Pop-folk singer Natalie Merchant, who not only sings about issues close to her heart, but has also contributed her name and time to many worthy causes, released her first studio album in nine years today.
True to form, the double-CD release called Leave Your Sleep touches on profound issues such as death and grieving, as well as the unmitigated joy of childhood. When her daughter was born seven years ago, Merchant stopped touring and recording albums. But she never stopped composing.
Merchant told NPR’s Morning Edition that motherhood got her interested in nursery rhymes and helped inspire Leave Your Sleep.
The album features Merchant’s interpretation of 19th and 20th-century poetry, including the work of Robert Graves, Charles Manley Hopkins, Edward Lear, Ogden Nash and Robert Louis Stevenson. While some of the songs, like “The Walloping Window Blind,” sound like joyful jigs, others are downright moody. Speaking of “Window Blind,” Merchant told NPR:
“It’s so uplifting. It fills you with joy,” she said. “That’s what part of childhood is, just unbridled enthusiasm. Like, can’t control yourself, would-you-please-calm-down — no I can’t! Jumping on the furniture. I love the thought that there might be, some day, children all over being told to calm down because this record is on.”
Merchant says the album is about childhood, but really covers the full range of human experience. During her interview with NPR, she admitted that the song “Spring and Fall: To a Young Child,” is still a hard one for her to listen to, even after hearing it countless times. Inspired by the Hopkins poem of the same name, the song offers consolation to a young child grieving over a loss. Merchant says its inclusion was inspired by the sudden deaths of three friends she and her daughter endured when the child was just three years old.
“When you see the death of anything, you see the death of everything,” Merchant told NPR. “And you see the death of yourself.”
Merchant has never been one to shy away from difficult subjects. Over the years, her songs have tackled issues like teen pregnancy, alcoholism, child abuse, animal rights and homelessness. But she’s also put her money where her (singing) mouth is. For years, she has been donating a portion of the proceeds of her concerts to international medical relief agency Doctors Without Borders.
She has also donated time and money to the Boys and Girls Club, which provides counseling and academic programs for kids and she’s been a part of various AIDS charities.
Besides that, she’s also participated in dozens of benefit concerts over the years (even in the years since her last album,) including the Tibetan Freedom Concert, Mind Body Self Festival for breast cancer and “A Very Special Christmas,” which benefits the Special Olympics organization, among others.
Photo via Amazon.