On the days leading to Beltane, the Celtic May Day, I walked through the forest wishing for Beltane songs, wishing I knew the ancient words my ancestors would’ve sung to celebrate the season of fertility and new life. I found myself humming one morning, and spontaneously singing the opening of an old favorite song, “Feeling Good”:
“Birds flying high you know how I feel
Sun in the sky you know how I feel
Breeze drifting on by you know how I feelIt’s a new dawn
It’s a new day
It’s a new life for me, yeahIt’s a new dawn, it’s a new day, it’s a new life for me
And I’m feeling good”
This is a song I know in my bones to be about spring, growth, birth, the connection of all creation and the full cycle of life. Nobody sings this song like Nina Simone, and as I listen again and again to her rendition of the song (listen to it here), I realize actually that she is praying this song. That she is preaching a beautiful universal truth. The way she sings lights a fire in me, or maybe blows a deep from-the-belly breath on the flame inside me that’s always been there.
“Fish in the sea, you know how I feel
River running free, you know how I feel
Blossom on the tree, you know how I feelIt’s a new dawn
It’s a new day
It’s a new life
For me
And I’m feeling good”
I’ve been thinking about songs as prayers and singers as prophetic storytellers. I realize “Feeling Good” calls the elements in the same way the traditional Irish blessing “Deep Peace” calls the elements—the running waves, the shining stars, the quiet Earth, the flowing air—it’s just another version of the story that connects us all.
“Dragonfly out in the sun you know what I mean, don’t you know
Butterflies all having fun, you know what I mean
Sleep in peace when day is done, that’s what I mean
And this old world is a new world and a bold world for meStars when you shine, you know how I feel
Scent of the pine you know how I feel
Freedom is mine and I know how I feelIt’s a new dawn
It’s a new day
It’s a new life for meI’m feeling good”
—Angie Pierce Jennings, Prairiewoods hosted groups and hospitality coordinator