Growth
Songs, with their ability to tug at the strings of the heart with melodies and harmonies, while also being able to stimulate the brain with their lyrics and storytelling, can be an amazing catalyst of change and growth. I never was big on reading books, and I to some extent I always regarded film & television as being a bit too passive, and a bit too restrictive when it becomes to using your imagination to fill in gaps. And where in the beginning, I regarded songs as being as passive as those, just fill in background music to listen to while doing other things, in time – they’ve grown to comfort me, and change me, like no other medium. Eventually that led to choosing a path where I took and still take songwriting seriously, trying to create art – the kind that inspired me to become the person I am to day. The kind that comforted and saved me like nothing else could.
One of those pivotal masterpieces I came across during early adulthood was “Extraordinary Machine” by Fiona Apple. I regard it as a perfect song, with it’s rhythm, melody, lyrics, rhyme schemes and overall storytelling. But one specific sentence in it permeated me like no other – “I’m good at being uncomfortable so I can’t stop changing all the time”. The song – and Fiona herself – criticizes choosing comfort over growth. With time it became a mantra for me. Any time I feel scared, or discomfort, or feeling like I should quit or disengage, I think of that line. I think “oh, this is a chance to grow, to become better” and instead of avoiding struggle and hardship – I lean into it with reckless abandon.
I can only hope to one day write a song, or a line, as good as that one. Fiona has a plethora of amazing songs and amazing lines, really. But this one.. it stuck. It alludes to a choice, in a way, I guess. Every day I wake up – I choose to grow.
this week I’m again releasing two translations – one of the aforementioned Fiona Apple song “Extraordinary Machine”, and one of Izhar Ashdot’s “Every time I fall In Love”, along with an 7 years old song I never got the chance to record or release, called “Hunger Games”.
1. Extraordinary Machine – The title track from Fiona Apple’s album “Extraordinary Machine”, I wrote in the paragraph above exactly what this song means to me. Perfect. I also took the opportunity to learn a bit of orchestration via painstakingly recreating the entire production using virtual instruments.
Hebrew Version – English Version – Side-by-Side Translation Player
2. Into Your Love (Behol Paam She Ani Mitaev) – I grew op on Izhar Ashdot’s music, due to my brother’s influence, and this was a favorite one for me for a long time. I also painstakingly recreated it’s production. Not long after I recorded it I sent it to him through Facebook, and he was very gracious and complimented me for my singing and translation. He even let his wife – the lyric writer of the song – listen to it, and she was also very kind and generous.
Hebrew Version – English Version – Side-by-Side Translation Player
3. Hunger Games – Part of a 5 song planned EP about a nasty time I broke my own heart by believing someone unworthy of my trust. I plan to slowly release the EP songs, week by week.
Thanks for reading and listening,
Yair (Screwup)