Alone with the Fire Review

From: Buddy

To: Shije

Sent: Thursday, July 11, 2013 6:53 PM

Subject: Alone with the Fire

Hi Shije!

Sorry for the lack of communication. Been so damned busy I have only looked at my business folder inboxes the last several weeks, so I added a Shije folder so your communications won’t get lost amidst all the other folders I’ve been ignoring lately.

I have a large selection of tunes from various CD’s that I call my “Work List.” It’s my own little “Top 40” collection I listen to throughout the day while I’m working, and all your music is in there. Every time I listen to Alone with the Fire, I think what an incredible song that is. I have never heard a song about an abusive relationship that is written with such incredible insight and compassion.

I have a sister and also a niece who have gone through incredibly abusive relationships. My niece went from one to another. I know what it’s like to want to kill someone. My sister hung in for 9 years. I never could understand that. Alone with the Fire puts it all in a very perceptive context. Nice work. I think it goes right to the heart of every woman who has ever gone through such torment.

— Buddy

OR … maybe that wasn’t what it was about …

Yes, Buddy that is exactly what it is about.

To make it equally he-said, she-said I had to write it all out on paper. Each person gets the same amount of measures to “talk” just like in divorce court. The effect I hoped for is less blaming and more disappointment.

I hope by balancing the genders like that it can touch men in abusive relationships too….

Unlike my other songs that don’t say he or she, this one and Fools Gold are decidedly hetero songs. This one you love was my paternal grandmother’s favorite song, man she would rock it out. 🙂 She’d yell, “Play the hole in my pocket song again!” She never learned the title of it, and that’s okay, Buddy. Ha!

I think it was therapy for her to forgive her abusive husband (my dad’s dad) by seeing he got that toughness taught to him by the generational misinformation that came before, ad infinitum.

I want “She Walked Away” to be the take away message. Love Ya!

I’ll send CDs to your sister & niece & sign em if you want. Email me their addresses.

SeeYa, Shije (hey, that rhymes!) 🙂

Dear Shije,

“I’ll send CDs …”

That’s very gracious of you. I will dig up that information.

I agree wholeheartedly. We need to be much more into comprehension than condemnation. Revenge is not a solution. It is an escalation. Dysfunction is taught at an early age. Someone said “Give me a boy at seven and I will show you the man”. Frustration and anger goes somewhere and the means of dealing with it becomes the method of coping with stress -for example-… you can’t hit your father (or mother)… Or break a toy… pull your teddy bears eyes out… hurt yourself… grow up… hurt the one you love the most. Or, as you stated so well in your lyrics, a learned defense – taught and nurtured in ignorance – with unexpected consequences. Your song is a masterpiece. I really mean that.

— Buddy

2024 Update, it’s pumpkin spice season, coffee lovers. It’s time for hot cocoa with peppermint! Baileys, or hot rum drinks!

Time for a new mug to celebrate more recordings in this coming year. Let’s savor the holidays with all our favorite music, all the time.