Perceptions

I wrote a song in Berlin called Perceptions. Walking the streets of Berlin and witnessing the prostitution really struck me and I knew that it was an idea I wanted to wrestle with in some form. Perceptions is a two fold song.

The song is a first person perspective of a prostitute. The first aspect of the song is just in how she is perceived. Each verse deals with how a different person views her, from herself to people passing by on the streets to other prostitutes on the street, to the guys she's sleeping with and ending with her dad. Her dad wishes his little girl, who would innocently climb up his knees and just sit in his lap would be the girl she was again. It's the idea of no matter what happens in life and where we currently are there is always someone who loves us and is willing to embrace us and accept us, even when it feels like the entire world is judging us.

The second part of the song is the chorus and bridge that talk about freedom. In our debrief conversations the idea of finding freedom and false freedom kept coming up. We think we're free because we have the freedom to do whatever we want and and choose whatever sort of lifestyle is available to us but we become slaves to drugs, alcohol, sex, jobs, etc... The chorus of this song is a cry for help. It says I could be anything I want but I don't know how to be free and the bridge just echos this idea of not actually being free.



"What do I see when I look in the mirror?
Just a dirty old whore getting down on her knees
Trying to make a dollar so that I can eat
Well that ain't so bad.

What do they see when they're passing by me?
Just a dirty old whore who can't get off the streets
That I should get a real job and have low self-esteem
They don't know me.

I could be anything I want but I don't know how to
If I could be anything I want but I don't know how to be free

What do they see when they're laughing at me?
Just another old whore working the same street
Trying to take work out from under their feet
They're just jealous

What does he see when he's lying with me?
Just a dirty old whore getting down on her knees
So he can forget about his wife and kids
He's just using me

I could be anything I want but I don't know how to
If I could be anything I want but I don't know how to...

Am I free?
What is free?
Can I be free?
Am I Free?

What does he see when he's thinking of me?
Just daddy's little girl climbing up his knees
Wishing I could have my innocence back
Where'd his girl go?"