Story: Look Homeward, Angel

This story happened in my internship. I had a client, who I'll call Mary, who was in her late 80s. She had lived a very interesting life, having had several husbands, all of whom were involved in music somehow. Some were leaders of big bands, some were regional DJs, and some of whom just went to as many concerts as conceivably possible. She talked about how she had seen music progress and change throughout her life and, although she had differing views as to its value at times, she was always pleased to see progress. My supervisor, in her great wisdom, told me after hearing about Mary that I could not go into a session with Mary with any pre-composed music. At first it really scared me to think about that. Pre-composed music (meaning anything that's already been written) is pretty much the staple of how I do things. I like to write music, but the idea of improvising music on the spot really intimidated me.

I decided to be open and honest with my client, and said, "I like to write music, Mary, but sometimes I'm afraid I'll just make mistakes trying to hard." Mary looked at me, right in the eyes, and said, "The only mistake you can make is not seeing the potential in your mess ups." That quote might be the single most influential thing someone has said to me.

Later that session, she said to me, "I'm trying to remember a song. I think my husband wrote it. The beginning goes like this: 'Look homeward, angel, and tell me what you see, Do the folks I used to know still remember me.' Do you know it?" Of course I did not know it (she said she wasn't even sure he had ever recorded it) so she said, "Well, then. Make it up." We then wrote this song together, called Look Homeward, Angel. I originally wanted to post a video, but apparently I'm not that technologically advanced (or my computer has been dropped one too many times), so I'll write out the lyrics and let you make up the melody yourself. I think Mary would want it that way.

Look homeward, angel, tell me what you see.
Do the folks I used to know still remember me?

Look homeward, angel, and tell me what you smell.

Are there flowers all around you, more than you can tell?

Look homeward, angel, tell me what you feel.

Is the light that covers you so warm and surreal?

Look homeward, angel, tell me what you hear.

Is the song that you're singing telling me you're near?