The Story Behind "Flowers"

Each week I will be sharing a story about one of the songs from the upcoming album: The Heart is a Persistent Beast.  Enclosed is a story about Flowers.  This song is very dear to me. It came to me in pieces at first but eventually took an unusually solid shape in my mind. 

It all started with my garden.  I noticed some unusual flowers in my backyard that I had never seen before.  They came out of nowhere and they were beautiful and strange.  I thought to myself, "Flowers I've never seen are rising from my garden."  Quickly, I went to write it down. 

I loved the metaphors that came to me along with those words.  As we grow and evolve we see new things about ourselves:  Blossoms unfolding, if you will. Flowers rising... 

At the time, this was just a sentence written in my journal and nothing more. 

Months later I was walking down the street in San Francisco.  I was feeling heart broken, yet resilient, when some lyrics along with melody came to me all at once.  "Hearts sometimes hurt, yet we can’t live without them".  I took out my phone and recorded it.  (This later became the chorus.) 

During the same walk, I remembered the line about the flowers rising from my garden.  And a melody came to me with those lyrics.  Again I took out my phone and recorded that part while still walking.  (This became the bridge of the song which I also affectionately refer to as "the flowers section".)   😊 

Like I said, it came to me in pieces over several months.  Eventually I sat down at the piano and started to hash out the chords, and that's when I wrote the verses. This line is very true to me and I'd like to share it with you: 

"I recognize the risks of passion, but the dampening of my senses is a waste of my time." 

I finished the rest of the words, melody and piano. But soon after, the song really began to grow and take shape until the entire piece from beginning to end had a life of it's own that was all in my head.  To get it out into the world I would need my voice, harmonies, piano, drums, bass, string quintet, electric guitar, and a wurlitzer piano.  And it's happening!  We start recording next week. 

Flowers is a song about love, heartache, and how all the challenges within each relationship force us to grow. 

I'm so thrilled to be sharing this story with you.  And I hope you've enjoyed it.   If you'd like to receive these stories in your email please sign up for my mailing list!  

Take Care, 

~Amy