The World Melts Away
Let’s Sing 26
Written in collaboration with Let’s Sing 26, Michael Betteridge and Princess Arinola Adegbite
“The world melts away
All the troubles of yesterday
Sunlight shines after spring rain
Waves bathe me in soft refrains”
Let's Sing 26 is a choir based in Leeds, made-up of female leisure-time singers who come together to sing and have fun. The group worked in collaboration with poet Princess Arinola Adegbite to create a text, which was reimagined as a composition in collaboration with composer Michael Betteridge.
The poem plays with musical themes, alongside ideas of optimism and springtime after winter.
“Everyone has the ability to sing. Just believe in yourself, and your teachers.”
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The music video, captured as part of the process, is fun and lighthearted, showing the singers stepping out of their comfort zones, ironing together before the “world melts away” and they are left dancing and spinning together freely.
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“I would just like to thank all those involved with this project. Their enthusiasm was infectious and I really felt involved with the creation of something really good and important.”
THE WORLD MELTS AWAY
In my head, I hear violins
I always feel like I’m walking on strings
Still, I grow wings when I sing
I’m a bird in the spring
Velvet dreams echo middle C,
Memories, major chords in a stream,
Watch me walk on clouds through the keys
As my mind rings with melodies
The world melts away
All the troubles of yesterday
Sunlight shines after spring rain
Waves bathe me in soft refrains
When I had nowhere to go
Days were doors that opened and closed
Behind the door sang hope, her whispered tones
Bathing me in the warmest afterglow
The world melts away
All the troubles of yesterday
Sunlight shines after spring rain
Waves bathe me in soft refrains
I saw a future I could hold
Tuned into the voice I’ve always known
I swam inside the rhythm of my soul
On the seabed of a note, I found my lifeboat
The world melts away
All the troubles of yesterday
Sunlight shines after spring rain
Waves bathe me in soft refrains
Skies made of orange sorbet
Full of mandarin sun-rays
Bathing me in dazzling days
Creative Team Credits
Composer, Michael Betteridge
Writer, Princess Arinola Adegbite
Movement Director, Ruth Jones
Filmmaker, Luca Rudlin
Sound Engineer, Johnny Woodhead
Creative Producer, Holly Hunter