‘The Sparks’ is perhaps an unusual song – it certainly hasn’t got a subject that is common in songwriting. I wrote it in April 2021, and it is an attempt of a poetic rendition of what happens in the brain when you stammer/stutter. Not when someone who doesn’t usually stammers might stammer a bit because they are nervous, but when someone who has an actual stammer stammers. It is based on research I remembered reading that said it has been shown that the speech centres in the brain of people who stammer are different than in people who don’t stammer. What I remembered reading at the time was that people who don’t stammer use more of the left side of the brain when they speak, whereas people who stammer use more of the right (in someone who is right handed). Scans have shown that the speech centre works in different ways, that some pathways that are usually active are not active in someone who stammers. Other areas a activated instead and I imagined this to be because the brain compensates for the areas that are not working as usual and creates other pathways to help create speech. These pathways are probably not as strong and reliable, which explains why you might stammer more when tired, nervous, emotional or stressed. But when these neurological sparks light up in unsual areas, what is the effect? I like to think something unexpected comes to light….
The Sparks – Lyrics
When I speak the sparks are on fire, Move along a different wire, Alighting other sparks along the way. The errant sparks of light, Set off an inner fight, So I cannot form what I want to say. But the sparks go to places, Illumines unknown spaces, So the world is brought into different view. Yes, the sparks go to places, Illumines darker spaces, So something new, can shine through, Where the light traces. When I speak the sounds get lost, So the words can come across, The sounds end up in spaces they shouldn’t be. If we can be aware, Of what is sounding there, Then this can be a path of becoming free. Because the sparks go to places, Illumines unknown spaces, So the world is brought into different view. Yes, the sparks go to places, Illumines darker spaces, So something new, can shine through, Where the light traces. What is in a sound? Why does it stray? How can it be found? When it’s gone away? Because the sparks go to places, Illumines unknown spaces, So the world is brought into different view. Yes, the sparks go to places, Illumines darker spaces, So something new, can shine through, Where the light traces. © Saraphir Camille Legind