In Spring and Summer of 2023, along with 20 some other gifted songwriters, I was involved in a really interesting songwriting project called “Minnekhada as Muse”. The goal of the project was to write and perform a song that was inspired in some way by Minnekhada Regional Park in the Greater Vancouver area. Collaboration and feedback were strongly encouraged. Early on I met Peter Tam, a classically trained pianist and fellow nature lover and songwriter. We agreed to work together to combine my words with his piano composition. Later I added some more to the composition and this is the final (maybe?) result.
As you might gather from the words, this song is about the interdependence between people and nature, about our need to connect as a way to temporarily distract us from our daily lives.
Big thanks to Peter for his willingness to contribute to this song.
If you’d like to hear some of the other songs (there are some really great ones) from the project you can find a playlist here.
Cedars and Ferns
copyright 2023 Steve Smith (SOCAN)
Piano composition by Peter Tam
Climbing the knoll with a hole in my soul
Look up at the trees with a scrape on my kne-e-e-es
Dodging the toads as I wander the road
Walking with bears, but I’m really not sca-a-a-ared
I’ve got a constant thirst for reconnection
Call it a need for introspection
Navigate my way in a new direction
A walk through the woods, like a res-ur-rect-ion
Chorus
Like the cedars need the ferns
So their fragile roots won’t burn
And in return they offer shade
On those cloudless summer days
summer days
My feet on the ground, hardly makes any sound
I take off my shoes to get closer to you-hu-u
The ferns at my knees and my head in the trees
Symbiosis in kind, body, spirit and mi-in-d
It’s the feeling I get when I make the connection
Give you part of myself without an objection
You can be my mirror for self reflection
I can be your voice when you need pro-tect-ion
Repeat Chorus
Bridge
When life takes me away, I know I’ll always return
And wander my way through those cedars and ferns
I need this place like a desert needs rain
I’m counting the days till I see you aga-a-ain
Like the cedars need the ferns
So their fragile roots won’t burn
And in return they offer shade
On those cloudless summer days
Those cloudless summer days
Those cloudless summer days
Summer days