A celebration of the joy, wonder and mystery of being alive. Please share with others.
Living in a Work of Art
‘Living in a Work of Art’ is a musical celebration of the joy, wonder and mystery of being alive. Beginning with a stripped back arrangement of guitars and light-touch drums, it builds into a rich tapestry of rhythm, melody and counter-melody.
You can listen and download opposite. Downloads are free if you set the price to £0, but you can also choose to make a contribution, half of which I will pass on to Oxfam. Available early June on Spotify and other streaming platforms. Sign up to the mailing list below for updates.
The song emerged from a practice of mindful walking in nature. Scroll down to find out more about the story of the song as well as the lyrics and liner notes.
The Story Behind the song
I like going for walks. I am blessed with a couple of local parks and also an area of woodland and open countryside with views of the downs, all on my doorstep. At some point, inspired by my studies in mindfulness meditation, I counselled myself to really look and listen to everything around me as I walked - the trees budding, the vibrant green of the moss on the logs, the crunch of twigs beneath my feet. My walks became full of wonder and delight at the the rich beauty of my world.
I love visual art and as a teenager had thought and hoped that I would become a visual artist. But I quickly get restless in art galleries. There are only so many paintings that I can take in (about 20 minutes worth if I’m honest). They seem somehow static, fixed in time, whist the natural world moves and evolves. You can’t walk through paintings in galleries, or experience them with all of your sense like you can a forest or open space. This reflection was the starting point for the song.
I wrote some words and then found that they fitted very nicely with a chord sequence that I had already created so I brought the two together to create the verse and the chorus seemed to flow from there. Julian Marshall, my song-writing mentor at the time, encouraged me to create more musical interest by changing the chords and melody for the third verse, thus creating a middle eight. He also encouraged me to create a demo for the song which is how I came to write the introductory guitar riff and the countermelodies later in the song.
When I finally came to record the song ten years later I was unexpectedly called away from the recording session due to family illness. I left producer Jake Skinner and multi-instrumentalist Andy Stuart-Buttle to progress the project without me and they came up with an amazing musical treatment for that same middle eight. I rejected it at first - it wasn’t what I had in my head when we began the project. But it stayed with me and a week or so later I tentatively asked Jake if I could hear it again. Now I really listened to what was there, rather than to my fixed ideas and heard it properly for the first time.
That is what this song is about. It’s an invitation to take time to look, listen, flow, and sense what has meaning for us. It calls the listener to take in the wonder of the world. It is a celebration of everything we are gifted with and a spur to really experience what is here - right now.
Lyrics and liner notes
Verse 1
Life occurs to me as beauty
Everywhere I look a scene of grace
The dappled trees shimmer in the breeze
A living artwork no picture could replace
Verse 2
Life occurs to me as music
Rhythm beating at my door
Every day has its song to sing
Every feeling its own chord
Chorus 1
I’m living in a work of art
A petal caught in the river flow
In awe of all creation
Breathing in and letting go
Middle 8
Life occurs to me as poetry
An epic story told in verse
Repeat the lines, search for meaning
Find ourselves in the space between the words
Verse 3
Life occurs to me as a dance amongst the stars
Flowing movement caught in time
We dance the dance of mystery
Trailing questions through the sky
Chorus 2
I’m living as a work of art
A petal caught in the river flow
Creating as I’m created
Breathing in and letting go
Lyrics and melody by Joy Jefford
Copyright: Joy MacKeith
Producer, sound recording, mixing and mastering: Jake Skinner (Echopine Music)
Lead vocals, backing vocals and recorder: Joy Jefford
Electric Guitar, bass, keyboards: Andrew Stuart-Buttle
Acoustic guitar: Patrick Wood
Drums: Fred Hills
'living in a work of art' live at ep launch
“This is a triumph……….The overall effect is spell-binding”
— Dan Whitehouse, singer-songwriter