On 4 June 2018, Sarah and I worked with our friend Mohammed on this song about his journey to begin thinking for himself, which eventually led him on the path to leaving his home in Gaza to create a new life in Belgium, where he could be free. As with many of the songs we write, there was a process of writing down Mohammed’s words. I wrote much of the story on two large pieces of paper Sarah had posted on the wall. This gave Mohammed the freedom to just talk rather than having to talk and write at the same time. We worked on this song over the course of a couple of weeks, shifting phrases, writing and reworking the chorus and verses, drawing arrows, crossing things out, and numbering the order we wanted to sing certain phrases. It was a labor of love and experimentation, as it often is with life. We would write something and then as soon as we began to sing we would make changes. The body and mind do this naturally, instinctively.

This is a song that is not yet complete. We wrote a chorus, and the next step will be to come back to the story to write verses and possibly a bridge.

This is a recording from the day we began working on this song:

 

These are videos that show a little bit of the process of composing the song: