A few months ago I was asked to be a guest on an episode of the podcast Song/Writer, which pairs authors and poets with songwriters creating works around a central theme. I was paired with an incredible poet named Ina Cariño, who released a stunning collection of works called Feast in 2023 which I absolutely loved.
Ina was asked to write around the subject of Empathy, and I was to write a response to her work. As I read her poem and chewed on the idea, my mind couldn’t stop gravitating to the horrific daily reports coming out of Palestine and how my very concept of empathy was being strained to its fibers as I witnessed displays of both brutality against fellow humans and indifference to fellow humans in real time on tiny screens.
I loved the image of bird murmurations she used in her poem. It struck me as a beautiful physicalization of empathy; individual units operating as a larger whole, moving as if directed by a larger collective consciousness. I knew this image would be the foundation of the song but I was not sure how. It just sat in the back of my mind as I hacked away.
Early on in the sketch process I came upon a line that I liked, “I am free when you are free.” but I kept trying and failing to land it in the song. Sometimes getting too attached to a line early on leads one into a dead end as you box yourself in too early. As the days wore on and I wasn’t able to land this line I was worried that I had done exactly that, and I tried to scrap the idea several times and start in a totally different direction, only to come crawling back to the line later. After six days of sitting down and just getting completely skunked, the muse finally decided to throw me a bone and I found a way to incorporate the line in a way that I liked. Once I had that template, I was able to finish the rest of the song in a couple more sessions. It turned out that Ina also plays violin, so I had her play strings on the recording. Empathy scientist Sara Nila, also featured on the episode, sings harmony vocals on the song.
(The song is exclusively available on BANDCAMP.. 100% of proceeds will support the work of World Central Kitchen in Gaza.)
The Song/Writer podcast episode will be released in September.
lyrics
What if I can learn to fly
In swirling clouds across the sky
You are soaring next to me
I am free when you are free
What if I can learn to sing
A strangers foreign melody
Hear your heart in every beat
I am free when you are free
Only God can understand
Where I stop and you begin
Giant shapes too big to see
I feel the murmur in the breeze
I am free when you are free
What if I could learn to fight
The fear that made me choose a side
I can feel it when you bleed
I am free when you are free
What if I could learn to see
That your blood flows inside of me
Like a river to the sea
I am free when you are free
Like a river to the sea
I am free when you are free
credits
Written by Alex Wong, based on a poem by Ina Cariño
Lead vocals, guitar, piano, keyboards, string arrangement by Alex Wong
Violin by Ina Cariño
Harmony Vocals by Sara Nila
Produced, recorded and mixed by Alex Wong