Songwriter's Corner: Jean Winer Pascal

How did you start writing lyrics?
When I was a little boy, I had a lot of ideas that was coming to my head or that wanted to come through my head. I would see myself writing in my dream, not with a pen, but, within my soul, wordless poems. But, it was around ten, eleven and twelve that I really started to jot them down on paper and it has been this way since then. The things that I was seeing started to write in me, like they were talking to me, the wind, the sun, the flowers, they actually taught me how to speak their language. From the dew drops to the singing rain, I found a world that never left me. That world is my poetic address and it is in my heart. I mostly wrote in French when I first started, but, it was around nineteen and twenty that I really started to write in creole and that felt really good when I was able to do just that.

Tell us about the very first song you wrote.
It was a song called "Acheminement" I wrote the lyrics and Beethova Obas did the melody and it was sung by: Elody Jean

Take us through your song writing process? How involved are you in the musical arrangements? Do you write with melodies in mind?
To me, life is a book. What most of us do not take the time to read or see, I position myself to read or see. Let me rephrase that, I am fortunate to be allowed to read and see. You just can't read and see with your exterior eyes, these are only cameras, you actually see with your interior EYE, which is your pineal gland. Your pineal gland is the seat of your soul, it is the very thing that connects you to everything else. If your pineal gland is healthy, now you can read and see. So, I said all of this to tell you that most of the pieces that you know that I wrote, were written first in the wordless realm. When I am asleep, I am traveling, I am writing with eyes shut. In the middle of the night, I might go to the computer and jot them down and actually refine them. Writing them with words is a way to share them with others and that is the fun part.

I can be walking down the street and a piece is taking shape in my head. In terms of the second part of the question, remember that I do not play a musical instrument, I do not sing, I do not compose melodies, but, since everything is somehow connected, through the music of the words, the gift of making them sing comes in play. I play the words. With that being said, I am not involved in arranging any of the songs, but, somehow, the music of my words may inspire the music composer. One of the best example that I can give you is a piece called "Twoubadou " where the lyrics were already singing by themselves before the melody came to existence.

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