The Land of Wake Believe

I wrote a song recently about my grampa’s use of colorful language, and was thinking about how much my brother and I meant to him. I have a letter that he sent to me within days of my being born. I was often told that he thought that I was the greatest thing ever, and that not only helped to carry me through some darkness as a kid, but has meant a lot to me in my life… just knowing that was possible.

I have also been going over a lot of other music, and yesterday I listened to “Brave” (Sara Bareilles, Jack Antonoff) and “Just One Person” (Hal Hackedy, Larry Grossman) dozens of times apiece. There are times when I will listen to an album on repeat for days on end, which I am given to understand can be associated with autism… and/or just really good music.

I’ve already written a kind of anthem about being different, but I was struck by the expression of intense belief in somebody overlapping with what my grampa’s esteem meant to me. So I naturally  decided to write songs for my kids (who are adults now) telling them how much I believe in them; I mean, I’m sure that they already know… but still.

I decided to start with my elder son, and found myself to be fascinated with a notion that was calling itself “The Land of Wake Believe.” This morning (June 9, 2024), I searched around and found no instances of this phrase in use, much to my delight, because I really like it.

Did I mention that in addition to being Autistic, we are sinaesthetes/ideasthetes?

So today I wrote this song. (The cover is derived from stock. A leopard chameleon is a real thing in the waking world.)

And I have two more children for whom to write songs.

And then the niblings. 

It occurs to me that my grand song-writing ambition(s) might have written a check that my amateur talent(s) cannot cash.

This is going to be a busy summer.

Busier.

Here are the lyrics.