Our friend — the musician, photographer, and all-around artistic talent — Cassis was inspired to write this song after hearing about the ENVY documentary project. Thank you, Cassis!!
Find out more about Cassis Birgit Staudt here: http://www.filmmusicvision.com/
We like its funky originality. What do you think?
Believe me, it was so hard to write this song! I appreciate the film director, Barbara Rick, asking me to let myself be inspired by the idea of envy!
This song had an intense birth and it’s intense singing the song live. I didn’t want to wrap my head around this ugly emotion and didn’t really want to impersonate a character who is full of envy – while singing it live. A true challenge!
One should never write about what one means by creating art, but Barbara asked me to. So here you go:
I tried all sorts of tricks to turn the song around to leave the emotion of ‘envy’. I tried to sing about a character who is first envious but then at the end of the song is ‘cured’ and full of love and compassion. It didn’t work. Seemed fake.
What I couldn’t do is write a ‘negative’ chorus, the most I could agree to was: “I don’t envy you, but a slice of your life would do….” (lyrics below). I believe in lyrics as messages reverberating in the world. They create their own reality. I do have a moralistic standpoint in that. If by any chance noone (as in most people) listens to the lyrics, I want the “I don’t envy you” to survive and stand out.
I found a method for myself to get rid of envy and am proud of it. I had to find something to calm myself down when I had to open up for amazing bands and musicians. Here is my method: Dance to their music! Make it yours! Celebrate them! I would have wanted to write a song about that, and actually tried to incorporate this ‘preaching’ into the song but yet again that seemed boring and made the song too PC.
I found an angle that I could enjoy which is writing about a character who clearly doesn’t think of themselves as envying anyone, cause they are so ‘aware’ and even ‘know’ that they made their own conscious choice to be a loser and let the other person consciously ‘win’ although they believe in themselves as being “the bigger talent”. Its so obvious the character is full of envy! They clearly obsess about someone else and feel compelled to even ‘protect’ that other person in a weird way. The envied person has probably no clue about this.
In the middle of the song in a truthful moment the character does admit to be running circles and to be nuts…. Hah! But then they go back to their old ways full of denial.
Long story short: I love that this film will address ‘envy’, it needs to be discussed and pulled out into the open…. Let it rip, Barbara!
This all inspired me to write songs about the seven deadly sins…. I can’t wait to see the films to them 🙂
“I don’t envy you
You seem happier than me
Cause you have it all
Would you share your air with me
Before I hit the wall
I don’t envy you
I don’t envy you
But a slice of your life would do
Go ahead and hit your goal
Set off my short fuse
You can’t reach my soul
Don’t mind I chose to lose
I don’t envy you
I don’t envy you
But a slice of your life would do
Running circles behind your back
cause that’s my favorite fall back
I don’t envy you
It’s pathetic you’re well off
I’m the bigger talent
But I won’t call your bluff
Don’t worry I’ll stay silent
I don’t envy you
I don’t envy you
I don’t envy you
But a slice of your life would do
© 2009 words & music Cassis Birgit Staudt
One of the best things about this project is its subtle and growing impact on people, artists, anyone who hears about it — some folks are inspired to explore it and that has its own impact on the creative and their audiences. In subtle ways, even at this early stage of the film’s development, how people look at each other and see the world begins to shift, once they factor in ENVY.
Thanks for the comments and sharing your process & lyrics, Cassis!!