Behind The Song: "Write It In Stone" by The Crazy Daysies
Featuring the single's official music video, Rebecca explains the story behind the song, its ancient connections, and tells a real-life story that gives the haunting, acoustic track new meaning
We are now on the second week of my “originals” release series featuring music and poetry here on Classically Cultured leading up to my band’s debut of our latest studio produced single, “Burn Out This Flame.”
I was struggling a bit this week with what to upload. I knew I wanted to release a song, but the new ones I’m working on for an upcoming EP aren’t quite “cooked” yet, as my mom would say.
As I went back and forth as to what to publish, a hilarious series of events unfolded one afternoon that made my decision for me. It’s quite serendipitous when the story comes full circle. Read on to learn more about my band’s single, “Write It In Stone,” and why the tune still (in a cheeky way) haunts me today.
“Write It In Stone”- Official The Crazy Daysies Music Video
“All my life I’ve been runnin,’
Gunnin’ for a grave worth going to.
Living for nights that bleed into mornings.
It’s written into my bones.
Write it in stone.”
I actually wrote “Write It In Stone” during the fledgling The Crazy Daysies days. It was featured on a limited edition double-single release (try saying that five times fast). The CD contained a tune I wrote, and one Jen (my sister, and the other half of The Crazy Daysies) wrote, and the pairing created a beautiful contrast. While she wrote a fun, summer song that remains one of our most popular music videos to date (we literally threw a party to shoot it. Good times!), my contribution naturally leaned philosophical.
My southern gothic tendencies were strong during the songwriting process. I grappled with life, death, legacy, and leaving behind one heck of a mark on this world. Poets, as opposed to songwriters, are my main influences, and Frank Stanford’s dark, Poe-ish enchantment can be felt throughout the track.
Not only is the lyric “write it in stone” a play on a grave marker, it’s also a nod to the age-old saying, “written in stone,” which alludes to life’s unchangeables. The axioms that the world itself rests upon.
While it can be uncomfortable facing the undeniable truth of mortality, I’ve always found that coming face to face with reality brings more meaning, passion, and vitality to life. I hope the song communicates that (and more) to you.
An Unannounced House Guest
While we are discussing something that could be construed as a bit of a morbid subject, there’s actually a pretty hilarious story as to why I decided to send out “Write It In Stone” from my little corner of the Substack universe today.
Earlier this week, as I made my pot of afternoon coffee before getting back to work on my freelance accounts, I turned to walk into the living room from the kitchen and I quickly spotted a snake lazing about, near the hallway to my front door.
I’m a snake lover, but I immediately realized I had no idea how to get him out of my house without hurting him (they’re surprisingly easy to injure).
Luckily, he was a pretty thin little dude. From what my mom gathered from photos, she believes it’s a juvenile Black Racer (super common here in swampy Florida).
I quickly called my dad, Randy, who has now hilariously been nicknamed “Crocodile Ran-DEE” by my mom and sister, to see what I should do. He’s had to wrangle his fair share of snakes during our time in Florida, so he headed right over, gear in hand.
The snake put up a heck of a fight, which was adorable because since we weren’t fighting back I think he fancied himself immediate heavyweight champion material.
After gentle nudging and convincing, my dad gracefully got him back outside into his proper environment.
As we stood there impressed with the young snake’s moxie, “Write It In Stone'“ popped into my head.
Snakes and Ancient Cultures
My passion for the classical time period seeps into pretty much everything I do. So I immediately began putting the pieces together as to why this song suddenly reappeared in my brain.
Ancient Greeks often revered snakes as symbols of good luck. From rebirth and renewal to fertility and vitality, snakes around the home were signs of life-affirming changes to come. Healers from this era even used snakes as part of medicinal treatments due to their anti-venom properties. Snakes were often used on people who made pilgrimages to sacred temples seeking cures and treatments. As patients slept, docile breeds of the reptile were allowed to roam freely, healers believing the snake’s body, tongue, and eyes possessed healing properties for those visiting.
Snakes play a pivotal role in Greek mythology. The Gorgons of the ancient culture’s earliest tales were a group of snake-human hybrid women who could turn people into stone if they looked them in the eye. You may be familiar with Medusa, who became the most famous Gorgon. Her story has always fascinated me, and I think she is one of mythology’s most misunderstood lessons. Even more interesting, I just now made the connection with her and “Write It In Stone” today. The thumbnail of the video above, featuring a mysterious, coy snake, says it all. Medusa’s spirit, I believe, could very well be buried beneath the surface of this ghostly track.
My own lineage, that of the rebellious Celts, were big snake fans. Their healers were often portrayed living in tandem with the animal, using the snake’s nature-oriented powers of the earth, especially the life-giving properties of rivers and springs, to help cure people of their ailments.
A Surprising Good Luck Charm
When I called my mom after the snake had been relocated from my humble abode, she laughed and mentioned she thought the snake might actually be a good luck charm for me, for my relationship with the reptile pre-dates my life in this world.
When she was still (quite) pregnant with me, she worked for the Wildlife Department in South Carolina and went trapesing about the woods with her team while on a project that helped protect the struggling Wood Duck. Wood Ducks were having a tough go of it due to the fashion industry, who love to use their feathers for fancy hats.
While surveying in the woods, one of the group members saw a Cottonmouth making its way up to one of the Wood Duck’s constructed habitats for nesting. He had to make a tough decision, but one that was unfortunately necessary. In an effort to protect the Wood Ducks, he shot the Cottonmouth to keep him from getting to them.
My mother, ever the idea woman, thought it would be nifty to bring the snake back home with her to show my older sister. So for a full hour, my pregnant as could be mother rode back to the house in a jeep with a supposedly deceased venomous snake in a bag right beside her legs.
When she finally got home, she gathered my sister and dad outside and proceeded to show them the Cottonmouth, no longer a threat to the triumphant Wood Duck.
You can imagine their utter shock when, before she had the chance to open the bag to show them, the snake began crawling out of it all on its own (I’d like to point out the Celts believed snakes were symbols of eternal life).
Luckily, they acted fast and relocated it. But she always associates the notoriously aggressive snake’s calm demeanor towards her while she was still pregnant as a symbol of its positive connection with me.
I think maybe, just maybe, it was probably moving a bit slow, ya’ know, from its little square dance with a bullet and all.
The Song Comes Full Circle
All of these stories, memories, mythology, and lessons came flooding back to me in the thirty minutes I spent having a baby Black Racer snake as a roommate (he wasn’t half bad, actually). Whether the snake is something of a good luck charm or not, it’s impressive how powerful cultural significance can make even the most common creatures, like Florida’s native Black Racer snake.
My penchant for the serpentine definitely comes from my southern background coupled with my daredevil Celt DNA. It’s really only now, several years after the release of “Write It In Stone” that the larger-than-life meanings behind the tune are coming full circle.
Whether the tune renews your passion for life or leaves you in a trance ruminating on gothic elements, I hope, like the snakes of mythology and roaming freely around the swampy flatlands of Florida, “Write It In Stone” helps you understand what needs to be written in stone in your life. Because after all, you’re (thankfully) not stone. You’re made of flesh, and what a grand gift that is.
Check out more of my solo and band work right here on my Rebecca Day Music “originals” Collection page.
To stream Rebecca Day & The Crazy Daysies music and add it to your library, click here for easy access to our direct streaming platform links!