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Preconceptions

from Here I Am by Ben Travis

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about

This song is very special to me. It was one of the only songs I've ever written as a poem, then gone back and put music to it. I usually write music and lyrics simultaneously. I remember it was when I was back at Belmont University working on an education degree, and I sat outside the music building on a beautiful fall day. As I watched the wind blow through the trees, I penned those words. I truly think that we underestimate just how much of the way we see the world comes from what we are taught and what we experience when we are young. Those things stay with us and become our preconceptions through which we view all of life. They make it almost impossible for us to see reality, and so we have to work to get past them as much as possible.

Special thanks to Sam Kallaos for the drums on this one. He really rocked them out.

lyrics

Preconceptions
© 2000 Ben Travis

(verse 1)
We are all fed our beliefs from the womb
like mashed carrots on a spoon
Though we defend them valiantly
sometimes they fall like scales
around us and lie useless at our feet

Still we find our preconceptions
grinning at us from dark corners
Clawing at our hearts
Envying our freedom

(chorus)
And we learn to dance
to the rhythm we hear
as the wind shakes the trees
and our shadows grow longer
We tip our hats
to the past that has shaped us
and poke our canes into
the blackness ahead

(verse 2)
Though we are satisfied with questions
the voices around us cry for certainty
Strangely enough, they often find it
yet we remain unconvinced
and this is unacceptable

There are times when we'd trade
our souls for some black and white
But we trudge on silently
Through the endless sea of grays
[to chorus]

Like pieces of a puzzle
that has no solution
the fragments of truth that we see
wink at us knowingly
[to chorus]

credits

from Here I Am, released September 10, 2013

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Ben Travis Nashville, Tennessee

I’m a Nashville-based audio engineer and producer. I work primarily with singer/songwriters and bands with original music to help them create a musical product they can be proud of without paying the prices of major studios.

I'm also an independent artist and songwriter. My music invites listeners to think and ask meaningful questions about the world around them. ... more

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