After the Storm
After the storm, all is frozen and silent
As if the world is waiting, uncertain what will be
After the storm, somehow time is suspended
Everything we thought we knew just ended suddenly
After the storm
After the storm
After the storm, we’ll examine the damage
Figure out how much of what we fashioned still exists
After the storm, there’s so much left unspoken
As we wonder whether what’s been broken can be fixed
After the storm
After the storm
It shouldn't be surprising
The pressure had been rising
Of course there’s a moment when everything just starts to fall
After the storm, there is grace in destruction
When you’ve done all you can hope to do a crisis makes you calm
After the storm our resolve still unsteady
This may be what we need to get us ready to move on
After the storm
After the storm
After the storm
After the storm
© Beth DeSombre 2022 (FAWM #3)(Fearless #1)
@sherrycanary Mar 2022
Beautiful picking and melody.
The lyrics capture the existential time we are in.
Love the last verse.
Beautiful and sensitive vocals
@oswlek Feb 2022
This is engrossing. The picking pattern sets a shimmery stage that the melody dances gracefully across. Gorgeous peaks and valleys, and it's always great when the guitar and vocal can come together like you do on "it shouldn't be". There's another great synching between the guitar and the high melody on "after" at 0:35.
The lyrics are terrific. Moving in and of themselves. They remind me of one of my favorite songs, "After the Bombs" by the Decemberists. Not quite the same, but definitely of the same mind. If you don't know that song, I implore you to go and check it out right now. I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that it will knock your socks off as much as it does mine.
Great writing, Beth. My favorite of yours by a wide margin.
@tamsnumber4 Feb 2022
Such a pretty melody and the ideas of moving on are very hopeful.
@kenmattsson Feb 2022
+1 to what everyone has said. Some really graceful lyrics with so much openness to interpretation. Your picking is always lovely. Nice job.
@pfaffbrill Feb 2022
What can I say? I am a fan!
@eas3637 Feb 2022
I really, really like this one a lot, Beth. The overlay of the storm in nature with the other "storms" that you refer to obliquely is so well done and not at all overstated. This gives your descriptive language so much depth: phrases like "Figure out how much of what we fashioned still exists" and "there is grace in destruction" have all kinds of other meaning to consider. I love the mysterious "we" - is it you and a loved one? it it all of us? And also, structurally, so many nice things here - the gorgeous picking pattern (what are those chords?), your repetition of "after the storm" to bring on the sense of calm, the subtle internal rhymes (unspoken/broken). I'm going to go back and listen to this one lots more.
@wurzelfrau Feb 2022
So hopeful and beautiful.
@tawny249 Feb 2022
I love the structure of this. The chorus is so brief but poignantly sung, and the internal rhymes make it that much richer. Wonderful guitar as always, and I enjoy that chord you end with - it felt slightly unfinished, as if there were more to come, just as new beginnings should feel.
@hmstreetteam Feb 2022
Beautiful as always. It is something a little different to hear you take on a large-scale experience that millions of people are connected to all at once. The lines about time being suspended are a surreal detail that only those who have been through something similar can attest to. It’s good to have songwriters paying close attention and documenting what we go through.
@tukayandryan Feb 2022
Beautiful finger picking. Awesome use of metaphor. And as always such a lovely vocal.
@philhenry Feb 2022
This is a different sort of melody than I've heard you do, in the verses, in particular, with the high notes dropping. And the triplet kind of feel in the bridge. Really nice melodic work!
@terriellen Feb 2022
Very beautiful! Love your finger picked guitar! Great job!