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In the US, most people don’t consider trains to be a very practical way of traveling between cities. Flying is faster. Driving is more convenient. When I started to travel abroad, I was impressed by how practical trains are in other countries.

In Ukraine, I learned about night trains. The concept is brilliant: you get on in the evening, go to sleep, and 12 hours later you wake up in the morning and you’re right where you need to be! You save your days for the activities you want to do, and there’s no need to get a hotel for the night. It seemed like the peak of innovation in travel.

After I took a few night trains, I found out that it’s not always easy. Sometimes you end up in a compartment with someone who snores like a tuba and you can’t sleep. Sometimes the train sways so far to the left and right that it seems like it’s going to fly off the track. The worry is enough to keep you up all night. Sometimes it’s really cold and the winter wind whistles through the cracks in the wooden window frames and you can’t sleep.

My first winter in Ukraine, I took a night train back to Kyiv after a concert in another city. On this trip, it was cold and my bunk was hard and the train’s piercing whistle sounded like it was mounted right above my bunk. 

As I lay awake, I noticed a small bump in my pocket, digging into my hip. Was it a coin? I pulled it out and looked. It was a plastic subway token from the Kyiv metro, worth 5 hryvnia. That amount of money won’t buy a cup of coffee, but it will take you anywhere in Kyiv.

I was a long way from Kyiv, though, and my nighttime imagination ran wild. What if I was not on the train now, but outside? What if I needed to get back to my apartment in Kyiv, 300 kilometers away, with only one coin in my pocket? What if I needed to get back home to America, across the ocean, thousands of miles away?

I thought of the American vagabonds who hopped trains to travel around the country in search of work or adventure, carrying only old knapsack and maybe a harmonica or guitar. I think of the 1930s and 40s as the time when the mystique surrounding these adventurers was born. During that time, a 5-cent nickel might have been enough for a cup of coffee or a bite of bread. But if a traveler only had a nickel in their pocket, they would need to rely on their ingenuity and believe in the generosity of strangers on the road.

The night train kept rumbling along and the wind kept whistling in the windows. I was shivering on my bunk with the standard issue train blanket, which is not nearly warm enough for the bitter Ukrainian winter. Since I couldn’t sleep, I got out my notebook and wrote this song. It’s called 3000 Miles To Go.

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3000 Miles To Go

I’ve got a nickel token in my pocket
I've got three thousand miles to go
I'm heading for my home and my table 
The place I left so long ago
I'm leaving in the heart of the night time 
I hope I get there ‘fore the noon

I'm carrying my troubles and my worries 
And I'm taking all my pain
I gambled all my earnings
And I won't see them again
I'm waiting for the sunshine
It's been raining great gray railway ties from heaven

I hope you'll be waiting for me, baby
I hope you'll meet me at the door
I want to feel your loving arms around me
I want to taste your lips once more
I'll make you happy in the night time
I'll give you all the things you never had when I was gone

I've got a nickel token in my pocket
I've got three thousand miles to go
I'm heading for my home and my table 
The place I left so long ago
I'm leaving in the heart of the night time 
I hope I get there ‘fore the noon

I’d like to propose a project: on your own or with a group, identify the world’s biggest problems and propose a system of values and rules to better address them.

Humanity and the world

Humans are smart and creative. We’re ingenious when faced with problems: we create physical instruments, techniques of observation, systems of commerce and government. However, rather than solving all our problems, it seems like our inventions are causing the challenges we face to multiply and become more serious.

Our systems of values and rules shape our actions. Our actions shape the world. Though our individual and collective actions do much good, they also create problems. Can we reimagine the systems we live in, so they might work better for more people and the planet we live on? 

The problems

I believe the two most urgent global problems are environmental degradation and inequality. Powerful, entrenched forces have created and perpetuated each.

In the case of environmental degradation, the combined force of each individual’s drive to grow and improve their individual circumstances trends toward depletion of the earth’s resources. The global market system that externalizes impact on the environment perpetuates this problem.

In the case of inequality, individuals and groups have a tendency to concentrate and hold resources and power, especially when they experience uncertainty or scarcity. This leads to unequal distribution of income, wealth, and representation. In addition, any individual’s perspective on the world is limited by the amount of information they can consume and biased toward what is closest to them. As a result, many people’s voices are not heard and many lack basic resources.

Can we create a system that solves both problems at the same time? Can we create a utopia that respects human nature and physical laws? Because we haven’t succeeded yet, it seems like an audacious question. Because an effective solution would do so much good, many brilliant minds have already taken up the question. Because it’s so challenging, many have given up on the idea. 

Let’s start from a few basic principles:

1. We can understand the world more accurately by asking questions and making observations. The better we understand it, the better work we can do.
2. We can solve many problems through creative, innovative work. The more people contributing to the work, the more likely it is to 
3. Everyone’s voice deserves to be heard.

I believe we can improve on our current, imperfect systems through creative, innovative, heart-led work. I believe that involving many people in the process will make the results more likely to address the diverse needs and less likely to create new problems.

Why do it?

In doing so, we might each come to a better understanding of the world for ourselves and better understand how others see it. Then, we may articulate our most important values and the behaviors that express them. After comparing with others and making revisions, we might put the best changes forward for broader debate and adoption.

Why now?

The world is continually being shaped by actions large and small, conscious and unconscious. Whether we realize it or not, everything we do changes the world. By acting intentionally, in ways that better address the world’s biggest problems, we might be able to avoid more of the suffering that we seem to be heading toward.

Every moment of this process is critical. However the large and rapid changes in technology, population, climate and education give unusual weight to the actions we take now. Even if it only seems like now is a special moment because we’re actually living through it, what other moment do we have an opportunity to influence? Whether we choose to engage with these issues or not, we make an impact. It’s up to us to make our impact positive, and I believe acting consciously gives us the best chance. 

What my contribution might look like

As a musician and artist, who am I to work on these problems that have traditionally been the realm of political scientists, religious thinkers, or community organizers? Who am I not to? 

As an artist, it’s my role to synthesize knowledge and experiences to create something meaningful for people. It’s my role to imagine new ways of being in the world and give new voice to old truths. 

I imagine my contribution starting in the form of conversations, being refined in prose writing, then taking form as a set of songs, each of which expresses an essential value or component of the system I propose. 

I imagine that my work will be most effective if done in collaboration with others. There are so many compelling ideas about how we can build a better world. Do you have ideas about how to create a better future? I’d love to have a conversation and hear about them. 

What is success?

For me, a world at peace is the ultimate work of art: a global society in which everyone is heard and considered, where people of all backgrounds are respected and empowered, where we live in harmony with the natural world. I’m sure we’ll only be able to achieve this with everyone’s heartfelt input and inspiration. I’ll be proud to contribute my voice.

Let me tell you a story…

A long time ago in a town far away, there lived a family. 

They were hard workers. The father was a tailor. The mother made beeswax candles to sell to the neighbors. They lived in a comfortable but humble house down the hill from the town square, near the synagogue and the hospital.

They had children: Samuel, Regina, Solomon, Rozia. The children attended the Jewish school, they practiced music and competed in sports.

Life wasn’t always easy, but it was good. The parents were proud of their children. The family had enough money to give to the poor and to have a special meal together together on Shabbat. 

But there was trouble: they heard stories of violence against the Jews living in nearby towns. The government kept raising their taxes, making it harder and harder to survive. So when young Samuel grew up and finished his apprenticeship as a tailor, he decided to leave his hometown. He’d heard about America, the land of opportunity, and decided to go abroad to seek his fortune. 

He arrived in New York in 1910 and his uncle helped him get a job as a waiter in a fancy hotel. Later, he moved to San Francisco and started his own family. One of his children was Nathan, my grandfather. 

After I’d been living in Ukraine for a year, I found out that I had family history here: that my great grandfather, Samuel Blumenfeld, was from the town of Ternopil, Ukraine. 

We don’t know much about what his life was like or why he left, but when I found out about this piece of my family story, I wanted to learn more. So I went to Ternopil. I rode the night train and met with a local historian. We went to the town archives and found records of Samuel’s parents, siblings, cousins, family name in the old, dusty ledgers. 

I wanted to see what life was like in the town when my great grandfather lived there, but it was hard because most of the buildings had been destroyed during the wars. I used my imagination to fill in the blanks.

I got an old map and walked to the sites that were marked on it. I went to the old synagogue. It had been turned into a factory where they made busts of Lenin during the Soviet years. 

I went to the Jewish cemetery, one of three that used to be in the town. It was abandoned and overgrown. There was graffiti on the gravestones and garbage piled between the graves. 

I stood among the ancestors resting there and looked at the names. Although I didn’t find my family’s names, I still felt a close connection with the people there. These were my family’s neighbors and friends, the people they went to school with and greeted on the streets. 

I asked them what their lives were like. What struggles did they experience? What did they hope for the future? I asked them how we, in the present, can avoid the pain and suffering that they went through, the trouble that struck that part of the world. How can we create a world where people treat one another with respect?

I heard that we need to learn our stories and share them proudly. We need to remember the past and the people who came before us. We need to listen to each others’ stories and respect people who are different from us. 

Throughout history, people have always created the stories that defined them. These stories have always combined fact, creativity and aspiration. 

Sometimes we don’t know the whole story. Sometimes the stories have been lost. The past is distant, and there are many pages missing from the archives. 

When we don’t know the whole story, the best we can do is go and learn what we can, imagine what we can’t, and write it into some kind of coherent narrative. 

Because we can choose the stories we tell about ourselves, it’s our responsibility to choose positive stories, stories that can heal the pain from centuries of division and hatred.

It’s our responsibility to listen respectfully to everyone’s unique story. Because our differences make us strong, and our similarities connect us into one human family.

This song is about telling stories. It was inspired by experiences in Ternopil, Ukraine, looking for my family roots.

Listen to Tell Me A Story, live in Boulder, USA and live in Kyiv, Ukraine

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Tell Me A Story

I want to listen to a story 
A story ‘bout a family
A family of travelers 
Hopeful and wise

I want to listen to a story 
A story ‘bout a family 
Traveling ancient roads 
Guided by love
Tell me a story

Mother, Father
Where do we come from?
What makes us special, the people that we are?

Children, children
We’ve walked a winding road
We can’t remember it all but we’ll tell you the stories we know

The past is a tangled thread
Connected, neglected
We’ll weave our story’s cloth
We can be proud of this colorful costume

Tell me a story
Where do we come from? Tell me a story
About who we are
Tell me a story
Where are we going?
A story to guide me
Shape and inspire me
Tell me a story

Brother, sister
Let’s look for our long lost stories
Let’s walk the ancient roads that lead to who we are

Lover, lover
We’ll write a brand new story
We don’t know how it will end but we have a place to start

We’ll follow the tangled threads
Unwind them, align them
We’ll weave our story’s cloth
We can be proud of this colorful costume

Tell me a story
Where did we come from?
Tell me a story
About who we are 
Tell me a story
Where are we going? 
A story to guide me 
Shape and inspire me 
Tell me a story

Children, children
Turn toward the future
We’ll pick up pieces of the past at every bend in the road

Mother, father
We’ll share our story
We’re proud of where we’ve been and what we’ve seen in the world

The past is a tangled thread
Connected, neglected
We’ll weave our story’s cloth
We can be proud of this colorful costume

Tell me a story
Where did we come from?
Tell me a story
About who we are 
Tell me a story
Where are we going? 
A story to guide me 
Shape and inspire me 
Tell me a story

I want to listen to a story 
A story ‘bout a family
A family of travelers 
Hopeful and wise
I want to listen to a story 
A story ‘bout a family 
Traveling unknown roads 
Guided by love
Tell me a story

 

During my first winter in Kyiv, the gray skies hung heavy over the city. I was facing the challenges of adjusting to life in a new country, of finding new meaning and purpose. In the mornings, I wrote songs on the old upright piano in the apartment. In the afternoons, I trudged through the snow to the schools and businesses where I taught English classes.

The tree outside our window was a favorite perch for the neighborhood birds. Throughout the day, little yellow finches, dirty pigeons and big, black-and-gray crows landed and sat on its branches. We thought they looked hungry, so we started to feed them with crumbs of leftover cake that we left on the windowsill.

The finches liked the cake the most. They flocked to the tree whenever we opened the window, and swarmed down to feast on the sweet crumbs as soon as we had pulled our hands back inside. We watched their little wings beat faster as the sugar spiked in their systems.

One day, I was sitting at the kitchen table writing when a new bird landed in the tree, one that I’d never seen before. It was regal and majestic. It had black wings streaked with dark blue feathers and a white chest. Its head was a deep, rich maroon. It was alone and sat dignified in the tree, unbothered by the cake still on the windowsill. 

I put down my pencil and stood up, moved by the bird’s beauty. The bird’s appearance on this dark, snowy day seemed too good to be true, like waking up next to my girlfriend and knowing deep inside that a moment this perfect couldn’t possibly last. It stayed for several minutes, princely on its snowy roost, before flying off toward the smoky city horizon.

Rare Bird is a single by Noah Blumenfeld, released in April, 2020. Listen on Spotify, Apple, or YouTube.

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Rare Bird

If I asked a poet to make a portrait of a perfect life
I wouldn't dream that she could write words that could make you fly
If I were a painter with God's palette and a golden brush
I wouldn't dream of your wing's warm spark in the winter sky

Your light is the first light of morning
I want you here when I open my eyes
Your whispers are mysterious dancers
My questions turn toward you when they feel your touch

Rare bird, you're a visiting dancer
A bright soul on a snow-draped tree
Linger in the light of my courtyard
Share your color with a fellow traveler

If I were a teacher trying to tell the truth to a new generation
I might share the light of your wing's warm spark in the summer sky
If I asked a leader how she takes her people in a new direction
She might share words she learned by watching you fly

Be my guide and I'll walk in tall mountains
Stay with me and I'll stand by the sea
Teach me to fly in the cool afternoon air
We'll learn to live to the beating of wings

Rare bird, you're a visiting dancer
A bright soul on a sun-touched tree
Linger in the light of my courtyard
Share your color with a fellow traveler

As I’ve released music over the last months, I’ve become aware of my need to express my feelings and thoughts, and my need for others to listen. As I look at the world around me, I see that these creative and communicative impulses are not unique to me. 

In fact, I’ve come to believe that they are universal. As expressive, feeling, thinking creatures, we each have a need to make the contents of our hearts and minds manifest in the world. As social creatures, we each have a need to share these expressions with others, to receive acknowledgment, and to learn about other people’s experiences, so that we might compare and learn from them.

Giving in many forms

As humans, we communicate our feelings and thoughts in creations of many forms: conversations and experiences, paintings and songs, structures to live in and community to live with. When we communicate honestly, the work holds something of our hearts. 

Any kind of work can be heart-led work. It doesn’t matter whether we’re working on minute details or broad plans, whether we’re working with physical materials or people. When we approach our work with generosity and curiosity, our souls may enter into it. When we lead with our hearts, we may each become artists.

As a person and an artist, I feel that I need to put my heart into my work. When someone else receives it and shows me what it means to them, I feel a thrill as the circle of giving becomes complete. 

Resonance

When we make things, we want them to resonate with others: we hope our friend will like our book recommendation, our student will understand the lesson we’re teaching them, our family will enjoy the meal we cooked. We want to be seen. 

When we honestly put ourselves into the work we give, it’s more likely that it will resonate with others. They may recognize a familiar experience, a current situation, or their aspirations for the future. 

What turns a mundane task into heart-led work? What are the obstacles to reaching that level of depth? And should all work be heart-led work?

What makes work heart-led work?

Heart-led work starts with honesty. It is the process of exploring and communicating real thoughts and feelings. It’s a continual process, in which we get closer to the truth as we remove the blindfolds that prevent us from seeing out into the world and into the depths of ourselves. As we understand more about our experiences and practice communicating them, we sharpen our tools for communication, and become better able to share accurately in our chosen medium.

Heart-led work is risky, because it takes time and effort to understand what’s inside of us and communicate it well. We may fail to communicate accurately. Even if we succeed, others may misunderstand or reject our work. Because heart-led work doesn’t always follow comfortable patterns, its reception is uncertain.

Heart-less work

Transactional work, done with less heart, is often necessary to do. It includes work done according to tradition or plans that have been demonstrated to be effective. Systems demand that people within them follow the orders and formulas that work. 

Even in areas where the orders are not specified, it’s tempting to make our work as transactional as we can: it feels predictable and safe, but it doesn’t fully engage our emotions or minds. It allows us to turn on our emotional autopilot and not show ourselves or take risks. 

The path of heart-less work is not usually fulfilling, and in the worst situations can become drudgery to the worker and sterile to the people it’s meant to serve.

One might object that some kinds of work must be done without creativity or heart. The bricks of a building must be laid according to the architect’s plans! The software must be created according to the specifications! In every life, there are inevitable tasks that must be done according to instructions. How can we bring heart-led expression into these situations?

We can look for ways to innovate. The bricklayer might seek perfection in the mix of their mortar or the stroke of their spade. They might look for ways to make the process more efficient. The engineer might seek elegance and simplicity in their code.

We can appreciate the work that has less meaning, and save our energy for the heart-led work that follows: helping a neighbor, connecting with a friend, teaching a colleague. 

Why do heart-led work?

Within the scope of our work, shouldn’t we aim to put our hearts into everything we can? Heart-led creations mean more to us and to the people receiving them. They are the things we value most, the ones that make life worthwhile, the ones we seek contact with and build communities around.

A wise man guides a lost soul through the wilderness. His companion stops and asks where they’re going. He pauses and looks deep into her eyes. The road is broken and overgrown, the destination is not clear. He assures her they’re exactly where they need to be. Being lost is an essential part of the journey.

They continue, embracing the beautiful uncertainty of the winding path. They hear strains of song from the old monastery in the distance, the voices echoing from the stone building to the somber cliffs. They walk together from the lakeshore toward the tall mountains.

Onward Into Night is the fifth song on Noah Blumenfeld’s EP Shine. The song starts with voices calling in the evening stillness, then builds to a gospel-style chorus with organ and choir. It climbs to a trumpet solo before descending into gentle piano and voice, a reminder of the final stage of our journey toward the highest peak.

Onward Into Night

Time’s a broken road
It’s hard to know which way to go
Look carefully and you can see 
Exactly where you are
 
The journey seems too far
The road is overgrown
Be brave and take your next step

Walk through life, walk through love
Remember the old neighborhoods where we grew up

Walk through death, walk through time
We won’t know where we’re going until we arrive

In this cycle without end we can try to find the start
You said don’t try too hard because the truth might break your heart

Along the road are laughing lambs and crying apple trees
God’s poetry encoded in everything we see

Walk through life, walk through love
Remember the old neighborhoods where we grew up

Walk through death, walk through time
We won’t know where we’re going until we arrive

Our paths will lead from shore to peak
Somewhere along the way we’ll find exactly what we seek

We’ll take the leap from the highest heights
And land in outstretched hands that lead us onward into night

Onward into night
Onward into night

A young man takes the narrow trail away from the city. It’s evening, and the stony peaks cast long shadows across the valley. At the end of the path, a silver lake sleeps under a crumbling crag. 

He carries a heavy bag and a red lantern, but he’s forgotten his matches and there’s no way to light the candle. He climbs in darkness, stumbling through the tears and pain. 

At last, he reaches the lake and lies down, exhausted. Against his back, the pine needles are soft and the mountain beneath is strong. He notices the sky is full of stars, the milky way spanning the sky between the ridges. He remembers a soft voice that he often ignores: ‘Remember your inner light.’ Even in the grip of mountain night, the light still shines: in pinpricks of stars, in the deep, quiet places in the young man’s soul. 

The light lives in each of us, always. When we remember to pay attention to this light, it grows stronger, brighter, more expansive. The world needs each of us to share our light.

The stars pour down and touch the young man’s heart. He sleeps by the lake and dreams of a bright future. He wakes inspired and refreshed, a glow in his eyes, ready to meet others with his lantern held high.

---

Shine is the title track from Noah Blumenfeld’s first EP. The song glows with mountain magic. Muted bells ring in a grassy meadow. Fretless bass and silver synthesizers dance in the moonlight. The song builds from a whisper to a brilliant chorus: “It’s beautiful when you let your light shine.”

---

Shine

I see you climb in the mountain shadows
Everything that mattered shattered
Darkness gathers beneath the trees
A warm breeze leads you higher

You hold a lantern but the candle’s dark
So keep climbing, search for the spark
That will let you share your light with the world
A flame to start the fire in your heart
 Your eyes
 Your soul
 Your mind
You can make this darkness bright
 It’s beautiful when you let your light shine
 Shine
 Shine
 Shine

Find yourself by a mirrored lake
Soft shimmers in a quiet place
Stars invite you to turn your face
Toward the river of rippling light

Tilt your wick to touch the fire
Hold your lantern high
Catch the light, the flame is bright
A one-in-eight-billion brilliance lives in your heart
 Your eyes
 Your soul
 Your mind
You can bring your joy to life
 It’s beautiful when you let your light shine
 Shine
 Shine
 Shine

Clear morning, open skies
Bright echoes in your hopeful eyes
It seems the lantern glow from the night before
Inspired the sun to rise

Light steps as you descend
To share your spark with all who depend
On your flame to start their fires
They’re waiting for the glow to overflow from your heart
 Your eyes
 Your soul
Your mind
 You’re shining strong, you’re shining bright
 It’s beautiful when you let your light shine
 Shine
 Shine
 Shine

Crystal Love is the sound of a heart breaking open. It’s the sharp pain of broken trust, shattered like a crystal bird dropped from the heights of love’s greatest joy. The love that’s left becomes the greatest sorrow. Letting go becomes the highest expression of love. 

Melodies rise and fall like the heaving of a crying chest. A drum machine throbs with the rhythm of a broken heart. The lyrics rise and fall in fits of beauty and memory. Grand piano and Rhodes intertwine, tracing the relationship’s paths: one leading, then the other, then both meeting in intimate conversation. Then the grand piano finishes alone, tender, supported by a bed of sobbing strings.

---

Love, it’s time we boldly part: unloose
your heart. Go forward, free, and seek new light.

It’s my last night alone in our apartment
I’m thinking about you and wondering how you’re doing and where you are
I packed all your clothes and the papers that you’d left
You said I shouldn’t bother to take them with me

We had a long call and you told me all your plans were changing
and we agreed that it was best to change with them
Like an earthquake had cracked your mortar and the fragments fit together better
and you were stronger than you’d ever been before

I held our love like a crystal bird with a broken wing
You were my priestess; I wanted to be your king
I held you in darkness; it was hard to let each other go
but our roots were bound and we needed to grow

Love is a mirrored pool and the lover is the stone bottom
How deeply can I see into you, how close can I get?
These waters have nourished us and they’ll cause us bitter pain
but we’d have missed the meaning if we’d never gotten wet

The cold wind sifts the leaves and my tender heart awakens
I recognize the lonesome listing feeling
I think there were advantages to being all alone
but I can’t remember any of them

In the dark of winter I’ll remember your smile
I’ll call you up and ask you how you’re changing
I’ll listen for your strengthening, your healing, your love
Your pain, your fear, your anger and your longing

Rhythm’s Children opens with a sunrise over a quiet canyon. A narrow river feeds tough green plants and animals call to one another in the half-light. We see people on a wide, fertile plain, moving together in a gentle, simple dance. 

Their hearts beat with a universal rhythm. The rhythm carries them into the future. The earth nourishes them and carries their dancing feet with love. The earth watches in terror as the dancing feet move faster and faster, trampling the plants on the plain and kicking dust into the once-clear river. 

We see a modern city like New York. We see a child in the city, and hear a voice that she hears, a wild whisper in her ear. It asks her to feel the rhythm that connects her to the ancient world, to look at the problems of the modern world with clear eyes, and to realize that we can solve the problems facing us if we remember the past, understand the present and believe in our power to shape the future.

On Rhythm’s Children, cinematic instrumentals paint the red desert and green grassland. Synthesizers dance and play with laughing piano licks. Lively percussion leaps under bright vocal choruses. Rhythm’s Children is the second track on Shine by Noah Blumenfeld.

Rhythm’s Children

Child of the canyon
Of naked stone and silver river 
You were born on a sandy shore
A desert wind caressed your skin 

You bathed in water that flows from a fountain
And carves a path across the fertile plain 
Sew seeds in springtime
Harvest when seasons change

 The rhythm's old
 The rhythm's new
 A heartbeat drumming in all you do
 The rhythm's strong
 Its power's true
 It's living in me
 It's living in you

 Rhythm's children
 Rhythm's children
 Rhythm's children
 We're rhythm's children

Child of the past and future 
Child of heaven and earth
Child of sorrow, child of hope 
A bitter wind bites at your bare skin

Stand in shadows of tall buildings
Look upon our world with gentle eyes
Cry for the moment that we live in
Give our world your love and delight

The rhythm's old
 The rhythm's new
 A heartbeat dancing in all we do
 The rhythm's strong
 Its power's true
 It's living in me
 It's living in you

 Rhythm's children
 Rhythm's children
 Rhythm's children
We're rhythm's children

The rhythm's old
 The rhythm's new
 A heartbeat playing in all we do
 The rhythm's strong
 Its power's true
 It's living in me
 It's living in you

 Rhythm's children
 Rhythm's children
 Rhythm's children
We're rhythm's children

Freedom is the first track on Noah Blumenfeld’s EP Shine. Noah sings front-porch philosophy, backed by guitar and double bass. A chorus bursts forth with joyful voices singing of a bright new sunrise seen from a mountain peak. Freedom tells a story of liberation from a narrow place, exploring how we can each choose freedom.

It’s the story of the biblical exodus, set in the colorful desert of the American southwest: the painted desert rock and bright sunrise that seems sure to signal liberation. It asks us to think about how tightly we are truly bound. When we recognize the room we have to make our own decisions, we’re called on to choose personal liberation as much as we can, so we may share our freedom with those who are still bound. 

Are we captives in heavy chains?
In bitter bondage in a narrow place
With burning tears, oppressive pain
What would we do if we weren’t constrained?

Say my name
I’m free to give any answer I imagine  
Say my name
I’m free to choose
Hear a voice
Do you answer with intention?
Hear the call
You’re free to choose

Find your freedom in this narrow place
Find your freedom in this narrow place

Find your freedom
Find your freedom
Find your freedom
Find your freedom

Darkness holds us tight
But there can be new birth after this deadly night
Ahead of us is an unknown road
A flame of truth will take us home

There’s a path leading toward a brighter future
Look ahead
You’re free to choose
There’s a way to a place where we can see the sun rise
Choose the path toward the highest peak

Claim your freedom, leave this narrow place
Claim your freedom, leave this narrow place
 
Claim your freedom
Claim your freedom
Claim your freedom
Claim your freedom

Daybreak, desert dawn
Joyful voices, a morning song
Reach out to the people still in chains
There’s no true freedom until everyone is saved

Hear the voices calling out for freedom
Hear the call
You’re free to choose
We can build a better world
We have power to shape the future
Lift your voice and share your freedom songs

Share your freedom, make the world a better place
Share your freedom, make the world a better place

Share your freedom
Share your freedom
Share your freedom
Share your freedom

Find your freedom
Claim your freedom
Share your freedom
Find your freedom

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