Monday, February 14, 2011

Hold Me in Your Arms

I usually don't write love songs. Though I have nothing against them in principle, I tend to be drawn more to conflict in my own work. It's hard for me to do anything interesting with "You're awesome" or "romance is cool."

Besides, with a gazillion love songs out there, I doubt I have anything new to say.

Among my few exceptions is "Hold Me in Your Arms," which I wrote in 2008. It holds the record for my most quickly written tune. I was able to crank it out in less than 24 hours because it's very simple, with lots of repetition. I like it, but I haven't considered it my best work.

When we did Paws in the Plaza this Saturday, we put "Hold Me in Your Arms" on the set list for the first time in a long while. And the people who were listening liked it. They seemed to like us in general, but they really liked this one. You know you're in when your audience is swaying.

Maybe I need to get over the idea that complex, hard-to-write songs are superior. Sometimes people just want to hear nice and simple.

So, in honor of Valentine's Day, here's a little scratch recording of "Hold Me in Your Arms," made in Ron the Drummer's living room. If you absolutely hate Valentine's Day, give it a chance anyway. It's not too sappy and I promise it won't tell you to buy stuff.




Hold Me in Your Arms

lyrics by Susan Wenger
music by Susan Wenger and Ron Amistadi


Light is fading
Sun going down
Won't you hold me in your arms
Nothing between us
No one else around
Won't you hold me in your arms

Put down your battle plans
Put down your ammunition
They will be here waiting
At the coming of the dawn
The world outside is no more real
Than what I offer you tonight

Moment lingers
Ours alone to claim
Will you sing to me your song
A melody to cut through
All the noise and all the pain
Will you sing to me your song

I'll put down my strategies
And blueprints for the future
They will be here waiting
At the coming of the dawn
The world outside is no more real
Than what I want from you tonight

Why don't you hold me in your arms


Moonlight streaming
Through the window above
Won't you hold me in your arms
The struggles that define us
They can't kill the things we love
When you hold me in your arms

Pick up our lost dreams
And our visions for a brighter day
We will surely need them
At the coming of the dawn
These are the gifts we give each other
To sustain us through the night

Why don't you hold me in your arms
Why don't you hold me in your arms
Why don't you hold me in your arms
Why don't you hold me

----------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright 2010 Cinder Bridge. All rights reserved.

2 comments:

Fireblossom said...

It's the perfect song for the day, I think! Happy Valentine's Day, Cinder. :-)

Jeff Shattuck said...

Cool song. Really beautiful. I can see why it was a hit!