Night 6 of the second winter. Snow falls on the Night Market. The stalls close at eight. One lamp still burns over a crate of oranges. I stand at the end of the row. I watch that lamp until it goes out.

An old woman wrote me a letter. It became my song about a kind stranger. She keeps that fruit stall. The girl in her letter bought one orange from her every night. I sang the letter as Come Anyway.

Where the letter came from

The letter came on a Tuesday. It sat in the mailbox by the gate. She wrote it in pencil on a paper bag for oranges. The paper smelled of peel. I read it three times under my own lamp.

The first winter after the sun came back was hard for her. People walked past her stall all season. Her oranges went soft in the crates. Every night at eight she reached up to put out the lamp. And every night a girl stood at the stall.

The girl was new in Northgate. She wore a thin coat. She always said "just one". She took the smallest orange. She warmed her hands on the lamp glass. She asked about the old woman's knees. Then she walked home into the dark.

The night the girl stayed away

Then the girl missed three nights in a row. Her coins ran out. The old woman waited by her lamp each evening. On the fourth night she went looking. She found the girl's street. Every window on it was lit. Only the girl's window was dark.

That one coin was the girl's lamp oil. She spent it on an orange each night. Her own room sat dark all winter. The stall's lamp burned on her money.

The hardest line in the song

The verses came fast. The old woman's words were already good. The chorus came next. She asks the girl to come with empty hands. That part sat easy in the music.

The bridge took me four nights. I tried it ten ways. Each version sounded like a speech. She understood it all from one dark window. I wanted the bridge just as short. In the end I used her own sentence from the paper bag.

Last night I found your street,
each window lit but yours,
you spent your oil on me,
you went dark so mine would burn.

The song goes quiet here. The drums drop out. A soft piano plays under one close voice. Then the last chorus hits with the full drop. The chorus keeps the same words after the bridge. Now they mean something else. Before the bridge the old woman invites the girl. After it she pays the girl back. The girl paid for that lamp with her own light.

How the song sounds

It is an emotional EDM song. A husky older voice sings the verses. Soft piano and small bell sounds sit under her. Each chorus bursts into a big dance drop. The voice climbs high and loud. Wide synth chords carry the hook. The last drop is the biggest. It comes right after the quiet bridge.

Send it to the stranger from your first winter

Think of your first winter in a new town. Someone kept a light on for you. Maybe a neighbour left the porch lamp on. Maybe a shop owner kept the door open late. This song is for that person.

Send this kindness of strangers song to them tonight. Or send it to a friend far from home. The full lyrics and the video are on the Come Anyway page. More letters are on the Lampwright page.

Last night I left a lamp burning on the girl's street. Tonight she came back to the stall with empty hands. The old woman gave her the biggest orange in the crate.

Tell me your town under the video. I will see your light.