The song that summer sings

The fifth sketch challenge has been posted at the new SCRAP & MUSIC challenge blog! Head over to the site to grab the sketch and play along. This fifth sketch came with the song “She” by Elvis Costello.

My layout

I, like many of you probably, have loved this song since first seeing the Julia Roberts/Hugh Grant movie, “Notting Hill.” It has that beautiful melody and conveys so much feeling about destiny and devotion. Once I really combed through the lyrics to find some line that “spoke to me” for a scrapbook page, I was hit by “She may be the song that summer sings.” What a pretty thought!

So I dusted off this 1991 photo of me (the shortie on the right) and my friend, Lisa, dancing together at Oktoberfest. The Willoughby, Ohio, church I grew up in started holding an annual Oktoberfest in July back when I was still in grade school there. That first year they held the festival in October, as is the custom, but it was cold and rainy, and the whole thing fell a little flat. From that point the Oktoberfest committee decided to start planning the events for July, when the weather is more conducive to outdoor partying. It has since become a big success for the church, with tons of food and drink, live music, games and even car raffles! My dad was on the Oktoberfest committee for several years, and my mom, brother and I always signed up to work at the booths throughout the weekend. It was such a good time.

By 1991 I had been out of college for a few years and had a job where I worked with Lisa (in the photo with me). We had become friends, so I invited her to join me for Oktoberfest. We had a good time, if you believe the laughter captured in this photo. So for me, “the songs that summer sings” include the live music at Oktoberfest that I remember most—like polkas and Irish music.

Product/technique notes:

I used patterns from the Echo Park “Here & Now” collection for this layout because their bright, happy colors went just perfectly with my photo.

The challenge

The challenges on this blog involve following the sketch and using a title on your layout with a line from the provided music. Below I’ve included the video as well as the lyrics for this song:

“She” by Elvis Costello
She
May be the face I can’t forget.
A trace of pleasure or regret
May be my treasure or the price I have to pay.
She may be the song that summer sings.
May be the chill that autumn brings.
May be a hundred different things
Within the measure of a day.

She
May be the beauty or the beast.
May be the famine or the feast.
May turn each day into a heaven or a hell.
She may be the mirror of my dreams.
A smile reflected in a stream
She may not be what she may seem
Inside her shell

She who always seems so happy in a crowd.
Whose eyes can be so private and so proud
No one’s allowed to see them when they cry.
She may be the love that cannot hope to last
May come to me from shadows of the past.
That I’ll remember till the day I die

She
May be the reason I survive
The why and wherefore I’m alive
The one I’ll care for through the rough and ready years
Me I’ll take her laughter and her tears
And make them all my souvenirs
For where she goes I’ve got to be
The meaning of my life is

She, she, she