Spiral Notebook (Little Spiral Notebook)

from Samples by Heather Aubrey Lloyd

/

about

Being on tour backing Dar Williams on percussion and vocals for 26 days didn't keep Heather from submitting her challenge song on time! She wrote in the green rooms across a handful of towns, and borrowed Dar's guitar post soundcheck to film a video to send home by the deadline. That process shaped the writing of the song, a nostalgic tour of the notebooks - full or left empty - waiting on her bookshelf back home, and the way we come back, over and over again, to retrace the spiral bindings and resume habitual love affairs.

Footnotes:
Original video of the song from on tour with Dar:
youtu.be/klFGRwJpn5c

lyrics

Shelves full of notebooks too nice to write in
handmade paper one you bought me in Thailand
leather-bound gold leaf for my last birthday
all of them beautiful all of them empty

I don't have pretty words for pretty pages
my heart comes out messy scratched out in places
all of that binding intimidating
no place at all for my little writing

But the ones that are full
are simple and casual
adorned with nothing
more than a spiral
these are the pages
I keep coming back to
keep coming back to.

You were so tall you took up my notebook
I started another our story was long
and I wrote you novels avoiding the hole punches
trio of pitfalls we danced along

And our love was full
simple and comfortable
adorned with nothing more than a spiral
we were the people, we kept coming back to
kept coming back to

Each like a staircase I flip the pages
watch our home movies unfold at the corners
but despite all my hopes we'll never be bound
in the beautiful covers no, we are found
in the plain white sheets I'm compelled to fill
replacing the ones we kept coming back to until

Shelves full of notebooks I can't bear to look at
pages and pages I can't throw away
you never know when a word might turn useful
when all you once wrote becomes all you can say

And my heart was full
simple and beautiful
adorned with nothing more than a spiral
these are the words I keep coming back to keep coming back to
I keep coming back to.

credits

from Samples, released August 1, 2010

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

Heather Aubrey Lloyd image

Heather Aubrey Lloyd Baltimore, Maryland

Recovering reporter turned songwriter, Heather Aubrey Lloyd also co-fronts Baltimore’s ilyAIMY. Her 2017 solo release, “A Message in the Mess,” spotlights Lloyd’s emotive alto and a polished departure from her band’s alt-folk grit. Awards from the likes of No Depression Magazine, Telluride Troubadour, National Women’s Music Fest, etc. soon followed. Lloyd will release new music in late 2020. ... more

contact / help

Contact Heather Aubrey Lloyd

Streaming and
Download help

Report this track or account

If you like Heather Aubrey Lloyd, you may also like:

Bandcamp Daily  your guide to the world of Bandcamp

On Bandcamp Radio

Featured guests are the golden-voiced Baby Rose and psyche soulsters Brainstory.
listen now