“It’s the Music Therapists’ anthem!” was my first response to discovering this song in Pam’s apartment. It depicts the depths to which music can help us heal, even in our dying.

I found just one computer-printed copy of the music which is covered with her handwritten notes, plus a rough, incomplete handwritten draft. The notes suggest to me that she performed the song at least once in circumstances that allowed her to also sing “Another Bright Star“, which she wrote for our mother’s funeral in 2014. The two songs depict different relationships with a dying person: one professional and one personal. The copyright date is 2007, but the performance must have been in or after 2014, by which time she had the software to make a computer copy.

The lyrics were published in 2018 by the Orleans Writing Group as a poem, reproduced below.

In a writing workshop in 2014 (apparently, as per the “Writers Block 2014” note in margin) Pam made note of some possible changes, presumably from feedback by another participant who didn’t like the two-syllable line endings. In particular, see the note in the margin: “Consider 1 syllable ending 2nd line.” On her printout of the music (reproduced below), it appears that she tried to apply the changes to the original tune. It seems that she made some edits to the poem version published by the Orleans Writing Group, which was used by Allison Calvern in her article about Pam.

I’m posting Pam’s marked-up version below in case you’re interested. The download is a cleaned-up version I made with the original words. You, the singer, may choose which version you prefer.

Below: I recorded my friend Miranda Lever performing the song in Mahone Bay, in the same church where Pam (and all present) sang “Another Bright Star” at our mother’s Memorial Service. – HH

Clean version of original lyrics

Download original lyrics (PDF)

Marked up lyrics

Poem

As published by Orleans Writing Group, 2018