I don’t know that I’ve ever heard her ask for a specific gift my entire life. birthdays. christmas. mother’s day. i’ve never heard my mother ask for anything in particular. so when she called me up a few weeks ago and out of the blue says “so… can i have my own vimeo for mother’s day? thats all i really want, just my own vimeo.” it honestly took me a few seconds to understand what she was asking me for. last summer my friend Brie asked me to record a specific song she loved. then she asked again, and again, aaaand again until I finally gave in and recorded a cover of The Desert Song by Hillsong United as a birthday gift for her. Even though I’ve never shared that video, I had uploaded it to my vimeo site where I keep KGB videos, and you can see it HERE if you’d like. Well, my mom found it somehow, and apparently she and her friends are the people hiking the viewing stats up on that particular video by watching it on an almost daily basis. so she decided that for mother’s day she needed her own :)
i dug through my entire itunes library to find a song that 1) I could sing and 2) more importantly that I could attempt to play on the piano. you see, piano lessons did NOT last very long for me when I was younger and truly the best I can manage at this point is to plunk out chords… not ideal for recording songs by mysself. I tried to think of a song that was significant, and honestly the most common songs she and i sang together when I was growing up were Disney songs (she always made a FABULOUS Aladdin ;) ) There was some Barbara Streisand in there, I remember going through one of her song books and mom would play the piano while I sang or she would do harmony for me, but I don’t think I’m brave enough to attempt a Barbara Streisand song anymore. I’ll leave those for the Rachel Berry’s of the world :) The other name that stuck out in my memory was Bonnie Raitt. I have been singing “Something to Talk About” and “I Can’t Make You Love Me” since I can remember. I’m pretty sure I wore that cassette tape out in her car over the years! So when I recently discovered Bon Iver’s gorgeous arrangement of “I Can’t Make You Love Me” I thought I’d give that one a try :)
So here you go, mama; your very own vimeo :) thanks for spending so many years at the piano with me and for giving me a love of music, lyrics, and singing. those will always be some of my favorite memories with you! happy mother’s day! i love you!
ps- you may ONLY click on this video below if you promise not to judge my piano playing capabilities! anyone want to give me lessons?? :)
Wow…you are amazing and what a special Mother’s Day gift!!
Jessica, you have such a beautiful voice! You are so sweet to share your gifts! Hope you had a great mother’s day! :)
My iron is so low! xoxoxoxo
Lovely, and such a nice gift for your sweet mama!
Loving you.
Ant Lis
Soooo beautiful!Inside and out! What a wonderful gift. Thanks for sharing it with all of us. xoxox
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Love this song and I think we did wear out this particular tape in the car! Best Mother’s Day present ever! I really miss getting to hear you sing on a daily non-stop kind of basis and I REALLY miss all our piano/sing along/harmony duets! Love you!