What If You Knew distills risk and tenacity into raw lyricism. Intimate melodies and harmonies floating over piano and acoustic guitar give voice to the communal power of women, hope echoed in birdsong, courage to awaken creative dreams, and the heft of unconditional love.
1. What If You Knew
2. Hear It Sing
3. Fly on the Wall
4. Nothing You Can Do
Written, performed, and produced by Maria and Christopher Clymer Kurtz
Mixing and design: Christopher Clymer Kurtz
Mastering: Chad Altenberger
Album art: Bonita Stutzman (modified with permission)
Thanks to the Over the Rhine Nowhere Else songwriting workshop participants for affirmation,
Seth Crissman of the Walking Roots Band for use of the sweet microphone,
Jim Cole for sage counsel and encouragement, and
Nathan May of Audio Umbrella for detailed insights and suggestions
Lyrics
What If You Knew
© 2023 by Maria and Christopher Clymer Kurtz
Inspired by Judith Duerk’s Circle of Stones
Responses to a live performance of “What If You Knew”: “We just saw it live, and I cried” – “Chills. This song is unearthly beautiful. When I close my eyes I see a lonely mountain range and can imagine this melody ringing from peak to peak. Absolutely extraordinary” – “Holy sh*t! Holy, holy, holy!”
What if you knew whenever clouds roll in
Elder women would sit with you
And they’d listen to everything
You’re going through
What if you knew
Another long night, stuck in your head
Pacing the floor
Don’t know where to turn, feeling alone
They’ve been here before
Morning light, dull and gray
Under the door
You feel the weight of another day
They’ve been here before
In the clouds (aunts, friends and mothers)
Call our names out loud (sisters, grandmothers)
What if you knew, if only you knew
Deep in the earth (you can hear it)
Every new birth (don’t fear it)
Lift up your voice, lift up your voice
Hear It Sing
© 2023 by Maria and Christopher Clymer Kurtz
In my heart where no one goes
There’s a tiny feathered thing
In the quiet of the night
I can almost hear it sing
Wild geese fly above the clouds
I’m stranded here below
Wind is blowing where it will
Shield my eyes, watch them go
I’d be soaring on the wind
If I had a pair of wings
Over woods and frozen fields
I could see everything
A hundred sparrows greet the sun
Rain gathers in the west
Green is sprouting by my toes
First flower’s always best
Lilies blooming on the hill
In the meadow swallows feed
Watch them rise, watch them fall
Finding what they need
In my heart where no one goes
There’s a tiny feathered thing
In the quiet of the night
I can almost hear it sing
Fly on the Wall
© 2023 by Christopher and Maria Clymer Kurtz
I’ve been a fly on the wall
I’d find a corner
Stand back to watch
But there’s something deep in me
That won’t be quiet
That I need to sing
Are you a fly on the wall
Do you find a corner
Stand back to watch
Are you dreaming something new
That calls for courage
That pulls you through
What do you do with a waiting dream
Locked inside, unheard, unseen
What do you do with a waiting dream
A whisper or a rising scream
What do you do with a waiting dream
What will it take to set it free
I’ve been a fly on the wall
Do you, too, stand back to watch
What dream is waiting to be heard and seen
What dreams are waiting to be heard and seen
Nothing You Can Do
© 2023 by Christopher and Maria Clymer Kurtz
There’s nothing
There’s nothing
There’s nothing you can do
to make me stop loving you
I carried you
In my heart I still do
So there’s nothing you can do
You carried me
In your heart you still do
And there’s nothing I could do
Now I will carry you
There’s nothing you can do
There’s nothing you can be
There’s nothing you can do
to make me stop loving you