Lisa Medill

In September, 2003, I was asked by a Social Worker friend of mine to sing a song that I had written called "Through A Child's Eyes" (which is about how child abuse is viewed through the eyes of a child) at a 'Take Back The Night' rally. ('Take Back The Night' is an annual event that is arranged by college campuses throughout the world. It acknowledges women survivors of violent sexual abuse, assault, incest, and other forms of violent abuse.) After I sang my song, the women were allowed to come up to the mic and give their personal story of survival. The experiences that I heard that night moved me to ask one of the women who was involved in planning the event if she would like me to write a song for them and call it "Take Back The Night". She was thrilled at the prospect of such a song. Awhile after the event, I emailed Joie Scott and explained the song idea to her. She graciously agreed to work on the song with me and, before too long, we had a very strong and empowering song. Our demo of the song turned out absolutely beautiful and I was able to share it at this year's TBTN event. The response was that it was 'mesmerizing', 'one of the best songs ever heard on the subject'. We hope to eventually have a female artist record it, as I've had many requests for copies of the song. (THIS is one of the reasons that I love writing - when people can be moved in such an emotional, positive manner!)

One day I took notice of words that began with the prefix "mis". I wanted to try to write a song using this prefix about a woman who wouldn't be misunderstood, etc. like she had in the past, a woman who is finally going to put her foot down and encourage other women to do so.

...Yes, I can say that this idea must have come about because I've learned to stand up for myself after having been mis'd by one too many people in my life. (I won't mention them in print, but if you're curious, ask me!) ;-D

This song came about at a Marc Alan Barnette workshop that was held in Green Bay, WI. I was teamed up with Mike Heath to cowrite a song. Mike had the title, but we couldn't figure out which direction to go with the song. After some time had passed, the storyline came to me. I shared my thoughts with Mike, we made some changes and, well, here it is.

It's been said that 'life imitates art'. In this case, 'art imitates life'. 'Nuff said.. ;-)

I brought a first draft (that I wrote awhile back) to my pal, Lorna Flowers, and asked her if she would be interested in finishing the song with me. Lorna put her songwriting prowess to work, along with a great melody, and voila!

Tracy Rice, an artist/songwriter from Canada and good friend, sang the demo and gave it the 'attitude' that helps the idea hit home.

Kudos to Lorna and Tracy for helping to create and awesome piece of work!!!

A friend of mine used to date a gal named Allie. He referred to her as "tornado Allie" when she got, shall we say, agitated. The first time he made mention of her in this way, I instantly knew it was a really cool hook.

The idea came to me while thinking about how mundane day-to-day life can become. Sometimes I think we all would like to just stop the hamster-wheel of life, jump off and do something impulsive. I felt the need to write about it, and so this song came to be.

I brought this song idea with me when I met with Christine Anderson (author of 'The Songwriters' Blueprint') to do some cowriting. After our first draft, I told her about a new direction that we could take the song. In view of the number of families today where the father is not at home all of the time, many due to being off at war, I thought of how many 'little boys' are acting as 'little big men' of the house while their Daddys are gone. Soon thereafter, "Little Big Man" came to be...

This great song came about when Marghie Evans, Lorna Flowers, and I got together one day in January, 2005. I think this one will be a real crowd pleaser, as it's hard to not to sway back and forth even when simply sitting down!

Somewhere I heard the phrase "moving violation" and thought that it would make a really cool song title. In due time, the lyrics came together and …voila!

One day in November '04, I was staying at my friend, Lorna Flowers', home. Our mutual friend, Marghie Evans, was getting ready to leave after having written with Lorna that morning. I got a song idea from something that Marghie said during our conversation before she left. I told her, "Hey - that could be a fun song! A guy and a gal could be driving along, she hears a song on the radio but doesn't know the words, so she just sings 'ooh, ooh, la, la, la." The three of us went to lunch, came back to Lorna's home, and had a fun time writing this song... I hope you enjoy it! :-)

This title popped into my brain one day and then the ideas just followed.
I wish I had something profound to tell you, but "that's all she wrote"! lol

I was feeling kinda down about songwriting one day when the phrase 'don't quit now' came into my head. I knew that other people feel the same way about life from time to time, but wondered who in particular could I write such a song for. Being that I work for Milwaukee Public Schools, I thought of our students who participate in Special Olympics. Shortly thereafter, I dedicated this song to and and have been in regular communication with the great folks who work at the Wisconsin State Office for Special Olympics. Knowing that this song was going to be destined for greater things than I had initially anticipated, I decided to invest in a full demo. So, I had some of my best musician friends create the beautiful sound that you hear on the song.

I had the privilege of singing my song to over 3,000 Special Olympic athletes, numerous volunteers and law enforcement officers from across Wisconsin at their 20th Anniversary Special Olympics Law Enforcement Torch Run on Thursday, June 8th. It was so heartwarming to see the athletes sitting or standing all across the UW-Stevens Point, WI track, clapping their hands to the song and rocking to the music.

...yeah...THIS is what songwriting is ALL about!