And I'm Right was released September 2017 by Leesta Vall Records on clear vinyl and digital formats.
And I'm Right Liner Notes
In January 2015, I finished school at the New England Conservatory and Tufts University, and moved to Brooklyn, NY. That summer, I formed Sami Stevens and The Man I Love, then called Sami Stevens and Her All-Star Band. In these seven songs, you can hear a lot of what I was going through the year they were written. Transitioning out of school and into the music scene in NYC, I waited tables, hustled for gigs, and did my best not to go crazy. I was finding new inspiration in artists like Sam Cooke, Sarah Vaughan, and Amy Winehouse, who gave me the no nonsense, sing-the-damn-song therapy I needed to get through each day without a clear path to success.
My intention when forming the Man I Love was to channel all of that feeling into a project for the people, something to dance and cry to, something I could focus all my frustrated energy into, something honest, good and theraputic for me AND for the audience. I sought themes of optimism, of love, and most importantly of honest reflection. I’ve allowed myself one blues on this record, and I think one is enough. The rest of the songs serve to remind me and whoever is listening to lift ourselves and each other up. That’s the version of myself I wanted to give to the audience, and the person I still want to become.
It was only a year into the life of the band when we visited Boston’s Dimension Sound Studio to lay down this record in just two days, with the help of Somerbridge Music’s John Gilbert, and engineer Joe Stewart. And I’m Right was later mixed by Paul Wilson in Brooklyn and Kevin Abdella in Los Angeles, and mastered by Randy Roos in NH. As a band focused on our live performances, this album is meant to reflect what we were doing on stage. Most of the songs were done in just a few takes, with minimal tracking after the fact.
Overall, And I’m Right is a record written as therapy. Life is at once the most meaningful miracle in the universe, and the act of waking up early every morning to go to a job you only sometimes like. There are no answers, and yet somehow, it’s your most profound responsibility to seek out truth and happiness for yourself and others. I hope this record helps.
Love,
Sami
And I'm Right Lyrics and Track Notes
SIDE A
She Is God
Notes: Women! We must lift each other up! Only when we can see each others' strength as our own will we be able to free ourselves from the profoundly internalized and self-perpetuating cycles which weigh us down. Do not succumb to the feeling that there is not enough room for all of us. Work on loving each other and watch the love for yourself grow in tandem.
To be young and to be lovely is a precious thing
To have nothing but two lips that burn, and a mind that sings
To possess the holy knowledge of just what is poisoning
All the water all us women have no option but to bring
Recognition to the women who can recognize the wealth
In a woman rising higher due to her spiritual health
She is real and she is living, not a statue on a shelf
Greeting strangers with the love that she has grown inside herself
Because who is she, who is she?
She is God
Because who is she, who is she?
She is God
She is God
She is God
Pitted against one another we are told that there is no more room
But my sister, daughter mother there is space for two to bloom
If you speak then I will listen, we can teach the children too
Why be meek when born to glisten? Stranger I have love for you
Because who is she, who is she?
She is God
Because who is she, who is she?
She is God
She is God
She is God
Fear not of angels, fear not of men
Fear not tradition, of sword nor pen
Fear not false prophets, who claim to know
They'll get what’s coming, from down below
Because who is she, who is she?
She is God
Because who is she, who is she?
She is God
She is God
She is God
Over and Over
Notes: This song is about taking the huge risk of trusting someone with your heart. To see the humanity in the person you love, and to dedicate yourself to good intentions and forgiveness. It’s dedicated to the man with whom I have learned this new level of trust.
Baby, I can see you through this hole in the wall,
You are pacing, waiting, trying to make up your mind
You are afraid, that if you build it it will fall
Well I’m afraid too, baby, of the darkness we could find
I’ve never been one to be honest about my fears
I pretend like I’m fine, then it hits me all at once
I run out the door, rewriting every year
Creating stories for me to accept the things I’ve done
But baby I can see,
That you just want to be a person
To be good and understood, and to know what living means.
But being 23, means that I know less than you know me
So baby, I’ll forgive you, over and over
If you forgive me, over and over
We’ll build a home of mistakes, and we’ll love it
A home, built for two
We got no rings, but we’ll still sing Let’s Stay Together
Because that’s all, we want, all we want to do
There have been many storms that we have weathered,
But all they did was brought me closer to you
Your eyes, every morning,
And just to feel you each night, is all a woman needs
Outside, it might be stormy
But I am safe here, with you, and you are safe with me
But baby I can see,
That you just want to be a person
To be good and understood, and to know what living means.
But being 23, means that I know less than you know me
So baby, I’ll forgive you, over and over
If you forgive me, over and over
We’ll build a home of mistakes, and we’ll love it
A home, a home, a home
But baby I can see,
That you just want to be a person
To be good and understood, and to know what living means.
But being 23, means that I know less than you know me
So baby, I’ll forgive you, over and over
If you forgive me, over and over
We’ll build a home of mistakes, and we’ll love it
A home, built for two
Baby Blue
Notes: There is something childlike in sadness, something old and familiar. Imagine the person you love flying in a dream above the city at night. The landscape is beautiful, and everything is quiet. It’s only a moment, but it feels just as real as anything else they’ve ever lived.
In my eyes you’ll always have a halo,
But lately gold has faded to a blue
Surrounded by a darkness I
Regret myself to know
But I can still see you, baby blue
In my eyes you’ll always have a halo,
But lately gold has faded to a blue
Surrounded by a darkness I
Regret myself to know
But I can still see you, baby blue
How many dreams came to you as a child
Did you count your fingers, to ten and ten again
I hope they brought you chariots, stars, and horses for to ride
A million miles, above the world into the wind
And in those dreams, was life a little easier
Did you get lonely, way up in heavens high
With city lights, your sea so bright, a night so pure,
Can children know that dreams are only lies?
Where Will I Find (My Best Friend)
Notes: This song is about the fantastic idea of reincarnation, and of seeking the same love again and again in every lifetime. I don’t pretend to know much about much, but I do find this idea delicious.
I loved you longer than you have known my name
In your arms or all alone, is my life’s new game
I’ve waited lifetimes, and I will wait again
Tell me, my brother, where will I find my best friend
In the light, or in the dark,
In an ancient forest, or under Roman archs
Where will I find my best friend
In the light, or in the dark,
In an ancient forest, or under Roman archs
Where will I find my best friend
Weary from traveling, I found you on the shelf
But If love wants to travel to your heart,
Love needs no help
Oh if love wants to travel to your heart,
Love, it needs no help
SIDE B
A Child They Said Was Mine
Notes: The lyrics to this song were written around 4am at my parent’s house in Maine. I experienced a very vivid dream, woke up, and wrote it all the way through. It’s about having and losing a child.
I had a dream I happened on a child they said was mine
He was a one not seen before, but he looked pure and fine
And when I held him in my arms, I promised he I’d learn to love
For surely heaven had sent me a tiny angel from above
And as I looked up from the baby’s face, there was a present scene
A curtain raised revealing perfect water still as I in dream
Reflecting trees and vines and greenery, tangled, wild, and free
And not to mention baby and myself contented as could be
But then all too swiftly, all the blue in sky fermented storm
Without a warning, from my arms fell baby soft and warm
And through the air, and soon the pool below the child fell
Just like a brick, weighted and stiff, through waters I remember well
So down I dove in such a panic, mother’s nightmare of a scene
Descending always just behind the figure I so craved to cling
How had I never known this child, how had I lost him to the dark,
How had he managed to deserve the fate they found outside the ark
There’s no ending to this story, I awoke before my fate
My heart a flutter, and my mind in motion though the hour late
And though I still plan on a family, I am cautious now with fear
That half my heart will live outside me, danger always seeming near
That half my heart will live outside me, danger always seeming near
Learn to Love
Notes: Growing up for me has been more of an experience of growing down; learning how to take myself less seriously, learning that I am allowed to make mistakes, and loving myself more with the freedom this growth brings.
I try to be honest, and to search for what’s real
But I tell lies sometimes, just to feel
And I give myself far too deeply, not to hide
And I’m only sometimes willing to swallow my pride
So I sing this song to my heart
That you have flaws, but so does every work of art
Today will be a new start
Because you had better learn, oh you had better learn,
You had better learn, to love yourself.
I see me, just a child with years
I should just forgive me all my fears, oh
I can count, all the lines that I crossed
I can count every single one I lost
So I sing this song to my heart
That you have flaws, but so does every work of art
Today will be a new start
Because you had better learn, oh
So I sing this song to my heart
That you have flaws, but so does every work of art
Today will be a new start
Because you had better learn, oh you had better learn,
You had better learn, to love yourself.
And I’m Right (album version)
Notes: This song is dedicated to anyone who ever moved to a new city to follow their dreams.
I don’t have enough money to get drunk
And I don’t have enough honey to get some
So I’m gonna sit here at this bar
And I’m gonna make like
I’ve been drinking all night, and I’m right
And I’m right
Because everybody knows
That when it rains it pours, and it snows
Though I’m all alone at this counter,
All I see is you and me in the shower
I’ve been thinking all night, and I’m right
And I’m right
So don’t you tell me that I’m broken
Just because it might be true
I have never needed a friend like you
Because your goodbye’s just a memory
And regrets, I’ve had a few
But holy, this damn liquid is holy
And I’m gonna stick to my pew
So don’t you tell me that I’m broken
Just because it might be true
I have never needed a friend like you
Because your goodbye’s just a memory
And regrets, I’ve had a few
But holy, this damn liquid is holy
And I’m gonna stick to my pew
I don’t have enough money to get drunk
And I don’t have enough honey to get some
So I’m gonna sit here at this bar
And I’m gonna make like
I’ve been drinking all night, and I’m right
And I’m right