Singing for Pathways: Volunteer Appreciation


Over the past few years, Marina has been volunteering at Pathways for Children, a local non-profit organization providing care, support, and services to children & families in need. Visiting a few times per week, Marina has worked with the kids at Pathways in music & movement classes. “I was very fortunate growing up to have lots of exposure to music, starting at a young age,” she says, “and I wanted to give these kids a chance to have that special kind of creativity and freedom of expression that comes with music and dance.”

Marina is honored to have been invited to speak and perform at Pathways’ annual Volunteer & Donor Appreciation event, held this year in Gloucester, MA. “When they asked me to perform, I thought, what better song to express the unique strength & character of the hardworking, dedicated people who built this organization, than my own love song to Cape Ann? Music and community, a sense of place and a sense of meaning, are all closely tied — and this song expresses that better than any words could (I hope!).”

Click below & watch Marina’s live performance of her original piece “Cape Ann Song.” Lyrics are posted below. Many thanks to Gloucester’s illustrious Mayor Sefatia for the video!

 

Cape Ann Song, by Marina Evans

In a little town at the end of the earth

Full of scent and sound of the water

Hangs a history, deep and oh so long

Wild as the sea and pretty as her songs

 

This is more than an island

More than sea and shore, more than tide and wind

 

The harbor birds are crying, swooping low and fast

O’er fishermen arriving, hulls heavy with their catch

From a granite ledge with panoramic view

The painter tilts his head to glimpse that golden blue

From salty saloons to the riverside

Poets sway and singers swoon, drunk on love of light

 

This is more than an island

More than sea and shore, more than tide and wind

You see it in silver scales shining in the sun

In spindrift and great white sails

Mysteries and tall tales…

 

Generations, living and breathing the ocean, the ocean

Four hundred years of devotion, devotion

Oh a legacy that can’t be sold

Oh and we — we can’t let go

 

Now it’s in our hands, in our hearts and minds

To live and love this land

By the sea defined

By the sea defined