Vienna Teng

The premise of this friendly contest was, "Six brave songwriters get together and pick a song title out of a hat full of audience-generated suggestions. They drew "Nothing Left For Us to Find" out of the hat, and were then given one hour alone to write a song inspired by the title. They then reconvened and played their versions for each other, and on Nov. 11, 2008 presented their unique songs based on the title, at the Zipper Factory in NYC." - Pretty good for 1 hour.

Lyrics as transcribed by Reileen van Kaile:

~ ~

"Nothing Left For Us to Find"

by Vienna Teng

Blue of an evening, crumbled and crushed

smell of the rain and the oil and dust and tar

pavement busted under our feet

brown bottle glass fragments wink like stars

we've come looking

two ghosts come haunting

but there's nothing left for us to find

just barren branches, abandoned chances

nothing left for us to find

words come crashing out of the dusk

ricocheting off of the rusting cars don't start

what was the match that caught in the field

what kind of ancient tinder yields

that hard yellow spark

we've come looking

for what we have no business wanting

but there's nothing left for us to find

just blackened houses, a voice without says

there's nothing left for us to find

of what we might have been

i think this might be freedom

one small glimmer

'cause there's nothing left for us to find

we burned it clean down, can't be seen now

nothing left for us to find

so we move on

yeah, nothing left for us to find

we burned it clean down to the green ground

nothing left for us to find

there's nothing left for us to find

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Making of Sagebrush Valentine II

http://vimeo.com/3058310

http://sagebrushvalentine.com/

http://viennateng.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2874&sid=6c36487336b1c0f2860dd70ffe3a6107

Filmed and edited by Tracey Petrillo

Video content of Nathan Tysen

I posted this video under "Fair Use" provisions.

DMCA takedown requests will be honored.

Comments

11 years ago

Diane Gaines

The BEST singer songwriter out there!

11 years ago

authorit09

She is a lyrical genius. <3

12 years ago

RJP Phoenix

wow, very interesting. i love what she came up with.

12 years ago

Michelle Giacalone

This is just sheer beauty.

12 years ago

Laura Shanae

REALLY wish I could find a studio-quality recording of this song... XD

13 years ago

freedomwriter126

I swear, she's a genius. And I love that she has a sense of humor about herself. I saw the song title and thought it would be about the feeling of release and closure that comes with a great journey's end, and in a way I think it was about that, only with a darker, more somber tone. Very reflective and poignant in my opinion. She must be Sherlock in disguise if she can summon up all that from her head in just one hour, haha. Vienna Teng, an inspiration to us all.

13 years ago

Trakarg

This song is awesome. Being written in an hour? Incredible!

13 years ago

rustyalith

simply amazing!

13 years ago

Sunjay Hauntingston

This is an amazing song, hour or no hour.

13 years ago

stareyedwitch

I've never heard a song that described life so well before hand. God, she's got a wonderful talent and gift.

13 years ago

jenniealexxa

the lyrics make more sense than she thinks. :) it's truly amazing what she can come up with in an hour. can we expect this song to be in her next album?

14 years ago

Ari Corsetti

This is simply incredible. I love Vienna Teng, and I think this really shows off her true talent...she's the most amazing singer-songwriter I've ever had the pleasure to hear. Thank you for putting this up.

14 years ago