Norah Jones, "Once I Had a Laugh"

Selected Composition

Norah Jones, "Once I Had a Laugh"

Program Notes

I listened to Norah Jones again today. I first listened to this back in November when Jones was featured on CBS Saturday Sessions. Everything about it is perfect: Jones's voice, her piano accompaniment. Seeing her perform and hearing her is a delight . . . 

And then you pay attention to the words. Jones wrote both the music and the lyrics for this song. I don't know if she is speaking to herself, about something hard she faced, or if she is singing to all of us to remind us to remember that once we laughed, and we could laugh again. It seems a song of hope, given the times.

Here is Norah Jones singing "Once I Had a Laugh" on CBS Saturday Sessions:

Norah Jones, "Once I Had a Laugh"

I created "Where the Northern Winds Do Blow," the image above, in 2006. It is based on Mandelbrot fractals. The title is from Robert Herrick's poem "To Sappho":
 

Sappho, I will chuse to go
Where the northern winds do blow
Endless ice, and endless snow;
Rather than I once would see
But a winter's face in thee,
To benumb my hopes and me.