2025 Competition Entry:

Passages by Nancy Erickson Lamont

Genre

Pop

Co-writer(s)

yes

Performer(s)

Vocals & BG Vocals – Nancy Erickson Lamont
Piano & Keyboard – Josh Nelson
Bass – Michael Glynn
Drums – Stefan Schatz

Description

My co-writer had a friend who passed away from skin cancer at a young age – Darin wrote the song as an instrumental for her many years ago while she was still alive. Darin came to me last year and asked me to write the lyrics for the song, so I wrote based on the seasons of life as an ode to his friend. I had been wanting to write a song about “passages” and this just fit perfectly. I arranged the song so it had verses and wrote the background vocals.

Bio

“A skilled singer who is also an excellent songwriter…Ms. Erickson [Lamont] has an appealing tone, does justice to lyrics and swings.” – Scott Yanow, Los Angeles Jazz Scene

Nancy Erickson Lamont has been bringing her rich, melodic vocals to the Pacific Northwest
Jazz scene for over 3 decades. Hailed as “one of our best contemporary singers – full of
feeling, wit… and a thoroughly winning originality” (Michael Steinman – Jazz Lives),
Nancy has performed at the North Sea Jazz Festival, Montreux Jazz Festival, and
opened for Ernestine Anderson, Mark Murphy, the Hi-Lo’s, The Four Freshmen, and
sang backup for R&B band Freddy Pink, Nearly Dan, and Bernadette Bascom. Her
recent venues in the Seattle area include the Royal Room, Seattle Jazz Fellowship, MQ Lounge at the Triple Door, and Seattle Jazz Vespers. Nancy Erickson Lamont teaches private voice, is the choral director at Glacier Peak High School & Valley View Middle School in Snohomish, Washington, and is a board member of Seattle Women in Jazz.

Lyrics

Verse 1
The very first buds of spring breathe life
The scent of hope and new love fill the air (and I’m there)
Strong emotions smolder, wishing we were older
And as the green grows on the trees,
So we go through our passages

Verse 2
I love to feel the sun on my face
The lazy days of summer, poetry and singing
Live like it’s forever, soaking in the weather
And as the clouds move with the breeze
We’re going through the passages

Bridge/Chorus:
They say that everything must change
And I have to rearrange the way I’m feeling
When I think I know where I’m heading
and then I will have to let go

Verse 3
And then the leaves of Autumn drift down
Those early times of new life seem to fade (who were they?)
As the days grow shorter, putting things in order
The treasures of here and today
Go with us through the passages

Instrumental solo break

Bridge/Chorus:
They say that everything must change
And I have to rearrange the way I’m feeling
When I think I know where I’m heading
And then I will have..

Verse 4
To brave the cold of Winter snowfall
The air around us goes still, echoes of what has been
Children’s laughter ringing, I remember singing
Yet everything comes to an end
I wish I could do it again
I’ll see you again yet, my friend
We’re floating through the passages

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