Photo credit: WANDAROCKS (Wanda Ruggeria)
Julie Flanders is a master lyrical shape-shifter. Over the years, her award-winning songwriting skills (honed since her teens) have morphed into related manifestations as a bestselling poet and her use of neuro-linguistic programming in her hypnosis/ coaching practice. We thought Flanders was an ideal person to rev up our Ideablog’s “Discoveries” theme because her varied portfolio of career successes is a case study of what great things can happen when one never gives up on discovering—especially the untapped potential within oneself. As she writes here, she didn’t set out to write a book of poetry, but as a lifelong collaborative creator, she wanted to reconnect her own independent spark which eventually coalesced into her poetry collection Joyride. And she continues to explore new musical forms with her band, “The October Project” which has released (in their namesake month!) their latest album, “The Book of Rounds: 21 Songs of Grace,” resplendent with their signature: mesmerizingly moody layered harmonies. We predict these will cast as powerful a hypnotic spell on you as they have upon our office. As October always heralds the seasonal shift towards the colder, contemplative months of the year, we wish you the thrill of unexpected discoveries.
~Victoria C. Rowan, Ideasmyth Creatrix-in-Chief
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“They tried to bury us. They didn’t know we were seeds.”
– Mexican proverb
Today, I offer the song “Bury My Lovely,” for which I wrote the lyrics and co-wrote the video treatment with director Josh Taft. Emil Adler composed the music.
People ask me what the title means. I ask them what it means to them. I believe songs unlock their meaning in the heart of the listener. My meaning for a song is often not nearly as good as “meanings” I’ve been offered by others listening through their own lens of experience.
When we have buried parts of ourselves, music helps sing those parts alive. And the creative process empowers the seeds to grow through obstacles into the light.
“Bury My Lovely” surprised everyone by being our first single and creating a huge success. It was an odd song–anything but your average subject matter–and yet it proved that many people prefer substantive songs and challenging albums to inane corporate sugar-pop. This song launched October Project’s career and connected us to a worldwide audience of kindred spirits.
Bury My Lovely
(Julie Flanders / Emil Adler)
Cover the mirror
Hide in your dreams
Forget what they told you
Forget what it means
A picture worth a thousand lies
The memory and the mirror
Nothing but what came before
Nothing but a closing door
A picture worth a thousand lies
A thousand words
A thousand eyes
Bury my lovely
Hide in your room
Bury my lovely
Forget me soon
Forget me
Forget me now
Forget me not
Cover the madness
Cover the fear
No one will ever
Know you were here
A figure in the hallway light
Returning like a ghost
Something that was left behind
Something in a child’s mind
A picture worth a thousand lies
A thousand words
A thousand eyes
Bury my lovely
Hide in your room
Bury my lovely
Forget me soon
Forget me
Forget me now
Forget me not
Bury my lovely
Bury the lies
Bury me under
A thousand goodbyes
A shadow from another time
Is waiting in the night
Something happened long ago
Something that will not let go
Bury my lovely
Hide in your room
Bury my lovely
Forget me soon
Forget me
Forget me now
Forget me not
See more of Julie Flanders’ Featured Creative posts on our Ideablog
~~~#1 Bestselling Amazon author, Julie Flanders is known for her passionate and haunting texts.
With deceptively simple words, she guides readers through the mysteries of the familiar to a deeper understanding of life and love, death and loss, miracles of perception, and the magic of the ordinary.
An award-winning songwriter, Flanders is the lyricist for the band, October Project, which she co-founded with composer Emil Adler, and which is still celebrated for its two groundbreaking albums recorded for Epic Records that together have sold over 1/2 million copies worldwide. October Project is set to release its newest studio album, The Ghost of Childhood, in 2016.
Flanders’ songs with many artists have been widely featured on television and in film. She is considered an innovator in both the creation and marketing of independent music. Her newest work, The Book of Rounds: 21 Songs of Grace, an original cycle of musical rounds, is being released by Sounds True Records in September of 2015.
Flanders is also an acclaimed Achievement Expert and Master Success Coach, mentoring creative leaders and innovators and forward-thinkers in business, design and the arts. Her client list includes business visionaries, Academy Award winners, New York Times best-selling authors, and social influencers who are shaping the future now.
