Another luverly song by Emily Arin

So one of the songs I got from Emily this month is gorgeous and quiet and made me smile - and as usual, she writes in her emails a little bit about the songs. Here's what she explained about Lyle:

"On a rainy evening last Fall, I was walking down the dark and empty Main Street in Montour Falls feeling a little blue. A block from where I was living at the time is a small, two-story apartment building with four street-facing windows. One of them was lit up that night with a soft-glowing porcelain lamp. It was my friend Lyle’s apartment. Something about the light coming from his window put me at ease and reassured me that my loneliness would soon pass.

I’ve been friends with Lyle, a devout man in his sixties, for a couple years and have found, no matter the stress he faces, he manages to give of himself most days—bearing a smile and a helping hand (and often trinkets as well).

I told him I wanted to write a song about him and for him, which he welcomed. Over coffee he told me stories of his life growing up with nine siblings in Valois, a town about 15 miles north of Montour Falls. Many of the details he shared were surprising and wonderful—his Aunt Ruth who could pick strawberries two to his one; naming his cat Lindsay in memory of a girl he went to church with when he was a boy; waking every weekday before dawn for 17 years to walk to his job in Montour Falls as building & grounds keeper for the Rural Urban Center; giving gas money to patrons of the local bars for a ride home every night…

His stories are remarkable. But the reason I felt so soothed by his light shining in the window that night is because it was the perfect symbol of his presence in the world—a man choosing to keep his light turned on."

-Emily Arin

So go and listen to it here by scrolling through the player at the bottom - it's the 2nd song:

Lyle's Light Was On
I kept walking alone through the rain
My tears mixed with the weather
I kept walking alone through the rain
But the image of Lyle's light grew
And I knew there was something he knew

This little light of mine
I'm gonna let it shine
I'm gonna let it shine all the time
This little light of mine
I'm gonna let it shine
I'm gonna let it shine all the time

Here's a man with some stories to tell
Still he sees it real simple
Here's a man with some stories to tell
And though he's felt the heartache too
He says the sky is the only thing that should stay blue

Once a butterfly followed him home
Through the woods for an hour
Once a butterfly followed him home
And it made his heart feel light
And he knew from that day it would all be alright

This little light of mine
I'm gonna let it shine
I'm gonna let it shine all the time
This little light of mine
I'm gonna let it shine
I'm gonna let it shine all the time