Pen Voyage Liner Notes - Track 6

The best definition of forgiveness I heard last week is "to give up the hope that the past will be different.

I wrote "wishful thinking" as a poem a couple of years ago and put it up for friends to read. I was quite surprised by the response. Speaker and Youth advocate David McQueen, suggested that I write some music for it so I did, I also included it on my album Pen Voyage Chapter 1; Singing for Change

Everyone can answer yes to the question "any regrets?" at one point or the other in their lives. I think it is one of the things that highlights our humanity.

We make stupid decisions, we sometimes don't take advantage of opportunities presented to us when we should have, we have people in our lives we wish we had treated better and the list of regrets can go on and on. my question to you and myself would be....

what purpose is replaying the tape of "what could have been" serving in your life? if the purpose is not enhancing your life then you have to let it go and perhaps replace "I WISH" with "I WILL"



I used the song "wishful thinking" to try and deal with two issues decision making and relationships. I wrote the chorus in Yoruba (one of the 250 languages spoken in Nigeria, West Africa)

Mo wa n ke Abamo o means "Now, I'm crying regret" in Yoruba, ABAMO translates directly as "I should have known" or "If I had known"

Read the lyrics below;

You were gone most of the time
No one ever told me why
Moved from one home to the next
Always wishing for a stable nest
You did say you were sorry
It did little to change the story
I thought it was my fault
Now, I realise you were fighting your fears
I wish I gave us a chance
But, it’s too late for that
‘Cause now you’re really gone
To the land of no return

Mo wa n ke e abamo o

I was young and carefree
Enjoying all that life brought me
Caution went to the wind
As I, tasted the fruit forbidden
Faced with the reality of,
Another life’s responsibility
I chose the easy way
Burying my guilt away
Till I saw the love between
A mother and her child
I am left missing
The one I never had

Mo wa n ke e abamo o

Now I am sitting here
Wishing that you were here
I shed a tear
For what was never there



American author and poet Maya Angelou has a popular saying that I think is very freeing. "When you know better, you do better"


Pen Voyage Chapter 1; Singing for Change is out on iTunes, Amazon and other digital stores
http://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/pen-voyage-chapter-1-singing/id466810768

You can buy the physical CD here

Listen to tracks from the album here
Latest tracks by Lánre