Just 64 seconds
On the way to the office, when I walk from Nuremberg´s main train station through the downtown in the morning, I let the impressions take effect on me. I look left and right, always discovering something new at the historic buildings. I observe the people I meet. See poverty, homeless people who spend every night sleeping in the middle of the pedestrian zone in front of a large department store. See a group of young men who start into the new day with a beer in hand after they obviously had a pretty short night. Pass a school class from Italy looking thrilled with their teacher from the historic brigde called “Museumsbrücke” in the direction of the Heilig-Geist-Spital and am pleased that I work at a place that people from all over the world come to visit. I make a detour to a bakery to buy a cinnamon bun, which I will enjoy at my desk with my first coffee.
Till I reach the office door, I also have my headphones on. Most of the time, the Spotify playlist with my favorite songs is playing or I just listen to songs that are suggested to me. And sometimes there’s a new song that’s actually just playing in the background, but somehow unconsciously goes straight into your ear and you want to listen to it again right away.
That’s what happened to me that day – sometime in early January – with a song by Andrea von Kampen. She is a singer-songwriter from Nebraska, USA. Her music combines folk, americana and indie pop elements. In 2015 she released her debut album “Storms” and five years later her second studio album “Old Country” came out. The songs are characterized by her warm, melodic voice and her skill on the guitar.
Andrea von Kampen’s lyrics are often very profound and poetic. Listening to her songs, that are often about love, loss and self-discovery, kind of puts you in another world and evokes emotions. This song, too. The song, that was suddenly gone again. At first I thought I had accidentally skipped him. So I took the phone out of my pocket and went back. The second time I listened to him, I realized that sometimes it doesn’t take more than 31 words. That sometimes maybe everything is said in only 4 sentences, in 64 intense seconds, which are over again much too fast: “Of Him I Love Both Day and Night”.
