The First Song

The First Song

Twin Moons Shinin, They won’t shine that bright again.

Twin Moons Shinin, Where have you gone my friend?

Sometimes I think, that we will not shine that bright again.

We were crammed into the corner of Claire’s music room, singing our very first song. I was nervous singing in front of her for the first time, and I was still amazed at how quickly the lyrics had come to me.

Just an hour before I had walked through her picturesque garden, full of pastel flowers and hanging trees. I distinctly remember a stack antique coke cases that had been transformed into flower pots.

Knocking on the green dutch door, hearing her annoying dogs Buddy and Kai barking.

Watching Claire’s mom peek over from the kitchen with familiar round eyes, and finally seeing Claire bumble down the stairs making faces at me through the glass.

Although I can’t remember precisely what she said to me (probably something like,

“What’s up poop head?”)

I do remember the feeling I had going into her house

Peaceful.

Tik furniture and asian decorations filled the living room and kitchen. Her walls were orange, coincidently my favorite color. I felt like I was in some kind of weird music land, where everything had aesthetic value, everything had worth. We went into the music room.

Now, my whole life I never believed that I was musically gifted. I couldn’t play any instruments, I couldn’t sing a note until the end of my sophomore year, and I had failed at playing violin, saxophone and guitar as a kid. The only person in my family who could make any type of music was my little sister, who played the piano for a few years as a kid.

So, going into Claire’s music room was absolutely amazing. Instruments lined the walls, a drum set filled most of the space, and there was a mike for recording in the corner. Claire and her brother Eric play the drums and guitar, her sister Lauren plays ukulele, violin, guitar and probably five other instruments. Here I was, surrounded by tons of instruments and the only thing I knew how to use was a yellow pad of paper and a pen!

But I used that pad of yellow lined paper a whole lot those first few months, that chicken scratch became our very first songs, and coupled with guitar we were on a roll. Just me and Claire and our hopes and dreams and fears.

She started to play and I just sang along and tried to write down what I was saying. Every now and again she would stop and I would keep scratching away, the words came quickly to me, they just flowed out like a faucet. We sand together in that first recording, there were no separate tracks, and we only had to record once or twice and then we were done.

We crouched by her computer, listening through i-pod ear buds to our first creation. Our baby!

Twin Moons solidified our belief that we had to start a band. In many ways I see our first song as a little miracle, a little bit of luck. It was ironic because Twin Moons is about losing a friend and here I was making a friend who would sing by me for years to come. Next, we had to figure out what to call ourselves, oh shit.