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In 2004, Tim and band released So Many Stories.
Having been moved by the HIV/AIDS pandemic in Africa, Tim dedicated
this CD and much of the proceeds to
the Stephen
Lewis Foundation. $10 from the sale of each CD continues
to go there, with over $50,000 having been donated to date. The
haunting words of the ballad "Why
Me" were inspired by Stephen Lewis and his travels as U.N.
Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa. As David
Suzuki wrote to the band, “I think Stephen Lewis
is a national treasure – a great man. You are supporting
a very worthy cause.”
Africa represents almost 2/3 of the world population living with
HIV, and in sub-Saharan Africa alone, about ten thousand people
are newly infected every day – even now, in 2004. There are
13 million African children orphaned due to AIDS, but the hope for
an end is better than it has ever been. New vaccines are being tested,
and generic anti-retroviral drugs are becoming increasingly available.
Mindful of the contributions made by Lady Diana to the world’s
understanding of the HIV/AIDS crisis – her spirit lives on
in many ways, and in the song “Barefoot Princess.” She
is an example for all of us.
Appropriate words are not always easy to find for such subjects,
but in the Tim Lawson Band's So Many Stories, art reflects
life as "pictures are painted" and "pages are being
turned" in a story that affects so many.
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So Many Stories - Track By Track
1 - "Thought I'd Let You Know"
"You could call this a ‘kitchen love song’. I was
sitting at the kitchen table, fooling around in an alternate tuning.
My wife Karola was working on some kind of culinary delight, and
that phrase (the title) flashed through my mind. It seemed almost
too simple, but as I started to sing and develop the melody, the
song flowed out. And the chorus came so naturally - 'Above all,
you make me feel like I'm really alive.' I love the sentiment and
energy."
2 - "Barefoot Princess"
"This was inspired by Lady Diana. In early 2000, Karola and
I were at a Caribbean island resort that Lady Di had gone to on
three separate occasions. We just happened to be staying in the
same bungalow that she had used. The maitre d' at the club talked
about the many different celebrities that had stayed there. He found
Lady Di head and shoulders above anyone else he had ever met. She
was held in such high esteem and had the title and rank, but she
treated everyone equally. One girl was delivering a room service
menu to her when a flash shower started. Lady Di came out with an
umbrella to keep her dry, got her into the bungalow and offered
one of her sweaters to the girl to keep her dry. That comes up in
the song: 'a little girl dreamed that no one be cold.' The maitre
d' had a picture of Diana on the beach with Harry and William, in
which she was barefoot. She looked happy and content, with a very
sweet smile - hence the title. Close to the album’s completion,
I realized that an important part of her legacy was the fight against
HIV/AIDS. She was known for the heartfelt way she would pick up
an AIDS baby.
3 - "Nothing To Fear"
"It’s the oldest song on the album. It was written as
a poem, six years ago, whereas I usually do a music thing first,
getting in the groove by playing the guitar. I had just met Karola
in Bermuda. I thought she was a wonderful woman, but she was not
an easy sale by any stretch of the imagination! I wasn't looking
for a woman who was too easy to impress. I wrote the poem to her,
really while thinking,' this can't go anywhere. You are in Vancouver,
she lives in Berlin. What are the chances?' But I wanted to show
her that I had benefited from our time together. So I wrote this
poem, and gave it to her underneath a moongate (a stone arch). There's
a tradition in Bermuda that if you share a kiss with your loved
one underneath a moongate, you will have happiness forever. The
first time I played it was at our wedding."
4 - "So Many Stories"
"I love the imagery and the idea - 'just down the road, what
look like quiet lives, been around, lost and found, they've got
so much to tell, like water from a well.' There is sure no shortage
of material if you dig and start talking to people. It’s amazing
the stories people have that are worth hearing. And you never know
just how fascinating until you’ve heard or read them!"
5 - "There's Still Time"
"It is like a role-playing love song. The theme is 'there is
still time to change a situation or for someone to change their
mind.' A lot of the time the things I write are based on personal
experience. As you know, there are an infinite number of ways to
say things. Everything has been said before, yet it hasn't. This
one is more of an imaginary situation. Both of the Henderson sisters
are on this track, and we had a chance to let Camille do some ‘vamping’
at the end of the song. That was fun."
6 - "Looking Up"
"The 'without any chains, and looking up' chorus is the focus
of the song for me. It is the idea that with the right attitude,
you can get through virtually anything – especially when you’re
lucky enough to be in love. You don't have to have a phony set of
rules or anything. If you feel things are natural and not forced
or contrived, then the vibes will reinforce your instincts. You
are doing it right, and on a path that will lead somewhere positive."
7 - "(You Might Not Have) Noticed"
"This song centers on the idea of how lucky we are to be here.
Every moment is a gift. It is precious and, despite our best intentions,
so easy to miss. I love that sentiment going out to radio (this
song’s our first single from the album), and I hope lots of
people are inspired by it. Every day there seems to be a new peak
of experience to be reached!"
8 - "The Power Of The Sea"
"For the last 25 years, I've been going over to Vancouver Island
and going fishing there. We now have a cottage there, on the far
side of the island. We are near open water, and you can almost imagine
seeing Japan. I love being alone (or, even better, with Karola)
on the water and sometimes we get a few of the bigger waves. It’s
simple - just us and nature, and it's thrilling. There is something
magical about the way the sea renews your spirit inside, and the
song came from that. Last year, I had my digital camera, and I recorded
the waves crashing against the shore. That is what you hear on the
song, and the rhythm of the song is like what you hear out on the
boat."
9 - "Just Reflecting"
"It was a change of pace thing for me, a mentally-reflecting
kind of song with a strong beat. It’s late at night, everything’s
moving, things keep happening - then I found the image of the moon.
When we look at the moon, we’re just seeing the reflection
of the light of the sun. In the last chorus, I sing 'as our lives
are changing too, we owe each other, to do the right thing.' And
that line pretty well says it all!”
10 - "Could Life Be Fair"
"This tune is like a make-believe romance story that became
full of dreamy imagery as it evolved. The ‘birds who would
fly’ represent the hopes of so many, and my wishes for them
all to have a chance to find happiness."
11 - "Take Me Away"
"This one is inspired by my love for and with Karola. There
are no arguments between us. Nothing is a big deal; we don't fly
off the handle at little things. My philosophy is that ‘the
little things will kill you if you let them!’ Don't even let
them dampen somebody's mood. It was easy finding the words for this
one – Karola takes me away to a different part of life that
I'd never have been able to experience without her. The line 'I
love you more as time goes by' just seemed right at the time. It’s
a nice flowing love song, which one of my best friends used at his
wedding – an ultimate compliment!"
12 - "Why Me"
"Near the end of January I watched the David Suzuki show, The
Nature Of Things. It was a profile of Stephen Lewis and his work
as the U.N. Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa. When the show
was over, I grabbed my guitar - I just wanted to find a way to express
what I was feeling. I found some nice chords in a new tuning, and
felt like I was being guided to write this song. I was trying to
find the words, and had tears streaming down my face as I was trying
to get next to the topic and translate it from the emotional plane
to the verbal plane. In about three hours I had it, and it stayed
virtually unchanged. It just came through as a fast and powerful
thing. I did the demo and realized it had a special kind of power,
so we added it to the album at the last moment. Right from the beginning
in my writing process, I have tried to express how, in Canada, we
are so lucky as a people.
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