While working on the song ordering for the album, I realized that I needed a bridge between “What is Her Name?” and “Nice and Quiet,” something with an energy in the middle of the two, with a midway softening of the voice. So I went with music between a bandstand and an individual signer-songwriter, namely a soft jazz quintet on a smaller stand with the singer at the Rhodes (which still involves some mic intimacy). The instruments would be the Rhodes, upright bass, cello supporting the higher line (so as not to mud up wit the bass), brushed drums, and then the clarinet to carry over the klezmer flavor (particularly between vocal phrases). Then with the slower tempo and sort of swingy vibe, the melody was pretty clear.

The theme was about moving onward, healing, coming to terms with change, and putting in the hard work to save entities from neglect. The entire lyrical work arose from the phrase “nesting and nestling.” I started putting together sets of those sorts of patterns, coupled them up, and then paired those couples up with the specific rooms/areas within the section of this big ol’ house that is my residence in particular, working from the more public ground floor space upward into the more private rooms. 

While I was collecting those words, I came across the semantic set of magical words that can be used both as personal descriptors and as actions, so naturally I wanted to play with that ambiguity around the pause with “I am charming… this space into being, back from its neglected state.” That added to the fun.

Then I just started to ymagine what I am now able to do in those spaces.

The notion of my growing attachment to, and happiness with, those improved living spaces just made a natural expansion into the idea of falling in love with what was happening, where falling in love was a great match for this bridge.

And here we are.

[2026-05]

Lyrics

I am charming

    my old, ramshackle house akimbo

        back from the hurt-est of homes.

Saved from neglect

    with hope and hard work.

Now we have

    rooms where I may heal my home and customize,

        calming into what coziness might call to me.

I'm falling in love with a life full of...

    nesting and nestling, and

    setting and settling.

I am inviting

    a tour, personal adagio

        back from the darkest of tombs.

Saved from neglect

    with hope and hard work.

Now we have

    rooms where I can host my friends and socialize,

        waiting upon what company might come to me.

I'm falling in love with a life full of...

    living and letting, and

    giving and getting.

I am bewitching

    a cool, casual scenario

        back from the starkest of zones.

Saved from neglect

    with hope and hard work.

Now we have

    rooms where I will snooze in late and tranquilize,

        floating upon what storylines might speak to me.

I'm falling in love with a life full of...

    dreaming and resting, and

    sleeping unstressed-things.

I am enchanting

    a warm, visceral art studio

        back from the brokest of barns.

Saved from neglect

    with hope and hard work.

Now we have

    rooms where I shall write and draw and improvise,

        musing upon what melodies might mean to me.

I'm falling in love with a life full of...

    loft clarineting, and

    soft jazz quinteting.

Now we are healing,

    lovingly saved from neglect

        with hope and hard work.