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I Call You Joy

from Treehouse (2019 Yearbook) by Sean McGaughey

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about

It took me 3 or 4 FAWMs and several midyear tries to write this. I kept coming and going from it. It is so personal that I had a hard time committing words to paper. I started the chorus in 2016 or 2017 and I kept coming back to it a couple times a year. Looks like this time I finished it.
As I was tracking vocals, the subject of the song, my 19 year old son came into my studio in tears. He took over the board and we were both in tears as I nailed the last vocal take.

Oh, he kept his middle name: Joy.

Seb is also a musician: He released an EP on his 18th Birthday. You can find it here: sebastianjoy.bandcamp.com

lyrics

I Call You Joy
Sean McGaughey (c) Apr 2016- Feb 12, 2019

Intro: Gx2 Ax2 Dx2
Chorus
D
I call you beloved,
F#m
I call you an artist
G
I call you beautiful
A7
I call you my own
D
You will always be my child
F#m
Woman, man, girl or boy.
G
From the first that I knew you,
A D
I called you, I called you Joy

D
I gave you a name.
Em
It was a good name
A7
Carried with pride on both sides
G A7
of the family tree

D
But the name and your body
Em
Chafed against you oddly
A7
An ill fitting uniform
G A7
That couldn’t match what you were inside

Chorus

Then you chose a new name...
That suited you better.
Changed your appearance,
And pronouns as well.

You slowly emerged
A grand transformation
A butterfly released
From a crystalline shell

Chorus Instrument Solo

Chorus Vocal

Outro:
{G
From the first I knew you,
A D
I called you,} 3x
A D G A D
I called you Joy

credits

from Treehouse (2019 Yearbook), released December 29, 2019
Music and Lyrics: © Sean McGaughey

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Sean McGaughey Ontario

I am a folk singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and children's entertainer in Simcoe County Ontario. By day, I am a mild-mannered Elementary School teacher-librarian.

Since 2013, I have been participating the the February Album Writing Month Challenge at fawm.org to write 14 songs in February.

This year I challenged myself to up my musicianship and production values. This is the result. ... more

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