Song Club #49: Hope

How music pulls us toward optimistic possibilities.

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Right now, most people I know are wrestling with hope—trying to figure what it means have any in times of treacherous uncertainty. There is a sense that hope must take new shapes, though the shapes remain unknown.

Music can be both a balm and a catalyst when hope is in short supply. The act of listening, playing, dancing can pull us toward optimistic possibilities. It soothes. It uplifts.

Though most songs aren’t about hope, I would argue most songs are inherently hopeful: offering new, beautiful ways of seeing the world; creating life and movement literally out of air; saying ‘I don’t know but perhaps this wonderful thing could be true!’

I think perhaps writing a song about hope is a fools errand, but to contend with hope is to contend truthfully with what we desire for ourselves and each other, and that is the very essence of songwriting.

So this week, here are some entry points for songwriting anchored in that exploration.

Big love and keep going,
Lucy

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