A few years back, pop-flavored singer-songwriter burwell’s ethereal explorations of grief via her boxes EP captured my heart. Anyone who’s lost a loved one is sure to identify with the songs, just as anyone who’s ever sought help from above is sure to hear themselves in “Sing It Back,” her latest single. Released on National Landline Telephone Day (yes, that’s a thing!), the tasty track finds her on the phone questioning her Creator as to whether He’s listening. She’s not so sure, at least not at the song’s start.
That prayers may go unanswered doesn’t mean they go unheard. It’s a distinction, I think, some forget. Not every request for divine intervention plays out as Frank Capra imagined in It’s a Wonderful Life, in other words. Affable second-class angels don’t rearrange the puzzle of life to show us how our unique piece contributes to the bigger picture. It reminds me of one of my favorite moments in Joan of Arcadia, when the usually perplexed Joan has a moment of clarity and explains to her parents that our lives are interwoven in ways we can’t imagine.
If you think you heard the song before, that’s because you may well have. Then unfinished, it was used last year in an episode of the Amazon series Sweethearts; the licensing revenue enabled burwell and co-writer/producer Corey Pavlosky to head back into the studio and complete it. My favorite passage comes near the end, when she sings, “In a moment/You could make everything/the way i want it/but there’s a beauty in the waiting/so i’ll wait for it.” That sums up faith, I think.
The Old Grey Cat 