Inspired by Vivian Maier
They found a bunch of photographs
taken by someone from the past
Little did they know the value of them
would increase so flippin’ fast
There were pictures of characters
There were self-portraits too
There were shots of children playing
and the finders knew just what to do
They cleaned ’em up and made a site
The artist became famous overnight
Her name was Vivian Maier
She did her thing and she did it right
Even though she made little money
doing what she loved to do
That didn’t stop her from trying
It’s like inside she deeply knew
one day her art would be found
for all to see after she passed away
and the moral of Vivian’s story
is whether you write songs or plays
Don’t listen to all the haters
or doubt in your head at night
Just think of Vivian Maier
She did her thing and she did it right
If you stopped creating what you create
No one will enjoy what they deeply need
Your artistic vision could inspire
or at least become a vital seed
that weaves into someone’s brain
and grows into something completely new
that won’t cure terminal cancer or the flu
but it serves as food, water, and glue
She did her thing and so should you
She did her thing and so should you.
2018
Lyrics Notes: Inspired by the Vivian Maier story, but also by a couple of other things I could not quite fit in here. One was that I had met a gal here in Bloomington-Normal who was an artist – her name was Katie Reid. She was fantastic and she did her thing while she was alive. The other person who inspired this was Phil Harrington. I got off the phone from a good conversation we had and thought I would incorporate that into something fresh. Hope you love it.