Butterflies Are Singing - Joe Paulik

Written by Joe Paulik in 1990. This version recorded 25-02-06. Studio version appears on the 2002 album Callings. I believe it was Late April 1990, when the ice had gone out early on area lakes, that I was on a spring canoe trip on the Little Indian Sioux river in the BWCA with my wife when the lyrics to Butterflies Are Singing came upon me. During a three day rainstorm, contemplating a recent news event, I kept the fire going and sat blissfully enjoying the realness of dripping cool wet weather. The campsite was high on the bank, overlooking a bend in the river. Settling into timeless rhythms, at an undetermined point, the first verse lyrics arrived. I thought it was a joke at first. No way I was gonna write about someone else's feelings and experience. The song demanded otherwise so I complied. Lyrics:

Fly fly bird away, Take my heart away
How can I face my third born son
Son you've killed a man, And you must understand
You must pay for what you've done
Oh what have you done my little son to cause this pain

People filled with grief are pointing fingers at me
friendly faces have turned to stone
I search my memory for something I failed to see
When you were young but I just don't know
Oh what have I done my little son to cause you pain

Fly fly butterflies and white lies coming back to me
Child's eyes scenes from days gone by
Children playing games and singing sounds of laughter are ringing
Echoing through time - through my mind

Hey bring him home
Hey bring him home
Hey bring him home
Hey bring him home
To those that love him

Seven years go by, Rivers swell and dry
Finally you can come back home
You're not the boy I knew
But all that matters is you, That you're no longer all alone
Oh what have they done my little son to cause you pain

But as we ride along something is terribly wrong
There's someone else inside your brain
Then as in a dream I see your violence bursting on me
I am the object of your pain
Oh what have I done my little son to cause you pain

And Butterflies are singing sounds of laughter are ringing somewhere in my mind
Someday we'll all be back together in the hereverafter you won't be left behind in my mind

Hey bring him home
Hey bring him home
Hey bring him home
Hey bring him home
To those that love him

Fly fly butterfly, fly fly butterfly, fly fly butterfly....