2025 Competition Entry:
Holding On by Stephen Greenberg
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Genre
Folk
Artist
Co-writer(s)
no
Performer(s)
Just me, guitars & vocals.
Description
This song began in a dream a couple weeks ago: I awoke to the complete verse melody and the lyrics “It’s too late” and “when the sky has lost its fate.” That set the stage for completing it while awake; then recorded it at home (GarageBand).
Bio
One night when I was 15, a song I’d never heard suddenly burst into my mind; I had to borrow a guitar to learn how to play it. 57 years later, I’m still songwriting, though I’ve mostly been a “closet” songwriter in the sense of no band, no record, no gigs. Then another sudden change, in 2018: I played a newly-dreamed song (“We Stand Together,” also entered here) for a performing musician friend, who invited me to join him as a duo. By early 2020, he and I had a full set of material (his & my originals; covers) and played various gigs; a local choir was performing “We Stand Together”; I played regularly at open mics… and then the Covid pandemic hit. Musical partner moved on, while I learned GarageBand basics and kept writing and recording at home….
Lyrics
When the ocean breezes salt the earth
when the chimes ring, “It’s too late”
when the line’s erased ‘tween death and birth
when the sky is lost to fate
When the chains are everywhere we look
when the darkness starts to fall
when the only truth is in a book
I’ll love you most of all
Where the mountains rise and shake their heads
where the forest fires burn
where the living loving count their dead
where sacred seasons turn
Where the last of life sings, “Here I am”
where the angels wipe their tears
where the water overcomes the dam
I’ll love you far and near
Sailing on through joys and sorrows
sailing on through gain and loss
sailing on through all the gifts of life
and paying off the costs
As the current carries us along
as we carefully reach out
to all who care, for a future where
our hopes outweigh our doubts
What challenges may lie ahead
what the signs refuse to show
what our dreams reveal asleep in bed
what no one ever knows
What time means to the universe
what peace means to the dove
what hope means to life at its worst
that’s what it means to love
Keep holding on… to love
when the chimes ring, “It’s too late”
when the line’s erased ‘tween death and birth
when the sky is lost to fate
When the chains are everywhere we look
when the darkness starts to fall
when the only truth is in a book
I’ll love you most of all
Where the mountains rise and shake their heads
where the forest fires burn
where the living loving count their dead
where sacred seasons turn
Where the last of life sings, “Here I am”
where the angels wipe their tears
where the water overcomes the dam
I’ll love you far and near
Sailing on through joys and sorrows
sailing on through gain and loss
sailing on through all the gifts of life
and paying off the costs
As the current carries us along
as we carefully reach out
to all who care, for a future where
our hopes outweigh our doubts
What challenges may lie ahead
what the signs refuse to show
what our dreams reveal asleep in bed
what no one ever knows
What time means to the universe
what peace means to the dove
what hope means to life at its worst
that’s what it means to love
Keep holding on… to love
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