This one’s kind of interesting, because it brings up a whole big, personal phenomenon in the development of my songwriting. At a point in my early twenties, it occurred to me that the emotional content of my expression seemed excessively negative, and at its worst, whiny.
I had a feeling that eventually I’d start getting my act (shit) together, so I told myself I’d just hang on to song stems as they occurred to me, and I wouldn’t get too married to any kind of lyrical meaning attached to the musical idea, unless it represented something which I knew would be worth keeping (i.e. would be good) in the long run.
This one came along in about 2010 or so, but might have had seeds dating back to 2008. I think I wrote it on my father’s Martin acoustic in its first guise, in terms of its tune and instrumentation–I wanted it to be something I could play solo with just an acoustic and vocal.. I was having a hard time there just now, remembering how it came to be, but I see now that I didn’t write this in its fullness until after I completed Essence of Being Mastery in 2016. That was when I first starting giving myself permission to write again.
This was written to be beautiful and uplifting, and I don’t know if it requires much in the way of explanation, other than to say that we’re all here on our own, special, challenging life journey, and the goal is to get better.
Verse 1:
The road it twists and turns now
But with each bend you learn how
To be even more of who you are
And I believe in you
And you’ll pull through
And there’ll be times when it gets harder
To keep going farther
But I believe in you
Just keep your eyes on the path of love
And you’ll find your way back home
Verse 2:
The path it looks so dark now
But deep within your heart now
I know there’s a light that shines so bright
‘Cause I believe in you
And you’ll come through
And there’ll be times your heart gets wounded
But you’ll make it through it
‘Cause I believe in you
Just keep your eyes on the path of love
And you’ll find your way back home
Bridge:
And on this road we’re walking
The wind it blows so cold
I’ll put my arms around you
And give my hand to hold
‘Cause I believe in you
And you’ll pull through
Just keep your eyes on the path of love
Verse 3:
We’ve come a long, long way now
And there’ll be another day now
When we reach the end of this long road
‘Cause I believe in you
And we’ll come to
A new world that’s free and giving
Where true love is living
I believe in you
Just keep your eyes on the path of love
And we’ll find our way back home
Coda:
I believe in you
I believe in you
Just keep your eyes on the path of love
Just keep your eyes on the path of love
Here’s me recording the original vocal on the track, “I Believe in You,” from 2022’s Self Confidence, with lyrics subtitled.
