cover recording 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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Om Divine Mother

heather — Fri, 10 Jan 2020 22:56:20 +0000

Pamela was pan-religious. This song invokes the Divine Feminine as embodied in:

Sarasvati (Saraswati), Hindu goddess of learning, wisdom, music, and aesthetics;
Mother Mary, revered by Christians for her grace and compassion;
the Hindu goddess Kali, destroyer of evil; and
Mother Earth, provider of of our physical lives.

I think Pam had a soft spot for Sarasvati, understandably. There were several figures and images of the music goddess around her apartment.

I never heard her perform this song, but I can imagine her encouraging the audience to sing along as she repeated the last four measures over and over again. If you have memories of this, please contact me.

Table Of Contents

Video
Sheet music
Lyrics

Video

The friends who helped me make this video are: Miranda Lever (piano, voice, direction), and singers Ruth Lillington, Tracy Murdoch and Kristen Martell.

Sheet music

Om Divine Mother (sheet music PDF) by Pamela Holm Download

Lyrics

Om, Sarasvati, Mother of Song
When you move through my spirit, I have to sing along.
Joy ripples through me as I send my songs soaring through the air,
Lifting folks from their cares.

Om, Mother Mary, Holder of Hearts.
Your warm arms enwrap us wherever we are.
Show us how to create love on earth
As we open our hearts for this moment of rebirth.

Om Mother Kali, teach us how to let go
Of old shadows inside us
So a new path can guide us home.

Om Mother Earth, you cradle us all.
We drink of your waters.
We thank you for all of the richness you provide us:
The food that we eat; the company beside us;
For air that we breathe;
For wisdom to stand on our feet to say:

Om, Divine Mother, be home in our hearts.
Om, Divine Mother, be home in our hearts.

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Sing Me a Song

heather — Tue, 29 Oct 2019 15:23:55 +0000

“It’s the Music Therapists’ anthem!” was my first reaction 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 for those who are interested. There’s also a clean version I made with the original words. The singer may choose which version they prefer. Miranda Lever sings the original words in the video below. Repeating the second section is another option. I hear an instrumental solo for the first part of the repeat, with the voice resuming at measure 26 as Miranda does, or measure 30.

Table Of Contents

Video
Sheet music
Lyrics
Marked up lyrics
Marked up sheet music
Poem

Video

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

Sheet music

Sing Me A Song, sheet music PDF Download

Lyrics

“Sing me a song, a song of love,” the dying man whispered softly.
He who allowed not the love of his friends,
With music, sweet music let love enter in,
And I sang of love’s tenderness, songs for his heart,
And the music opened him slowly.

“Sing me a song, a song of love,” the dying men beckoned me closer.
I carried him back to his fisherman days,
With songs of the ocean, being rocked on the waves.
With pebbles and sea shells again in his gaze,
The music opened him wider.

“Sing to me of love,” and amid angels’ wings,
We pondered together the deepest of things:
Remembering losses and fears of the night,
And passions of living when spirit takes flight.

“Sing me a song, one more song of love,” The dying man rattled horsely.
A song of hope from a mother’s breast
Like a beacon, drew his soul to its rest.
As the sun of his living reclined in the west,
The song of his life echoed softly.

Marked up lyrics

Marked up sheet music

Poem

Edited version published by Orleans Writing Group, 2018

Sing Me A Song Download

Version published by the Orleans Writing Group, 2018

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