Entertainment

Carrie Fisher Co-Wrote An Amazing Song

by S. Atkinson
Andreas Rentz/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images

Actor, writer, humorist, and spokesperson for mental health disorders. How much more multitalented could Carrie Fisher be, anyway? But get ready to have your conception of the Star Wars actor expanded even further because Sean Lennon co-wrote a song with Fisher, which has been released, proving that, alongside all the other creative fields she excelled in, Fisher was also a talented lyricist.

Lennon said of the song:

Carrie and I wrote this song years ago. When she died I just felt I had to record it. This is only a demo unmixed, we only had a few hours to record it. But the lyrics she wrote with me I think are marvelous. Carrie and I used to stay up 'til dawn chatting and pontificating about life. They were my best moments. Anyway... we wrote a song about staying up too late and hearing the birds sing.

If you're wondering who is responsible for the vocals, it's none other than Willow Smith, who Lennon describes as being a "prodigal angel" and as having a "golden voice," and that's nice too, right? It builds a vision of a very specific world for me where famous children hang out together and make beautiful music and where you get to pen a song with Fisher thanks to having such close access that you stay up 'til dawn chatting.

It suggests what you knew already, that Fisher has a wonderful way with words. Here's the opening verse, for example.

Love comes on cat's feet
Circles the corner
Sits by the window
And whispers mine
Oh mine oh mine

Isn't it pretty, and doesn't it perfectly capture the delicacy of romantic feels? This, too, fuels my desire to be a fly on the wall of Sean Lennon's bedroom during a late night chat fest.

The second verse is just as lovely:

My arm fell asleep
And dreamt it was your arm
Hush lest we break the spell, oh well, oh well..

Fisher and Lennon manage to crystalize what's both so beautiful and queasy about love — that erosion of boundaries between you and another person — only they've exaggerated it to the point where the bodies in the song are interchangeable.

Anyway, I guess what I'm trying to say is that I already knew Fisher was all sorts of spectacular. But this is a sweetly melodic reminder that, even beyond the grave, she hasn't lost the capacity to keep surprising us. RIP, Carrie Fisher. Writer, thespian, mother, daughter, and amazing songwriter.