Covered In Clover

The Story Behind The Song Night of the Living

Welcome to Day 8 of the secret album diaries for Covered in Clover!

Today’s song came about in a really fun way. This song, Night of the Living, was inspired by a zombie love story and a book which is now a major motion picture!

One of the first forays I had into solo songwriting was in 2014 during a 6-week artist residence at an arts community and retreat center just outside of Leavenworth, WA called The Grunewald Guild. It was a much-needed respite from the world and my impending career change.

During my time there, they also held a weekend songwriting retreat led by songwriting veteran, Jan Krist. I wasn’t sure about attending this weekend, thinking “I’m already here to write songs, why would I need to take a retreat from writing songs to write more songs?” But I’m so glad I joined them! I joined several other retreats there and elsewhere since. It’s now one of my favorite ways to spend my “vacation weeks.”

Usually at these songwriting retreats, the attendees are given a prompt of some sort to get them started with a song. The retreat that inspired this song began with all of the attendees sitting in a circle. We did a quick “ice breaker” by talking about the latest book we had read. Then we discussed the various societal uses of songs (i.e. work songs, party songs, etc.)

The prompt we were then given was to pick one of those societal uses of songs. I picked lullaby. Then we were assigned to write a song with that purpose based around the most recent book we had read.

I had just finished reading Issac Marion’s novel Warm Bodies because his brother and I worked in the Seattle music industry together. At the time of this retreat, the book was being turned into a major motion picture, starring Nicholas Hoult and John Malkovich(!!!)

It’s a really endearing and compelling love story. I highly recommend both the book and the movie, but I’m partial to the book. :-)

And so my song prompt was to write a zombie love story lullaby.

I dove into some research about zombies… 2 days later this song popped out! The story in the song isn’t necessarily tied to Issac’s novel, but I certainly would not have written a song like this without his book or Jan Krist's prompt!

If you like the song, go tell Issac about it! ;-) I’m sure he’d love to hear how his art and bravery has resonated around the world!

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Listen to Night of the Living

(Shhh!!! This is for your eyes & ears only!)

The Lyrics for Night of the Living 

The curse has spread and powder drifted

Our little world has now twisted

The youthful moaning has matured

Now it seems our hope’s unheard

So rest my dear, you’ve fought hard

While I slept, You were my body’s guard

It’s my turn, (so) I’ll keep watch

Beneath the swingin’ clingin’ moss           

& If they bite before you ‘wake

I pray The Lord your soul to take

I know you’ll dream of the days we lost

Days death didn’t cover like frost

We met in summer only days before

Fear now shields us from the swarm

Don’t let them wake you from your slumber   

Baby, there’s great strength in numbers

It’s my turn, (so) I’ll keep watch

Beneath the swingin’ clingin’ moss          

& If they bite before you ‘wake

I pray The Lord your soul to take

‘Cause we’ve got the one thing they all want...

We know better babe, we know their ways

We will battle with our hearts ablaze

A hoard of luck hunting slavery

They've retreated from our bravery

Knife away, put down your axe

We’ve prepared so you can just relax.

It’s my turn, so I’ll keep watch

Beneath the swingin’ clingin’ moss       

& If they bite before you ‘wake

I pray The Lord your soul to take

‘Cause we’ve got the one thing they all want...

We’re alive. We’re alive.

Baby, we’re alive.

The Credits

Produced by Emily Ann Peterson / Co-production & engineering by Gary Mula / Mixing by Mackenzie Spear / Mastering by Raelynn Janicke / Vocals, piano, cello & tenor guitar by Emily Ann Peterson / Bass & guitar by Eric Howk / Drums on tracks 1, 2, 4, and 7 by Aaron Benson / Drums on tracks 6, 8 and 9 by Lacey Brown / Violin by Alina To / Bassoon by Coltan Foster / Flugelhorn by Carey Rayburn / Trumpets by Scott Morning & Carey Rayburn / Saxophone by Andrew Vait / Instrumental arrangement on track 5 by Jess Aldredge/ Photography by Laura Schneider  / Cover design by Emily Ann Peterson

This album exists with help from my fans and patrons: 

Margaret Ann Martin, Eugene H. Peterson, Jan Krist, Shelby Earl, Jennifer Monahan, Janet Haney, Nicholas Herring, Hillel Cooperman, Jeff Brumley, James Lenhardt, Chris Burlingame, Karen Schwartzbauer, Hanni Hunderfund, Karina Sprinkle, Mandy Troxel, Steve Eulberg, Freya Kennedy, Heidi Stoermer, Nathan Hollifield, Anna Ungar, Anna Armstrong, Mark Peterson, Cindy Peterson, Melanie Harding, Kye Alfred Hillig, Erin Mae Lewis, Jess Shook, Pepe Doval Conzalez, Jamshid Faryar, Nyhuis Creative, Diane Morissette, Kristi Leksen, Laura Constantino, Karla Johnson, Daniel McBain, Maria Bunn, Kaitlin Winter-Eulberg, Kari Van Gelder, Scott Haydon, Kelly Goss, Cherie Perucci, Charlotte Seawell, Matt Hanna, Michael Clark, Becca Iverson, Chris Nippard, Emily Rose, Renee Escobar, Peter Berkeley, Christina Strand, Chris Mathews Jr., Theresa Kennedy, Cheryl Branz, Billy Brush, Elizabeth Burda, Heather Grady

...and anyone else who's attended a concert, purchased my book, listened to my songs, or joined my Inner Circle. 

Thank you for your enduring support of musical bravery! 

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