- originally published December 18, 2017 -
Dawn is a song about perseverance. It’s about wrestling with questions and facing the unknown, even if it means staying up all night, metaphorically or literally, while you move through whatever it is. In the past I’ve written a lot of songs with lyrics that are more “wordy” (I love words) – so for this song, I wanted to write something that was more straight-forward and declarative. I ended up singing the lyrics and melody to myself for the first time on the way to the dry-cleaners on a January evening.
*If you joined the live Q&A that I did on facebook on the eve of the EP release (here’s a link to the replay if you missed it!), then you heard this anecdote: a couple of days before the EP released, I was driving down the same road that I had taken to the dry cleaners on that January evening last winter. There was a street sign leading to a small, offshoot road…and I suddenly read the name on the sign: “DAWN DR.” I kind of gasped and started laughing, realizing that I had probably read that sign subconsciously before making up the song. It didn’t register in my mind because, at that point in time, I had no idea that it was going to turn into something that I would end up releasing, let alone the inspiration for the title of an EP!
Anyway, back to the serious description: I was thinking about how easy it is to unintentionally give up on something that is actually important to us (note: there’s a huge difference between good, intentional rest, and just giving up). A lot of times we aren’t faced with two options: keep going, or don’t. Apathy creeps in slowly, and usually in disguise. It’s easy to say we’re not going to give up when things are looking promising, but when you’re facing what seems like complete failure or an unknown future, that’s when the choice becomes real. It takes real faith and grace to see it through until that literal or metaphorical dawn.
LISTEN TO THE SONG HERE: fanlink.to/RorieDawnEP
