Awaken
Dear Listener,
Awaken was created as an existential deep-dive. What does it mean to be a human? What is actually happening here, in this miracle we call existence? Who and what are we really, and what are the implications of the reality of us?
Awaken is about waking up to the reality of our essential sameness – to the mysterious, aware life force that we all are. It is about waking up to the reality of our connectedness – not just as a nice idea, but in a way where we know this connectedness deep down in our bones. The songs reflect on our connections to each other, to the earth, to our own selves, and to all of life, along with speaking to the moments in our lives when we become keenly aware of the mysterious magic we are dancing in.
All of the songs on Awaken, are, in their deepest essence, prayers of the heart. May we awaken to our essential sameness, and to the wondrous miracle of this human existence. May we allow this awakeness to inform the way we move through this world of time and space. And may we embrace the wholeness of life, seeing love all the way through until it breaks our hearts, and seeing heartbreak all the way through until love meets us again.
Thank you for listening, pondering, wondering, and for giving of your precious time and attention to this creation of the heart.
Love and blessings to each one of you,
Emily
ALBUM CREDITS
Produced by Emily Joan Smith, Barry T. Smith, and Anne Gauthier
Emily Joan Smith: vocals, acoustic guitar, piano, harmonium, ukelele, pump organ, synths
Barry T. Smith: electric guitar, bass guitar, vocals (1,2,6,7,10,11), acoustic guitar (2,7), drumset and percussion (1,2,6,10,11,12)
Charles Bingham: percussion (6,10)
Shawna Dellecave: vocals (6) and group singer (6,10)
Leo and Zora Smith: vocals (11)
Claire Bridges, Stephanie Mattingly, Charles Mitchell: group singers (6,10)
Photos and design by Barry T. Smith
Recorded, engineered, and mixed by Anne Gauthier at La La Land Studios in Louisville, KY
Mastered by Harold LaRue at haroldlaruemastering.com
All songs written by Emily Joan Smith
My Sea and My Shore (7) co-written with Barry T. Smith
IN DEEPEST GRATITUDE
Thank you Mom and Dad, for always unconditionally loving me, supporting me, believing in me, and loving my music.
Thank you Dad, for teaching me how to play guitar, for filling my childhood with your beautiful playing and gentle singing, and for giving me a love of great music. Thank you, Mom, for singing to me from my very first heartbeat.
Thank you to my love Barry, for your constant and loving partnership, wisdom, generosity, talent, and devoted time and attention to the creation of this project.
Thank you to my children Leo and Zora, for breaking my heart open in love every day.
Thank you to my siblings and their families, to my extended family, and to my friends, for always surrounding me with love and for always cheering me on.
Thank you to all of my friends, family, and supporters who funded this project, playing a critical role in making it manifest.
Thank you to Anne Gauthier, for your extensive time, expertise, and kindness.
Thank you to Charles Bingham, Shawna Dellecave, Charles Mitchell, Claire Bridges, and Stephanie Mattingly, and to everyone else I’ve ever joined hearts with by making music together (there are so many of you).
Thank you to Adyashanti, for being a most powerful, constant guide and teacher of the dharma.
Thank you to my Grandpa George, who always loved hearing me sing, and who, even now in Spirit, continues to encourage me to write and sing my own music.
LYRICS
Human
Somewhere on this land, underneath this sky,
your body draws breath, your being wonders why.
And will you ever see how precious you are?
Rise up from your dreams, look deeply with your heart.
Oh Wonder of Life, Wonder of Love,
I fall so many times, I am human after all…
Born with eyes to see, and a heart to know it clear,
and anxiety and loneliness and fear.
And every moment that we wish we could take back,
a chance to finally see the truth of you and me.
Revealer of Life, Revealer of Love,
I fall so many times, I am human after all…
Song of Life, Song of Love,
may I dance through space and time embracing it all…
The Earth in Our Blood
Echos of the summer in your hair.
We stop to catch the light of evening sun.
We swim until the cold reaches our bones.
You write to me a letter of your love.
Oh sing to me of the times we opened our eyes
and started to see that we could see,
and that life it beats our hearts and breathes us to be.
I hold you in a glance, my face in my hands,
my heart in my head, your hand in my hand,
the earth in our blood, our bodies, our land.
Dancing in a tiny living room.
Saying goodbye when it feels too soon.
Weeping till the sun rises again.
Holding both our babies in our arms.
Baba Hanuman
Sita ram, sita ram, sita ram, jai jai hanuman
Jaya siya ram jai jai hanuman, hanuman
Jaya siya ram jai jai hanuman, baba hanuman
Hare krishna hare krishna krishna krishna hare hare
hare rama hare rama rama rama hare hare
Om tare tutare ture svaha Om tare tutare ture svaha, hanuman
Om tare tutare ture svaha, baba hanuman.
Interpretation: Dearest Hanuman, make me full of courage and devotion, just as you are for ram and sita. May my devotion carry me like the wind to the depths of what is True. Dearest Hanuman, may you and Tara guide me, may I embody the Truth and help bring it into this world of time of space. May your devotion come alive in me.
Magdalene
You left your home and traveled desert by-ways,
following a man, following your heart.
Those who looked upon you couldn’t understand how
the Bringer of Light, he set you apart.
Holy Magdalene…Mary Magdalene….
Sometimes when the water dances on the sunlight,
I can’t believe I’m breathing, can’t believe I Am.
What were the answers on the missing pages?
The wonder of a heartbeat, the wonder of I Am.
We are interwoven, in and with each other, nature and creature, a love that knows no other, a love that reaches all, human and divine.
Mother
Mother, I am made of you, clouds and stone, water, sinew.
Stardust, your trees my breath,
comprised and reared, held in your atmosphere.
You are my home, your beauty wakens me.
Enraptured with your life, stillness, and majesty.
Oh Mother I am you, open my eyes, so I know it’s true.
Oh Mother I am you.
Absolute breath-taking wonderment
when I realize how you give and give and give.
You are my air, your magic wakens me.
I’m alive in you, I fall in gratitude.
Oh Mother we are you, open our eyes so we know it’s true.
Oh Mother we are you, open our hearts so we know that it’s true.
Heartbreak, when I see what I have done.
Forgive me, please. I am good at forgetting.
Jai Ma
Jai jai jai ma, jai jai ma, jai jai ma
Heal, heal our hearts, heal our hearts, jai jai ma
Heal, heal our world, heal our world, jai jai ma
Free, free our hearts, free our hearts, jai jai ma
Free, free our world, free our world, jai jai ma
Jai, jai jai ma, mother of love, jai jai ma
Interpretation: Victory to you, Mother of Love, Sacred Feminine, Divine Goddess. May you help us heal our hearts, so that we may heal the world. May you help us free our hearts, so that we may free the world. Victory to you, Mother of Love.
My Sea and My Shore
Brother dear, if you feel you have no voice sing with me, sing with me. Brother dear, if you feel you have no home live with me, live with me. Mother dear, if you fear I’ve lost my faith pray with me, pray with me. Mother dear, if you feel you have no strength lean on me, lean on me.
Sister dear, if you have a broken heart weep with me, weep with me. Sister dear, if you’re afraid to show your face let me see, let me see. Father dear, when the day comes to an end rest with me, rest with me. Father dear, when your time has come to die go in peace, go in peace.
In the cold winter winds and when summer begins,
in what is and has been, may the peace of love win.
When I’m rich, when I’m poor, may I open my door
and my sea and my shore and my heart evermore.
Friend of mine, when I’m tempted to despair help me stand, help me stand.
Friend of mine, when my hope begins to fade hold my hand, hold my hand.
Neighbor mine, when I’m lost and unaware help me see, help me see. Lover mine, when I’m lonely and afraid be with me, be with me.
The Love We Come From
Bittersweet september and I’m missing you and moved by northern trees,
and the love we come from, Joan and George reminding me.
Miles and miles of sacred highway, you and me, and what is meant to be.
The questioning of freedom, and the return of everything.
Oh Love, how you are loved. Through all your days, remember me loving you.
There is laughter there is singing, there is happiness and beauty.
We have shelter and clean water, breezes, sunlight, and the wonder. Lungs that breathe and hearts that beat and through it all, there’s being here with you.
If there’s one thing you do please remember me loving you.
Voyagers
Who can we blame?
We’re just pieces of the one, the same fractured heart,
feeling love, feeling pain.
I reach for your hand,
and try to understand and see you as you are,
shining star, voyager of light.
And I know no better than you my friend, than you my friend.
And I know no answers, thank God, thank God,
stop me in my tracks and let me start again,
feel for you, reach for your hand.
Look with your heart, it knows the way,
it recognizes all the stars, shining stars, voyagers of light.
And I know no answers, though I hear the silence say,
“Return to your light, and shine, and shine, in the simplest of times, the smallest ways.”
See with your heart, it knows the way, it recognizes all the stars, voyagers of light.
Journey on…
Oh Great Love
Hare krishna hare krishna krishna krishna hare hare
hare rama hare rama rama rama hare hare
Sita sita sita ram sita sita sita ram
Jai jai jai hanuman jai jai jai hanuman
Christ within me, Christ before me
Om tare tutare ture svaha
Oh great love, awaken in us. Oh great love, awaken as us.
Interpretation: Oh great love, sacred truth, divine reality, oh One that is the nameless name of all holy names, awaken in us, as us.
The Deepest Love
I don’t care what you say, or what you don’t say,
or what you do, or what we do, I just want to be with you.
I don’t care who you love. I do hope you feel love.
It’s here in me, it’s here in you, please remember me loving you.
The deepest love says…
I’m breathing you in, I’m breathing in your loveliness.
In silent space, by magic grace, to consciously be with you,
awake and to be here with you.
To let you be free, to let you be how you were made to be. To let you be or not be with me. To let you be just as you are, a shining star.
Awaken
Om namah sivaya
Lokaha samastaha sukhino buvhantu
Om shanti
Awaken in me. Awaken.
Interpretation: Oh nameless name of all that is holy, may all beings be happy, may all beings be free. Peace peace perfect peace. May this liberation awaken in me.