a little peace and relaxation.
This summer, we found a cottage rental on Amherst Island... just west of Kingston. It was pretty cool that we had to take a ferry to get to the island! The cottage had easy access to the water - Lake Ontario - and we had many swims in it. We enjoyed to solitude, bonfires, BBQs and had fun playing lots of board games!
One afternoon, we took a short drive to the small town on the island and we checked out the museum. I noticed several novels for sale that were written by local authors. I bought two novels and I spent a lot of my time, over the next few days, relaxing in the shade, reading one of them.
Devon came out of the cottage holding his ukulele and told me... with much excitement... that he had created another new 'ditty'. He played it and I was impressed! It sounded awesome and I told Devon that it would be cool if he could explore his ditty and turn it into a song. He continued to practice...
An hour or so later, I asked Devon to get a piece of paper and a pen and write down a few words that I thought could be good to use in his new song. I had just read a sentence in the novel I was reading and although I didn't really understand what the author was saying (Haha!) II thought that a few of the words sounded like they belonged in a song. When Devon came back out of the cottage with the paper and pen, he wrote down, "hungry words on the wind".
We began to talk about how one idea for his song might be to write about contrasting things... like sun and rain... laughter and pain... and we explored different ways to create metaphors. Well... it didn't take long until Devon had the first two lines of his song written.
How can you feel happy without feeling the pain?
How can you see the sunshine if you can't look past the rain?
Well... I was completely blown away with these words... especially the second line... and I told him so!!!! "Dude! That's awesome!!! Your words create such a vivid imagine in my mind"
We continued to discuss ideas for his song and after we had enjoyed a couple swims in the lake and had finished eating our lunch... talking about his song the whole time... even more words had been written down.
I can remember telling Devon that one part of his song should have the melody and strumming pattern changed to more clearly define the chorus and bridge of the song and less than an hour later, he had evolved his music even more... AND... out of nowhere... he had created a 3rd section of the song with a completely different strumming pattern! I was completely blown away!!! A proud Daddee moment to be sure!
Over the next 2 days, we discussed the lyrics, melodies and strumming patterns on many occasions and soon... his song was complete!
When we returned home, I wanted to share his song with others, so I created the following image. Now... space was limited and several parts of the song repeat, so I wasn't able to share the song in its entirety, as it is sung... but I felt that readers would still be able to get the gist of what the song is about.
This is the image I created...
Now... for you folks reading this story... I can take a moment and write out all the lyrics in the order that they are sung...
Hungry Words On The Wind
by Devon Kogelheide
July 2024
How can you feel happy without feeling the pain?
How can you see the sunshine if you can't look past the rain?
You gotta know when you're down
you can't fall down past the ground.
You gotta know you'll be found
when you hear that special sound.
You were born to be smiling
but your tear drops make you choke.
You wanna shut down the laughter
when you're the punchline of the joke.
You gotta know when you're down
you can't fall down past the ground.
You gotta know you'll be found
when you hear that special sound.
You can't feel the comfort of the cool breeze
until you taste the hungry words on the wind.
They'll make you cry
make you smile
make you anything you desire
make you feel
make you taste
the hungry words on the wind.
How can you feel happy without feeling the pain?
How can you see the sunshine if you can't look past the rain?
You gotta know when you're down
you can't fall down past the ground.
You gotta know you'll be found
when you hear that special sound.
They'll make you cry
make you smile
make you anything you desire
make you feel
make you taste
the hungry words on the wind.
Hungry words on the wind
(hungry words)
Hungry words on the wind
(hungry words)
Hungry words on the wind
(hungry words)
Hungry words on the wind
Just two week later, Devon had to prepare for a performance at the Riverstone Retirement Residence. The Events Co-ordinator for the residence had heard about Devon's musical talents and had asked me if Devon would like to perform for the seniors!!! Devon did not hesitate to say "Yes!"
It is a great venue! It's on the 8th floor and the view is so nice! Devon began his performance with some popular songs that he played on the piano. Then he played a few songs on his mandolin and his classical guitar. The audience clapped and sang along and everyone was in a fantastic mood! It was a lot of fun!!!
Then, Devon played a few more songs on his ukulele. When he asked if the seniors would enjoy hearing the song that he had just finished writing, they all cheered for him!!! Then... he began to play...
At the end of his performance of Hungry Words On The Wind, three of the seniors as well as the Events Co-ordinator were in tears!! Devon's song had struck a chord in everyone and for some, his words had evoked a very deep emotional response. After his performance, many of the residents came to Devon to compliment his performance and tell him that his song had touched them in many ways. He got a lot of hugs that he enjoyed!!!
As we were leaving, I told Devon that music has a way of touching the soul and that his song had taken many of the seniors on a journey through their lives, where they had also struggled during sad times and had also overcome their fears and sadness... as this is what the song is about!
This has all happened within the last two months. Since then... Devon and I have been exploring ideas to make a video for this song so that more people will be able to enjoy it...
If I had to guess, I'd say that we'll have a video ready to share with the world before the end of this month... so be sure to come back to this page to see the link I'll post to Devon's latest music video...
In the mean time... I've already got several Devon music videos posted on my Youtube channel that you can enjoy now...
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