One of my favorite songs from the Long Before the Wheel album is the last track, We Grow. It’s my favorite because it’s like nothing I’ve ever written — totally unique and a pure labor of gritty love.
While the theme of this song is universal — how we’re human and therefore entitled to change and grow — the inspiration was very specific. After releasing my album Orange Chrome Sky in 2006, an avid fan of my old Rhetoric Tuesday material from 2002 wrote me an email that expressed his disappointment in the new direction of my music. He was adamant that I should return to my old ways because the new stuff wasn’t any good.
While my older music was a bit more pop-oriented and instantly appealing, my Lander: Orange Chrome Sky record had its own heartbeat and spirit — a darker piece but, in my eyes, equal in quality. Less instant gratification but more sophistication. Of course, he did not see the forest for the trees.
In the end I wrote him a calm and collected email explaining that I was sorry to have fallen short of his expectations but as a human, I was entitled to change and as an artist, growth was inevitable. I left it at that — who knows what he took from that retort.
In all, this song is 16 metaphors of growth and an artsy piece that argues that growth is not only healthy, but inevitable. Enjoy We Grow.
Learn more about the process of writing the metaphors behind We Grow!!
DOWNLOAD “WE GROW” on CD Baby or iTunes!!
[audio:http://www.tylerstenson.com/audio/wheel/we-grow.mp3|titles=tylerstenson.com,We Grow]WE GROW
by tyler stenson © 2010
I heard you say that you wish I stayed
An older version of me — long before my change.
But, if we’re not growing we are staying the same,
So I will welcome the change and stretch myself day to day.
We’re entitled to change because we grow
Like blown up balloons.
Like the flare at the end of a spoon.
Like one note becoming a tune.
Like the city lights in the darkening blue–
The change is gonna happen real slow
But not a day goes by we don’t grow.
If a seed can grow into a tree
And if that tree can grow leaves,
I ask, how is that different than me?
Because we both breathe and we come from the dirt
And that’s where we will return
When both of our seasons fade.
We’re entitled to change because we grow
Like one into two.
Like the eleventh hour turning to noon,
Then May slow fades into June,
Then you’re a grownup in your childhood room–
The change is gonna happen real slow
But not a day goes by we don’t grow.
If we’re not growing, we are staying the same
So, I will welcome the change and stretch myself day to day.
We’re entitled to change because we grow
Like a high tide caused by that moon.
Like a flower knowing Spring is coming soon.
Like wings inside a cocoon,
(Or anything else that is destine to bloom)–
Like our faith in the things we know to be true
Or like the courage found in the wine and the booze–
The change is gonna happen real slow
But not a day goes by we don’t grow.
DOWNLOAD “WE GROW” on CD Baby or iTunes!!
As an aside, a group of second graders recently studied my song as a lesson in metaphors. To my everlasting joy, they’ve written their own set of metaphors and recorded their own version of We Grow. Give it a listen!!
WE GROW
By Mr Bushman’s 2nd Grade Class
[audio:http://www.tylerstenson.com/audio/other/mr-bushmans-class-sings-we-grow.mp3|titles=tylerstenson.com,Mr Bushman’s 2nd Grade Class Sings We Grow]