Voices

by: Marcy Rosebaum

"This project has highlighted for me how much of my songwriting comes from listening – listening to people talk about their lives, fears, dreams.  This song focuses on a different kind of story, the stories we tell about ourselves, using the real or imagined judgements others make of us.  Often more like Grimm’s Fairy Tales than superhero homages, I’m always surprised at how critical we all can be in our self talk – even the most seemingly amazing, confident people among us.  It’s my plea to recognize this and give ourselves a break for being human."

~ Marcy Rosenbaum

I heard to you talking to someone,
harsh words coming out of you
Saying that she wasn’t good enough,
Saying her friendships weren’t true

Why are you so hard, so hard,
so hard on yourself
Why is it okay, okay,
you wouldn’t talk that way
to anyone else

Voices that you are hearing,
who do they belong to?
When you look in the mirror,
its not the way we see you

Second guessing, all your decisions
Echoing those childhood derisions
Looking back on earlier visions
of who they thought you should be

Why are you so hard, so hard, 
so hard on yourself
Why is it okay, okay, 
you wouldn’t talk that way
to anyone else

People who you compare yourself to,
they’re not that different than you
They’re just making up stories
and fighting the voices too
If they could just realize
its something all humans do
Then we could breathe,
then we could breathe...

why are we so hard, so hard,
so hard on ourselves
Why is it okay, okay,
we wouldn’t talk that way
to anyone else

why are we so hard, so hard,
so hard on ourselves
Why is it okay, is it really okay, 
we wouldn’t talk that way
to anyone else

We wouldn’t talk that way
We don’t have to talk that way