In this behind‑the‑scenes episode of the “Songs Revisited” series, Gedelia Folk Rock Rabbi reflects on the creation and meaning of his song “A Song Is Born.” He explains that the track originally began as “Searching for Meaning,” was written during a period of financial struggle while living in a studio apartment in Briarwood/Kew Gardens, Queens, and often composed late‑night at a local diner over coffee. Gedelia describes the 1990s era of his first demo tape, the ups and downs of trying to break into the music industry, and his experiences performing at open‑mic venues in Greenwich Village. He details the songwriting process—how a melody, lyric idea, or emotional hook can spark a song, recounting the night he stayed up writing after an over‑caffeinated evening, leading to the birth of the track. The episode also serves as a promotional plug: the song will be posted on his website with links to Spotify and YouTube, and he invites listeners to follow his Patreon, where he will release singles from an upcoming, privately‑distributed album titled “Searching for Meaning.” The overall tone is conversational, nostalgic, and hopeful, aiming to connect the audience with his personal journey and encourage engagement.
Chapters
Living in a studio apartment in Briarwood, Queens. Working on my music, going after my dreams. I didn't have much money, well, I was living day to day. Enough for food and drinks and an occasional All right, a song is born.
A little bit of a song is born. Hey, it's Gedalya, and this is a new series I'm starting called Songs Revisited. I'm going behind the scenes to songs that I wrote a long time ago, and maybe a lot of my new audience has never heard them before, but I'm kind of going back to them and seeing what they mean to me now. People always ask me, you know, where the songs come from. Is it just some inspiration? A story you just have to tell, something that's— it's like a mystery, you know, where songs come from, you know, and even when I write, you know, when I finish a song, I never know if I'm going to write another one. It just— it's something very magical just happens. Sometimes it starts with a melody, sometimes an idea of a lyric, and sometimes it develops, sometimes it doesn't. And when it does, it's just a— it's a great feeling to be able to express myself. And that expression also, you know, it's— it could be something that was built up inside for a long time. It just needed that right hook, you know, to kind of latch on to and be the, the way to kind of get out and express the— what was really going on inside of me all along. So this song, "A Song Is Born," you know, went through a few changes actually. It was called "Searching for Meaning" at one point. And then was rewritten to be "A Song Is Born." And I think I started it one night. I was living in Kew Gardens, Queens— Briarwood, Queens, actually. And I used to go to this diner, and I used to write and drink coffee, and I would sit there sometimes all night. And one night, I remember, I got home and I put my head down on my pillow to go to sleep, and my eyes just opened wide, and my heart was beating so fast, and I realized I may have overdone it with the coffee that night. I was really wound up, so I stayed up and I was writing, and I just wrote about a day in my life, you know. And this song kind of talks about what it was like back then in those, you know, this is in the '90s when I first came with my first demo tape and I was shopping around trying to get something to happen with the music industry, and there was ups and downs and ins and outs, and it was so It was good times, bad times. You know, I enjoyed playing in the open mics in the city. You know, I used to write and then try out songs in Greenwich Village in the open mics. And this song, "A Song Is Born," so kind of takes me back to that time. And I'm hoping that when you hear it also, maybe it will speak to you in some way and relate— you'll relate to it in some way. And that's really what I'm hoping for with this new series of songs you visited. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this little episode. I'm gonna put this on my website too, and, uh, if you want to visit that page, it'll be— the song will be there and the links to Spotify and YouTube where I'm playing it live. I just put something like that up also. And if it resonates with you, I'd love to hear your thoughts. If you want to go deeper, more stories, more songs, I even have a— starting, I think, November 1st, where I am— anyway, I'm putting out— I have a new album that I'm not going to release publicly, but I'd like to release a single at a time to my Patreon subscribers. It's called Searching for Meaning, and it's got some very interesting, uh, interesting songs in it. So I hope you'll join me there. Thanks for listening. This is Gedalya and this is "A Song Is Born." Well, it was a stormy night.
I was sitting alone in my room.
Yeah.
An old piano singing out a tune. I had a poem I wrote. I started to play a chord. Sat there all night long until this song was born.
