The story behind the song: Wishes

Hello Luvers!

We've been hard at work in the recording studio. As you can see ...

And the first song to drop is ... (INSERT DRUMROLL) ...

*** WISHES ***

UPDATE: Hey luvers! There's a new version of the song on streaming platforms, but wanted to preserve this for history. If you want to compare the versions, here's the newest.

The story behind Wishes

By Kristi Casey

Where did the idea for Wishes come from?

This song was inspired by two conversations I had with friends, both artists: Celeste and Steven.

I’d met Celeste twenty years earlier when I was a young actress. She struck me as a true bohemian. Her whole house was a loose arrangement of indoor and outdoor spaces in which to create her gorgeous spoken word dance poetry. She had no day job, just engagements that took her from theater to theater. Her whole life was about living, playing, teaching and loving. I wanted to live my life like that.

Steven and I’d met three times before we became friends. The first time, I was five years old. He was one of a dozen kids who walked me to school on my first day of kindergarten. The second time was in high school. He directed me in my first play. The third time was thirty years later, at a concert. We made a date to go for a hike and within a month, we were making music together, unlocking all sorts of new possibilities in my life as an artist.

What inspired the lyrics?

I was driving Celeste back from a physical therapy appointment and the conversation turned to love. Both of us had recently ended decades-long love affairs — relationships we’d been in when we first met — and were reflecting on them. I expected to be filled with regret and sadness, but I felt oddly liberated.

“I think, as an artist, there’s a part that you can’t ever give another person,” she mused.

That broke a dam of shame in me. I thought I’d been damaged or acted badly in some way because there was a part of me I couldn’t share with my ex-husband.

“No,” she said. “That’s what makes you an artist. You have to protect it. It’s what connects you to your source.”

And it is that piece of me I can’t give to anyone that is my truest self. It’s the source of my inspiration.

What’s Wishes about?

It’s not only artists who have to keep a part of themselves to themselves. I think we all benefit from that internal solitude, but it can be painful to love someone and realize that there’s that gap — especially if you’re conditioned to think that’s abnormal.

That was the tenor of the second conversation that inspired the lyrics for Wishes.

Steven and I were making dinner and talking about love. When he was very young, he loved a girl who could never commit to being with him. They loved each other on and off when they could be together, but ultimately, they married other people. Forty years later, they still care deeply for each other, and he feels a part of his heart may not be his to give.

But hearts are enormous, and love is not a finite resource. There are so many different kinds of love. And it doesn’t run out. It’s enough to love someone the best you know how with intention, attention, and care.

And that’s what Wishes is about: Loving someone without losing sight of who you are. Caring for them without giving up yourself to fit into what you or they think you need to be.

Beauty and tears, or: How the song came together

Steven and I had been talking about how we should be on Sirius XM’s Coffeehouse channel, but we didn’t have a song pretty enough yet.

One evening, he played me a riff and said, “I think this is our Coffeehouse song.” He was right, it was gorgeous.

I’d written the lyrics to Wishes earlier that week but hadn’t put music to it yet. I wasn’t sure how he’d feel hearing his thoughts reflected back in song. But I pulled the lyric sheet out of our ‘Needs Music’ folder and improvised a melody line for Wishes over his riff.

The words and the music sounded so beautiful together, we both got a little teary-eyed.

Because he connected with the sentiment, Steven wanted to sing more than just harmony on Wishes. In fact, in the week we were apart after first birthing the song, he confessed he’d spent a lot of time singing it alone. But I saw myself in it, too, so we split the vocals, creating a conversation.

At first, I sang verse one and he sang the second verse. But ultimately, we switched the order. I didn’t want people to hear the man responding and feel bad for the woman or think he was just saying it out of spite. I thought it would be a nice reversal for her to hear what he says in verse one and respond in a manner that’s just as honest, complete and loving.

Fun fact about Wishes

My favorite line in the song is a Steven edit: “Wish I could love your pieces until you’re whole.” I don’t even remember what I originally had there. But that’s another reason why I wanted to sing the second verse. I love those words so much.

This is also the first song on which I play octave mandolin. I love playing that little refrain. Sometimes, when we’re done playing this song, we both want to cry. It is so beautiful; I think of it as an honest love song. I hope one day you’ll all get to hear it on Coffeehouse. :)

Let us know if you've got a local music venue you'd like us to bring our magic to & feel free to share our music with your friends.

Thanks for listening (and reading), Luvers!

xxoo,
Kristi & Steven