Folk & Country Archives - Pamela Holm 1960-2019

While He was Sleeping There with You

heather — Mon, 08 Jun 2020 17:43:14 +0000

I found enough drafts of “hurtin’ songs” in Pamela’s manuscripts to make a file of them. She wrote for her own personal therapy, and most won’t get published. By the time (2013) she wrote this gem, however, she could distill her pain into a few words, a good hook, an essential bridge, and the clever device of addressing the “other woman”. Chords are mine, but as an old bandmate observed, Pam and I had a similar sense of harmony. – HH

Table Of Contents

Video
Sheet music
Lyrics

Video

Here’s Miranda Lever singing it, as part of a project to get Pam’s songs out into the world, off paper and onto video so people can hear them, and maybe sing them, too. Sheet music is below the video.

Sheet music

While he was Sleeping there with You by Pamela Holm, sheet music PDF Download

Lyrics

While he was sleeping there with you

It’s been hard to say I’m sorry
for what I had to do.
I somehow saw within your face
a hidden dream come true.
I couldn’t stay forever
but did you have a clue
I’d be walking away
while he was sleeping there with you.

I had no way to tell you
’bout how bad it could be.
But you are not me either
and that much I could see.
I was drawing strength within myself
but his mind was blind to truth,
that I could walk away
while he was sleeping there with you.

I hear a cry of innocence
I hear a cry of pain
I hear a cry of “How could this
be coming round again?”
I haven’t got your answers,
and my own are much too few,
all I can say is that I had to go
while he was sleeping there with you.

All I can say is that I had to go
while he was sleeping there with you.

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Hold the World in Love

heather — Wed, 01 Apr 2020 14:58:45 +0000

Where can you see this song being sung? I can imagine it on the steps of a parliament or legislature at an Earth Day or environmental rally. More quietly in a small circle. Arranged for choir, or for small a capella groups. I can imagine people changing the words or writing new verses to suit their cause, their mindset, the needs of the day. I can imagine it evolving into an anthem (one of many) of those who are embracing a new relationship with the planet.

Table Of Contents

Video
Sheet music
Lyrics

Video

We recorded this song in 2020 near Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia.

Sheet music

Hold the World in Love – Sheetmusic with lyrics Download

Lyrics

Hold the World in Love

Listen to the heartbeat of the nations
Listen to the rhythm of their songs
Listening, feel the spirit as it rises
Listen how the heartbeat draws us home

Hold the world in love (x4)

Hear the steps of people walking peaceward
Hear the steps of people holding hands
Feel the rhythms as we walk together
Bringing hope and courage to all lands

Hold the world in love (x4)

We sing of peace, we sing of courage, we sing of love
We sing of truth, we sing of justice, we sing of love

Hear the sound as nations sing together
Feel the strength as voices rise in song
Feel the spirit, oh my sister, brother
Singing out our songs in unison

Hold the world in love (x4)

I feel appreciation for my sisters
Who gather us around the fire bright
I feel compassion deeply for my brothers
Searching for a way to make things right

We sing of life, we sing of harmony, we sing of love
We sing of joy, and of tenacity, we sing of love

Forgiving one another for our failures
Forgiving first of all the one within
Learning how to dance as equal partners
So paradise on Earth, it can begin

We sing of sharing, and of compassion, we sing of love
We sing of peace, and of forgiveness, we sing of love

Hold the world in love (x4 or more to finish)

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Joy Dances Through Me

heather — Wed, 11 Mar 2020 23:09:40 +0000

A happy waltz, found near Waltz to the Angels. So maybe it was also written about 2006.

It’s short, so I can imagine singing it through once, then have an instrumental break, then singing either the last half, or the whole thing again. I can also imagine it sung by a choir.

Waltz me round through the heavens in three quarter time.
Joy Dances Through Me, by Pamela Holm

Table Of Contents

Video
Sheet music
Lyrics

Video

Here’s Miranda Lever singing it:

Sheet music

Joy Dances Through Me by Pamela Holm, sheet music Download

Lyrics

Joy dances through me like a light summer rain.
Hearing a cheerful bird’s song, my heart’s singing again.
Lift me high on your wings, O great Spirit Divine,
Waltz me round through the heavens in three quarter time.

Joy, joy, carries my heart
From the first rays of dawn through the twinkling of stars.
Joy, wrap my life in your bliss,
Help the world to know you like this.

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Home by the Ocean

heather — Wed, 11 Mar 2020 21:34:06 +0000

Home by the Ocean poignantly expresses Pam’s perennial wish to move back to the Maritimes. She wrote it just after a 2016 summer car trip through New Brunswick, to us in Nova Scotia, and back to Ottawa along the North Shore of the Gaspé Peninsula. She was doing research for a writing project, The Marco Polo Table, and also visiting places she had lived as a child.

And the tug of war between life inland and shore, between work and wages and sea
Tears me apart, wrestles hard with my heart, and I long to be free …
From Home by the Ocean by Pamela Holm

Maritimers and would-be Maritimers love this song.

Table Of Contents

Videos
Sheet music
Lyrics

Videos

Mirth (Miranda Lever, Mary Knickle and Cynthia Myers) in St. John’s Church, Lunenburg, Aug. 31, 2022:

Miranda Lever solo in 2020.

Sheet music

Home by the Ocean by Pamela Holm, sheet music Download

Lyrics

There’s a call from the heart of my soul
to go down to the tide, to the salt crested tide
to the shoreline where waves gently roll
to the wild rocking beat, cooling sand ‘neath my feet
to be home by the ocean once more.

A rover I am, a sailor on land.
I’ve lived in far places, journeyed through foreign lands.
I have braved other climates in the heat and the rain,
gazed at far mountains, and come home again.

A sailor on land, my home is my car
On four wheels I’ve travelled, follow some distant star.
I have lost myself over and over again
Then the smell of the seaside brings me home once again.

And the tug of war between life inland and shore,
Between work and wages and sea,
Tears me apart, wrestles hard with my heart
And I long to be free

To follow the call of my soul
to go down to the tide, to the salt crested tide
to the shoreline where waves gently roll
to the wild rocking beat, cooling sand ‘neath my feet
to be home by the ocean once more.

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All I Want to Be

heather — Sun, 24 Nov 2019 01:00:24 +0000

In this song, Pamela wanted to pass on what she learned over a lifetime of being the little sister.

She mentored some other younger sisters in her adult life, and must have been acutely aware of their needs to develop their own interests and identities, and to individuate from a self-confident older sibling.

As Pam’s big sister, I knew of this challenge in her life, and our mother understood it very well. I had to learn to give her space to find herself, and be supportive without taking over. When she was dying and I had to take over – in everything from life and death decisions to income taxes – it was especially poignant because of our history as the big and little sister.

Self-actualizing as the little sister was a big life lesson for Pam. And she succeeded, as the song proves. I am very proud of her.

She made a personal recording of this song, which I have illustrated with photos of her growing up and as an adult. – HH

Lyrics: All I Want to Be

When I stand by an ant, I am ten feet tall
When I stand by a tree, then I’m very small
In the eyes of Creation I am wholly free
To be all I want to be.

Being me, being free
Choosing how I want to be
In the eyes of Creation
I am wholly free to be all I want to be.

When I look at my sister who is older than me
Then I sometimes feel so small
I would like to do just as she can do
But I just can’t do it all.
So I take a breath, and I let it go
And I breathe in one more time
And I know inside that I’m four, not five
And as my mommy says, I’ll grow.

When I take some time to be all by myself
When my sister’s not around
Then I find some things that I like to do
That are different from what she’s found
And I take a breath, and I let it go
And I smile here just for me
And I know I have ideas that are mine to grow
And I’m happy and feeling free.

Being me, being free
Choosing how I want to be
In the eyes of Creation
I am wholly free to be all I want to be.

All I Want to Be, by Pamela J Holm – sheet music (melody, words and chords)Download

Audio only:

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Come to the Garden

heather — Mon, 11 Nov 2019 02:44:31 +0000

I can hear arrangements of this song being sung by choirs. – HH

Video

Performed by Miranda Lever.

Sheet music

Come-to-the-Garden Download

Lyrics

Published by Orleans Writing Group, 2018

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Thinking ’bout You (1993)

heather — Sun, 03 Nov 2019 02:09:47 +0000

Another original song from Pamela’s 1993 demo tape, “Just a Nibble/Sampler”

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Apple Honey Land (1989)

heather — Sun, 03 Nov 2019 02:05:21 +0000

Another original song from Pamela’s 1993 demo tape, Just a Nibble/Sampler.

An earlier recording

This song was on a “copyrighting tape” Pamela recorded for herself on August 1, 1990. Perhaps no one besides myself in archivist mode will care to listen to this version, but I add it here for completeness. It was the first song on the cassette tape, and the beginning sounds like the tape has degraded in the last 30 years. Even so, I find it interesting to compare the two recordings and hear how the song evolved as Pam performed it.

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Take Me Back (1993)

heather — Sun, 03 Nov 2019 01:59:45 +0000

Written in the early 1990s when Pamela was finding her way on the west coast and missing the east coast, back home. Perhaps she was on Salt Spring Island by then. She ventures into country music territory in this song.

The lyrics look like they were typed on an IBM Selectric, which dates it nicely.

From her 1993 demo tape, Just a Nibble/Sampler.

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Peace Train’s A-Comin’ (2014)

heather — Sun, 03 Nov 2019 01:31:52 +0000

A gospel-flavoured song with a hint of Christmas to it.

Download PDF sheet music

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