Singing your song

I just got home from my morning bootcamp workout, and I had to write a post to tell you about a new song I love.  I listened to it while I drove to and from my workout today.  Both times, it made me cry.  In fact, on the drive home, I had tears kinda dripping down my face.

Here are the lyrics to When the Night Came Around.  I just know you’ll be moved. 🙂

There was a cow.
She made a sound.
The prettiest song that you ever did hear.
And when the night
came around
she sang a song for her friends to hear.

The cow went moo moo moo
The cow went moo moo moo

The cow went moo.

It repeats with a sheep going baa and a horse going neigh.  Then it ends like this.

So when the farmer went down to bed
and no one was around
they met under a star-lit tree
and made music through the night.

And they sang <moo/baa/neigh>
and they sang
and they sang.

And they made the prettiest sound
when the night came around.

This song is from Melissa Green’s album round and round (you can hear it if you follow that link). I find myself laughing at the fact that a song about moo-ing, baa-ing, and neighing makes me cry.  It’s Melissa’s beautiful singing and guitar that gives this song such soul.  Listening to it, I find myself thinking about pure and beautiful things in the world.  This story about some farm animals singing their songs to each other just kinda breaks my heart with its simplicity.

It reminds me of one of my favorite children’s books The Gardner by Sarah Stewart and David Small.  In this book, set during the depression, a young garden-loving country girl is sent to live in the city with a gruff uncle.  The story is told through the letters she sends home to her family.  As the girl plans a big, flowery surprise for her uncle, she writes home that, “I’ve tried to remember everything you taught me about beauty.”  My voice cracks every time I read that part to the kids.  So simple.  Just a little girl doing her best to make it in the world.  Her soul is that of a gardener, and she’s grown up feeling loved, and she wants to share it.

In so many small ways, we teach our children about beauty. From the way we touch and treat each other to the art we make.  Makes me think of another favorite song, Simple Gifts:

‘Tis the gift to be simple, ’tis the gift to be free,

‘Tis the gift to come down where we ought to be,

And when we find ourselves in the place just right,

‘Twill be in the valley of love and delight.

When true simplicity is gain’d,

To bow and to bend we shan’t be asham’d,

To turn, turn will be our delight,

Till by turning, turning we come round right.

When I go to Andrew’s elementary school and see all those sweet little kids, find my heart filling with hope that each of them will trust his or her song.  That they’ll know that their song is the prettiest song that you ever did hear.  And that all their lives they’ll all find ways to sing to their friends under a star-lit tree and make music through the night.