For Your Paws Only: “What If?” Live At The Piano
Dearest Ratties,
Last week, I sang "What If," one of the first songs I ever wrote, for the first time in several years. And I sang it in front of other people. And my palms were sweating. And I almost cried. Twice. Then I yelled and scared myself and didn't know if I should keep going. I kept going. Then everyone cried. And my wings grew back.
This celebration of emotional dysregulation was all part of the Anatomy of a Song event series in the Asylum Inner Circle where Inmates vote on a song to take to surgery, we open it up, dissect it, stitch it back together, and sing it, and then everyone needs a nap. (June is "Shalott"!)
While the 3-hour event included the aforementioned vocal performance plus Q&As and stories from Inmates about their own histories with the song, we began with nothing but the piano. Watching the playback, this piano performance might have been the most striking moment for me.
In those opening arpeggios, I swear I felt the small voice within each of us—the child that tearfully asked, "what if I don't know who I am?"—being answered.
Wings don't just take time to grow back.
They take an Asylum filled with fellow Inmates like you, reading this now.
There were no Inmates when "What If" was born. But there would have been no re-birth without you.
P.S. The gates of the Asylum Inner Circle are closed until June 1st, but the Waitlist is open. Sir Edward is polishing the new keys...
P.P.S. If you're already in the Circle, log in for the entire video replay: "What If" Anatomy
P.P.P.S. This is the moment I started tearing apart my own lyrics.
