Island

Island

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Island

Track 7 of Heart Songs

LINKS

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ABOUT THIS SONG

release date: September 21, 2025
earlier release date: November 26, 2020
length: 3 min 45 sec
music and lyrics: Chris Tong
vocals: Chris Tong
musical arrangement: Chris Tong
ISRC: QT3EY2587853
UPC: 199739332510
instruments: piano, flute, electric guitar, acoustic guitar, bass guitar, drums, bells

I wrote Island when I was 21. It is a song about love in the midst of impermanence. Island is probably the song I've written that was most influenced by the Beatles.

LYRICS

ISLAND

She's
waiting inside with the thought of me. . .
while I am remembering
times we have shared
as daylight settles.

Trees
whisper a word to the evening breeze. . .
which opens the door,
and my lover is there.
She's silent, waiting.

So like a child,
like a morn,
every day, a love is born
to break a heart
or make a start
for two.
And like the rose,
like the rain,
pleasure mingled
with the pain
has made me treasure
my life with you.

You
lying asleep in
the morning dew,
remind me of islands
adrift on the sea.
My island's dreaming.

We
know we can't hide from
reality.
Tomorrow's a wind
sweeping islands away.
So now I'll hold you. . .

Like a child,
like a morn,
every day, a love is born
to break a heart
or make a start
for two.
And like the rose,
like the rain,
pleasure mingled
with the pain
has made me treasure
my life with you.

[INSTRUMENTAL]

And like the rose,
like the rain,
pleasure mingled
with the pain
has made me treasure
my life with you.

Previous Track:
Heart Song

ADDITIONAL NOTES

BEATLES INFLUENCE. I mentioned how this song was influenced by the Beatles. More specifically, the music was inspired by Paul McCartney's beautiful song, Here, There, and Everywhere. Given that background, when I composed the musical arrangement for the song in 2020, I had fun adding further Beatles touches here and there. (Just one example: you can hear flutes playing something like the Mellotron flutes do at the beginning of Strawberry Fields Forever at 1:03.)

NURSERY RHYMES. My personal "songwriting theory" includes the notion that melodies from nursery rhymes resonate deeply with listeners, because they connect one in feeling with one's early childhood. So if I can work a snippet from a nursery rhyme into a song, it will resonate very powerfully, even if the listener is not consciously recognizing the melody — they will just feel there is "something very familiar and compelling" about it. So the chorus of Island has a melody line that I took from the nursery rhyme, This Old Man — the melody for:
"He played knick-knack on my thumb"
is sung in Island as:
"Every day a love is born"
and
"Pleasure mingled with the pain"

EARLIER VERSION. I released an earlier version of this song in 2020. The new version is sung better and has a better instrumental arrangement. But here is that earlier version, for the record.

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