Now You Can Tune into ‘Pages’ by Tom Kimmel and Jenny Yates

 The Franciscanized World’s August song of the month is Pages performed by Tom Kimmel and written by Tom Kimmel and Jenny Yates, “a song responsible for changing people’s lives”.The Franciscan Sisters of Christian Charity applaud Tom Kimmel a sought after teacher and songwriter who has led workshops around the US and in Europe.

Captivating audiences by winning fans and garnering critical acclaim in the worlds of folk, rock and spiritual music, Tom is a soulful and unique singer and performer.

Tom’s award winning songs have been featured in film and television and recorded by the likes of Johnny Cash, Linda Ronstadt, Nanci Griffith, Randy Travis, Shawn Colvin, Dianne Reeves and many, many others.

Tom Kimmel is a poet and spoken word artist whose poems are featured in poetry and literary journals, and who is a frequent guest author at book festivals and book stores in the South and around the country.Tom is also a street minister and social activist, performing and teaching from coast to coast in traditional and New Thought churches, in therapy and healing  retreats, and for those in need, including hospital patients and prison inmates.   

 Tom’s Comments:

This song, by contrast, was a slow birthing. The first verse came all at once, as I recall? I loved it and sang it over and over? Then there were some more pieces? and a long pause. At some point there was a chorus with several variations. I felt like a blind man feeling my way alng trying this and that sure I was on the right track.                                   One day I showed what I had of it to Jenny Yates and she jumped in, had strong ideas about what was missing, what to keep and what to leave out, and we finished it together. Andrea Zonn did a beautiful job with this on her debut album ‘Love Goes On’.

Lyrics: Pages

Yesterday’s wars

Stack up like old papers on the floor

Pounded  like old knocks upon my door

Breaking like the ocean

Washing through my hands

Changing this ol’ mountain into sand

You know me

By the stories I have made

You know me looking out through boxes and cages

And it’s hard to clearly see what’s right

In ordinary light

Does the truth filter down

Through the ages

We can not see the end

So here we must begin

Tell me what will we write on these pages

Disciplined road

Showing only what it wants to show

Calling when it’s time for us to go

Driven by emotion

Pushing from the past

Running till the spirit’s free at last

You know me

By the stories I have made

You know me looking out through boxes and cages

And it’s hard to clearly see what’s right

In ordinary light

Does the truth filter down

Through the ages

We can not see the end

So here we must begin

Tell me what will we write on these pages

Down through history we race

Across borders and to empty space

We write a chapter, a fable, a line, a trace

Another heart may follow

You know me

By the stories I have made

You know me looking out through boxes and cages

And it’s hard to clearly see what’s right

In ordinary light

Does the truth filter down

Through the ages

We can not see the end

So here we must begin

Tell me what will we write on these pages

For more information see Tom Kimmel’s and Jenny Yates’ websites.