It's Hard to Start a Fire in the Rain

10 weeks ago by @newukenewyork · @stephenwordsmith

Liner Notes

“It's Hard To Start a Fire in the Rain” - #fawm 50/90 2024 song 5

I think a number of us read these lyrics by @stephenwordsmith and heard them singing off the page. I know I did. I wonder how many different interpretations will surface? I wanted to create a melody that sounded classic, like something that harkens back to songs like “Simple Gifts” or “Hard Times Come Again No More,” and I tried to do something spare and harp-like with my ukulele.

I sang one word wrong but will fix that in the future. I didn’t mean to change the lyrics in any way.

#fuc #acoustic #acousticonetake #ukulele #personwithukulele #onetake #girlwithukulele #singersongwriter #collab #collaboration

Lyrics

Lyrics: @stephenwordsmith

There's nothing but the nothingness before the silver spark
That summons the illusions to illuminate the dark
The blood is cold, the spirit low, the mind a weathered plain
And it's hard to start a fire in the rain, in the rain
It's hard to start a fire in the rain

No matter how we wend the way, the first step's always trying
So armed with willing sticks of wood and will of well-wrought iron
And versed so well in what it takes to rub without refrain
But it's hard to start a fire in the rain, in the rain
It's hard to start a fire in the rain

The trickle through your fingertips of thoughts that hold too long
The shush of records broken on the promise of a song
The flicker of a line that leaps and falters just as fast
The sputter of a first light that could never hope to last

So once again we set our soul into the sparks that fly
To burden them with bursts of life, to burn alive and die
To help us find the fortitude to fall and rise again
For it's hard to start a fire in the rain, in the rain
It's hard to start a fire in the rain

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