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2008 Songwriting Contest

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The Finalists

Chris Ayre

 

Rachel Garlin

Decisions And Desires

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More about Rachel

  Decisions And Desires

Originally from Berkeley, CA, Rachel moved to New York to record Bound to be Mountains, a collection of 12 new songs, independently released in June 2008. A recent review notes that Rachel’s “music and lyrics both demonstrate an ability to create concise, precise, and brightly colorful stories that fit into three-minute songs but feel complete.”(K.Melloy)
Rachel tours nationally, performing at venues such as the Bitter End in New York and the Freight and Salvage in Berkeley where she recorded a live album several years ago. She has been a finalist in the Telluride troubadour contest in Colorado, and was honored with first prize in the Apple and Eve Talent Search at the Newport Folk Festival.

After touring cross-country in a bio-diesel van, Rachel wrote a song called "Alternative Fuel" that was recently selected for the soundtrack of Fields of Fuel, the audience choice winner at this year's Sundance Film Festival. Her songs have aired on Click and Clack’s Car Talk, Amy Goodman’s Democracy Now!, and college and community radio stations throughout the country.
 

Balanced on the counter ledge
We laugh without a care
You do the dishes while I watch
I see a photo by the stairs
Is that your sweetheart?

We paint our lives with such precision
Then live inside our painted prisons
High fences, high stakes, low fires
Decisions and desires

My feet are high above the floor
You’re leaning just out of my reach
My life feels far away next door
Why can’t I get enough and leave?
You say we shouldn’t feed this

We paint our lives with such precision
Then live inside our painted prisons
High fences, high stakes, low fires
Decisions and desires

Some days are all about escape
When there’s no one else around
We’re like two pebbles on a lake
Quickly skipping out of bounds

By sunset you are holding me
Closer than I’ve ever known
Can I find the bold in me
To leave this fragile love alone
Or ask for what I need here?

We paint our lives with such precision
Then live inside our painted prisons
High fences, high stakes, low fires
Decisions and desires