Graham Porter aka Emperor Gum – Flutter

This song is written and performed by Graham Porter aka Emperor Gum as part of the Create a Song project. I would like to share with you an excerpt from the email with his song submission:

Flutter is a song I started writing about four months ago; I figured I wanted it to be a love song between two moths and I came up with a few melodic ideas, before I got stuck. Although I come up with ideas for songs fairly easily, it always takes a flash of inspiration to allow me to write them. Reading your post, but far more importantly listening to your podcast provided this. It became a love song from a moth to a butterfly, their wings patterns the physical marks of lupus, the clarinet chasing each other are the insects courting. The two are what I perceived as the two aspects of the disease mentally; moth/dark/pain and butterfly/light/life.

I am one of those people you described, no knowledge of lupus beyond the meme. Listening to you talk about your illness was very moving, I will only say that I respect you a great deal and thank you for inspiring me to write this song.

Below you can listen to the song and read the lyrics. To download this song for free, right click and save as.

Flutter

Butterfly, I’ve been sleeping for so long
I’ve been lost within my dreams

Butterfly, I wrapped myself away
Built a cocoon out of pain and fear

For the first time I open my eyes and I see
More to this world than can fit inside of my own cage

Butterfly, every marking differs
But the weight for us the same

Butterfly, your brands set you alone
Pain paralleled flown unabashed and brave

The pattern is a part of you, the pattern that you hate
Can’t be a pattern to your pain, but out of a frozen night
On wings of hope you’ve traced your own pattern
An arc across a sinking sun with life

Butterfly, sigh with me, cry with me, die with me
But sing with me, laugh with me, smile for me, please
If time is against us, lets not regret we spent it
Our days are too few not to struggle through

Butterfly, I’m not like you, a moth of black regret
I’m sick of living dark, I am afraid of my imprint
You cannot promise happiness, but fights to win each day
I’ll spin and soar forever with you, waltz against the wind

Butterfly, sigh with me, cry with me, die with me
But sing with me, laugh with me, smile for me, please