WINGSUNCAGED
Credits
Aimée Allen - vocals
François Moutin – bass
Billy Test - piano (all tracks except 10)
Kush Abadey – drums (all tracks except 7, 9, 10, and 11)
Aimée Allen – producer
Michael Brorby – sound engineering
Misha Piatigorsky – sound editing
Brian Montgomery – sound mixing
Alan Silverman -mastering
Ksenia Scheffer – photography
Michael Lichter – design
Recorded December 3 & 4, 2017 and April 2, 2018
at Acoustic Recording In Brooklyn, NY
© and ℗ 2018 Aimée Allen. All rights reserved. Unauthorized duplication is a violation of applicable laws.
Azuline Music
Tracks
1. Skylark 5:38
Music by Hoagy Carmichael
Lyrics by Johnny Mercer
2. Shooting Star 5:28
Music and lyrics by Aimée Allen
3. Invitation 5:15 †
Music by Bronisław Kaper
Lyrics by Paul Francis Webster
4. In My Web 5:36
Music and lyrics by Aimée Allen
5. Democracy How (Harmony and Dissonance) 5:51 Video
Music and lyrics by Aimée Allen
6. Touch the Sun 5:21
Music by François Moutin
Lyrics by Aimée Allen
7. Fotografia 5:42 †
Music by Antonio Carlos Jobim
English lyrics by Ray Gilbert
8. Night Owl 4:21
Music and lyrics by Aimée Allen
9. Save Your Love for Me 4:41
Music and lyrics by Buddy Johnson
10. Autumn Leaves / Les Feuilles Mortes 4:12
Music by Joseph Kosma
French lyrics By Jacques Prevert
English Lyrics by Johnny Mercer
11. Midnight Sun 3:32 †
Music by Lionel Hampton and Sonny Burke
Lyrics by Johnny Mercer
† CD Bonus Tracks
Lyrics to Original Songs and Other Wings Uncaged
Most butterflies can fly with large portions of wing missing or damaged.
Shooting Star
By Aimée Allen
Nobody knows whether the horse will drink
When it is finally led to water
Nobody knows what their lover will think
When she is finally told you love her
But everybody knows you
Can’t hide a shooting star
No matter where you are
A star will glow
And everybody knows you
Can’t keep a moth from flame
Though you may call his name
To fire he goes
Nobody knows whether a wound will heal
Invisible or leave a scar
Nobody know whether a love revealed
Will bring us close or take us far
But everybody knows you
Can’t hide a shooting star
No matter where you are
A star will glow
And everybody knows you
Can’t keep a moth from flame
Though you may call his name
To fire he goes
Twinkle twinkle shooting star
How we’re grateful
That you are
Night Owl
By Aimée Allen
The owl is a strange bird, thriving in darkness. It flies at night, silently, while the other birds are sleeping. Some owls' wings actually absorb sound, creating a cloak of silence wherever they go.
And with muted plumage, the owl can afford to fly slowly, confident it won’t be seen or heard. But it sees and hears all, with heightened powers of perception: night vision and superior hearing. Its eyes are also its ears, and its ears are eyes.
The owl is a paragon of non-conformity, a marvel of adaptation, thriving in darkness.
Sometimes it is useful to know how to thrive in darkness. This may be one of those times.
The darkness doesn’t phase you
The thrills of night amaze you
You see all that you need to
In blind defiance
You fly under the radar
The ground you’ve covered so far!
The world is none the wiser
You soar in silence
Night owl
Knowing right now
Is no time for sleepin’
With critters creepin’
Night Owl
Taking flight now
While the world’s in slumber
The nights are numbered
You’re slower than the fast birds
But you don’t know the fast birds
They litter up the daylight
While you wait for night
Articulate with less words
You never flew with the herds
But never are you lonely
You’re happy only
Wiser
You are wiser
Make a paradise
Out of the nighttime
Slower
In a slow whir
You fly low and stealthy
Below the boughs and leaves
You prowl as you please
Night Owl
In My Web
By Aimée Allen
In my web
Silken thread all around
Will glisten and will shine
So you will never mind
How lovingly you’re bound
In my web
No need to spread your wings
Suspended in the air
With me you’ll never miss
The rush that flying brings
Just say you’ll never fly away
And forever you will stay
My only one
And so in love we’ll always be
In time you will agree
Just you
Just me
Just wait, you’ll see
In my web
You’ll find I’m kind to you
I’ll give you everything
It’s all I have to give
And all I have will do
You’ll see then
How love’s its own reward
How letting yourself be
Entangled and happy
Will melt every discord
Just say you’ll never fly away
All you’ve gotta do is stay
My only one
And so in love we’ll always
That I will guarantee
Just you
Just me
Just wait, you’ll see
In my web
You’ll never want for love
My ties won’t gag and bind
They’ll glisten and they’ll shine
That you can be sure of
You’ll see then
How love’s its own reward
How letting yourself be
Entangled and happy
Will melt every discord
Just say you’ll never fly away
And forever you will stay
My only one
Alone together intertwined
In me always a friend you’ll find
I’m yours
You’re mine
And so in love we’ll always
In time you will agree
Just you
Just me
Just wait, you’ll see
Touch the Sun
Music by François Moutin
Lyrics by Aimée Allen
A flock of starlings in flight is a tapestry of choreographed wonder.
Thousand of birds' coordinated movement creates a stunning visual show, of shifting shapes and shadows, morphing depths and shallows.
This natural phenomenon, of many birds moving as one, is called a murmuration. Murmurations are mesmerizing.
Witness the power and beauty in a community of collective action. Consider how we might unite to create such power and beauty.
Touch the Sun is the lyric I wrote, to Francois Moutin’s music that reminded me of the movement of a starling flock. The song is about the phenomenon of murmuration, and much more.
Being of flight
We catch the light
Take to the skies
Watch the sun rise
Wherever we happen to be
Air is our space
We dash we race
Moving as one
In unison
We’re riding high
We touch the sun
In record time
Our paths align
A thousand wings
New beginnings
The season ends
As we transcend
This migration
Moves toward the sun
Setting us free
Winter is done
We fill the skies
We touch the sun
The Paper Kite Butterfly has a wingspan of 5-6 inches. Due to the high ratio of its wing-to-body size, it has a weak, fluttery flight, interspersed with gliding. But it’s awkward flight hides a potent weapon.
As a caterpillar this soon-to-be winged creature eats bitter-tasting alkaloid plants, giving it a bitter taste to predators. Once it emerges from its chrysalis of metallic black and gold, striking black and white wings become a warning for predators: try to eat me, and I will make you very sick.
Like the Paper Kite Butterfly, we should edify ourselves with nourishment, and information, that will assure our survival in the face of predators.
Democracy How (Harmony and Dissonance)
By Aimée Allen
Stories contrived, concocted, misconstrued
To bring about a bitter feud
Voices silenced, muzzled, made lewd
They tell me all I have to lose
By looking and listening
By reading and researching
Or gathering several points of view
They tell me one and one is not two
The death of truth
Democracy is on the line
We’ve asked ourselves a thousand times
If this is what our voices mean
Can we be heard
Can we be seen
Democracy no way no how
Can all our voices be heard now
When truth is plundered, hollowed out
We do not speak
We only shout
Democracy
You say to me
This is democracy
How can it be
Democracy
I still don’t see
How this is democracy
It cannot be
And who are we
Menaced by authority
Who can we be
If this becomes normalcy
How are we free
If this rapidly
Democracy
Ceases to be
Democracy was sacred once
Now harmony is dissonance
The shared ideals no longer sway
A people who’ve
Been led astray
With all our common ground destroyed
The nihilists entered the void
They claim the piper must be paid
So we regress on progress made
Democracy
You say to me
This is democracy
How can it be
Democracy
I still don’t see
How this is democracy
How can it be
And who are we
If we go along with it
Who can we be
Finding nothing wrong with it
How are we free
If this rapidly
Democracy
Ceases to be
An amazing creature, the glasswing butterfly uses its transparent wings to hide from predators during flight.
Its wings appear delicate, but it is able to carry up to 40 times its own weight. It seems fragile, but it is strong, shrewd and strategic. Sometimes the challenges before us call on us to find invisible wings and transcend our circumstances in creative ways.
Liner Notes
Icarus dreamed of it. Maya Angelou spoke of it. To be caged is to dream of freedom but to be uncaged is to dare all, to risk all—no matter the consequences, no matter the peril.
“Wings Uncaged” is a musical epistle of freedom for freedom’s sake, a jeremiad on freedom in the Age of Trumpism.
In her previous albums, Aimée Allen sang in sometimes sweet, sometimes sultry tones of love and longing. In an era when love and sweetness are in danger of being trampled by savagery, Aimée responds with unquestionable force, subtle wit, and defiant beauty.
As ever, François Moutin’s bass work, and his compositional contributions, are peerless. He deftly navigates the determined shift to proclamation in partnership with Kush Abadey’s intricate textures on drums. and Billy Test’s brilliant lights on piano. They provide the punch to Aimée’s oracles. They are Greek chorus in the freedom drama. And true to form, they play with abandon.
Even the covers interspersed here are transformed into revelations of emancipation and self-determination. Listen for it. You will hear it. However, it is those magnificent, sometimes prescient, originals that make every Aimée Allen album a marvel.
“Touch the Sun”, written with Moutin, rejoices in the Icarusian liberty of cooperative flight. It is what the camaraderie of boundlessness should be, as we reach possibilities together. While “Shooting Star” warns of the recklessness possible in freedom. Aimée sings, “Everybody knows you / Can’t keep a moth from flame / Though you may call his name / To fire he goes.”
“Night Owl” speaks of the wisdom in disenthralment and the responsibilities of autonomy.
“In My Web” sees Aimée switch perspective to the view of desperate love that can rob us of our freedom. “Democracy How” is the warning—not preachy but prophetic – of losing it ourselves.
At the end of the day, it’s one thing to have wings but it’s quite another to be uncaged. Freedom is so charming with its inevitable, irresistible, seductive complacency, and yet so tenuous, so fragile, so easy to lose.
This music mesmerizes and enlightens with rare beauty. Aimée’s vocals penetrate the heart and quicken the soul. And Test, Moutin, and Abadey cast a dazzling light on the whole work.
Through it all, Aimée sings a psalmist’s subtle message: the voice too has wings.
~Travis Rogers, Jr. is The Jazz Owl
