This year I am recording twelve songs to my 4-track tape machine and sharing them exclusively with subscribers to this newsletter. All songs in the series may be downloaded for free by clicking the three dots to the right of the play button on the media player.
The name Robert, which is the name of my two-year-old son, means “bright glory.” Its origins are proto-Germanic, from the words for “flame” and “bright”. People also use the translations “shining with glory”, “godlike brightness”. I like to use the adjective “resplendent”. It’s a great name for a two-year-old.
In a few more months, our family is expecting another child (inshallah), and I wrote this song for Robert as I look ahead to all of the ways his life will change (again: inshallah).
The phrase “inshallah”, as you probably know, is Arabic. It means “if God wills”. As the Qur’an teaches: “never say of anything, ‘I will do this tomorrow’ without adding, ‘if God so wills’.” Now that I’m a father, this makes more sense to me than ever.
Having a child has been a visceral encounter with my own contingency. There is a new human coming into existence. So have I. I’m holding a newborn who is of my own flesh, and yet persists in a brand new independence by some older magic.
I guess that’s the lesson: I am not of my own. I hardly know what I am. The meaning of my existence is not a problem or a puzzle I can solve. That I exist (that anything exists!), this is given.
About the song
Some of you might already be familiar with this song. “Bright Glory” was released a head of this post as a bonus track in the “deluxe” Bandcamp edition of my new single, “It’s So Easy to Love You”, which came out on Father’s Day Weekend. They are sibling songs that share different moments in one larger story. “It’s So Easy to Love You” is addressed to my son as an infant, a reflection on the bright light it has been my vocation as a father to recognize shining out of that little baby. This second song is about recognizing the source of that light as we anticipate something and someone new.
This month’s collage reminds me again why I so love this medium. Gathering ephemera and discarded scraps to assembling a collage invites a kind of fugue state. Elements from alien contexts will demand to be next to one another. Accidental colour combinations will suddenly bring order and symmetry to otherwise random scraps of paper. It really does start to feel like the scraps of images are speaking for themselves, like I’m just tuning into a conversation that is incidental to whatever plans I have for the piece. It’s only after I finish a batch of collages that I start matching them to already finished songs. The synergies that arise are often a complete surprise to me. In this case, the child with the older man are an obvious enough reference, but when they are set along aside images of water and the autumn leaves of a tree only weeks away from nakedness. Or how about that bit of Peter Paul Reuben’s “The Circumcision” peaking out at the top? Sublime.
Lyrics
Your name means bright glory.
That’s what I see shining in you.
You’ve been growing up so strong.
You’re getting taller and singing your song.But soon, there’ll be another,
a sister or brother,
inshallah, before the winter,
not too much longer.
And in time, the snow will fall.
We'll gather up our memories
big and the small,
as time shows us all
how to rest in bright glory,
inshallah.And when the new one comes,
I can't wait to see you hold their hand.
And when you feel alone,
I'll pull you close and remember where you began.
It’s So Easy to Love You
As I mentioned above, this song is actually the second song I’m sharing this month. The first is a new song released to streaming platforms everywhere on the Friday before Father’s Day weekend. It’s called “It’s So Easy to Love You.”
To celebrate the song, I made this lyric video featuring baby photos from my own first few years of life as a tribute to my wonderful parents.
The roll out for this song has been as humbling as it has been a celebration. Thanks to all of you who have listened to it, shared it with friends and family, and purchased it on Bandcamp.
If you would like to support this newsletter and the art I’ve been working on, buying the deluxe edition of “It’s So Easy to Love You” is the best way to do so.
As always, thank you for listening! See you next time.
—Matthew
Previous Tracks
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🪕 Listen to last year’s new songs, “Water in my Mind” and “The Grey Line.”
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