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In Her Name

from Visitors by Howard Simon

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about

This is the newest song on the album, written in March 2016. I have a friend whose name has different meanings in a surprising number of languages, from Hawaiian to Hindi to Latvian. “In Her Name” is a Leonard Cohen-esque attempt to call upon as many of those meanings as possible to imagine all the unique things a person might be – without ever revealing the person’s true name. It’s a departure for me to work within the constraints of someone else’s language, and the song was a lot of fun to write.

lyrics

In Her Name

She delivers the desperate from danger, she’s the one who reverses the spell
The crier announcing the stranger, the spring that refreshes the well
She will rise to release you from capture, she’s a tern flying far from the shore
The days between birth and the Rapture, a poppy in bloom on the moor

But none of these words that proclaim her mean much when you ask her to sing
By the sound of her voice you will name her with all that good fortune can bring

She is sixty-four subjects of study, she’s the collar adorning a blouse
Roots in the earth wet and muddy, the gables enhancing your house
Her dark hair falls softly around her, the raspberry blush of the bride
The scent of the ocean surrounds her, the kelp washed ashore by the tide

Chorus

If you look straight ahead you won’t see her
She is always and never the same
But you’ll find everything
That good fortune can bring
In her name, in her name, in her name

She is always absolved and unburdened, you will watch as she swims to the south
She’s a fish, she’s an engine, a surgeon; the opposite sides of your mouth
Her sea eyes reflect what she’s feeling, she‘s been known as the goddess of death
But if you should find yourself kneeling, you’ll be raised by a wisp of her breath

But none of these words that proclaim her mean much when you ask her to sing
By the sound of her voice you will name her, with all that good fortune can bring
And as much as you might wish to claim her, she’ll be gone with the coming of spring

credits

from Visitors, released June 27, 2016

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Howard Simon San Francisco, California

I am a San Francisco-based singer-songwriter. My songs are about love (romantic and otherwise), family, morality and mortality. If there is a common thread to my songs, it is the people we love, the desire to do right, and the hope and fear, the peace and the struggle that constitute life bring wonder in addition to its joy and sadness, and sometimes loss. ... more

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