Notes on "In Another Lifetime"

Just now I can't remember the circumstances of writing this song. Its date - March of 1999 - suggests that it was written to be sung at SongAlong, and there was a topic, "In Another Time" so it may have been for that. But something tells me it wasn't my "official" songalong song that year.

I can tell you, though, that it's pretty much a direct memory of how it felt when I first met my wife Melodie, who sings it with me as a duet on the CD. The "dream" bridge is from a dream that she had ...

The wonderful cello on the CD (not part of the sample) is played by Leah Wyber, who also plays in the National Arts Centre Orchestra in Ottawa.

Before we recorded the CD, I had made a demo version to apply for a FACTOR grant (unsuccessfully) to make the CD. The demo is very different - no duet, but a harmony sung by Lee Hayes; also I asked Danny Artuso to play pedal steel on it. I recorded my vocals at about 1 in the morning, so my voice is a bit rough. Interesting, though ...

In Another Lifetime

In another lifetime, you and I were lovers;
In each life we live, we somehow find each other.
All the roles that love plays, we have played together;
You and I have danced this dance forever.

We’ve been passion’s warriors: helpless, hopeless fools.
Given all we had, for careless love so cruel.
We’ve been false and faithful, strong but also frail,
Holding on to hope through love’s betrayal.

We’ve raised and mourned our children, peace and war surviving,
years of weary hardship, centuries of striving.
And yet each life had moments, days of quiet laughter,
when we knew that love’s the only thing that matters.

I saw you in this dream I had, of a time before:
we’re both dressed in uniform - a dance hall in the war.
We stop and hold each other close. We know, like second sight,
that in that life we were meant to be together just one night.

So now we meet as strangers, once more round the wheel,
I don’t know your name yet, but suddenly I feel it.
And when we touch I see them – a thousand years come flowing;
though we can’t remember, we cannot help knowing

that in another lifetime you and I were lovers.
This is just the way we held each other.