Folk singer/songwriter Bailey Bigger reflects on life cycles, death, and rebirth in “Resurrection Fern,” a beautiful piano ballad whose warmth and tender poetry capture the wonder, the awe, and the weight of being alive and unflinchingly aware of your own mortality.
for fans of Joni Mitchell, Carole King, Bob Dylan
Stream: “Resurrection Fern” – Bailey Bigger
I’d like this song to serve as a reminder of connection and cycles. Everything dies, everything comes back again and chooses life.
The beauty in a sunrise is that the sun always sets; the beauty in a green leaf is that it will one day turn brown; and the beauty in life is that it is temporary and fleeting, and yet… universal. We may not be immortal, but life itself persists in our individual absence. The atoms that make up our very beings return to the Earth to feed, foster, and grow new life, and on and on ad infinitum.
It’s a breathtaking order to be a part of, and one that has recently consumed singer/songwriter Bailey Bigger’s thoughts – or at least, taken up enough of a mental load for her to write a song about it. The folk artist reflects on life cycles, death, and rebirth in “Resurrection Fern,” a beautiful piano ballad whose warmth and tender poetry capture the wonder, the awe, an the weight of being alive and unflinchingly aware of your own mortality.
Raindrops kiss my eyes,
my body floats down the river
Moonlight says goodnight,
and I become a river otter
I swim into my next life,
wondering what the sunrise will bring
Wonder like a child,
and yet caution like a fugitive
I never choose to take
but always have something to give
And I ponder all alone if I’m
made for anyone but myself
Atwood Magazine is proud to be premiering “Resurrection Fern,” the second single and title track off Bailey Bigger’s forthcoming sophomore album, due out October 25, 2024 via Madjack Records. Following mid-September’s enchantingly upbeat lead single “Nancy Jo,” the gently dreamy “Resurrection Fern” offers audiences a moment of meditation; akin in many ways to Joni Mitchell’s timeless reverie “River,” Bigger’s introspective ballad is a pause to step out of our ordinary lives, away from the everyday, to dwell in what it means to be not just here and now, but a part of a greater cycle of events far beyond our control.
It’s the kind of music that makes you cherish the time you have even more than you ordinarily would. Bigger herself surrenders to nature’s ebb and flow in the song’s sweetly soul-stirring chorus:
You can’t fight it, you can’t get away
Dusk is on its way to kill the day
So bury me beneath a live oak tree
A resurrection fern
will take its last breath with me
“This track was a spur of the moment recording,” Bailey Bigger tells Atwood Magazine. “I had written the song two days prior to the session we recorded this at. We had extra time in the studio, had finished the day early, and decided to sit down at the piano, just my brother and I, and do a take of this brand new song. It ended up being the title track of the entire album.”
“I wrote this song about death, really,” she continues. “I pictured myself being reincarnated one day, and otters had been showing up all over my life at the time. Water is really so connected to rebirth, baptism, new life, and I just knew somehow I’d be floating into my next life on a river one day. This song really captures a lot of my hesitance in life, and in the paths I walk, but how the wild and the ways of the natural world consistently pull me back to groundedness and God. I’ve really loved the Deep South and its landscapes and marshes since I was a child too, frequenting New Orleans with my family.”
“Now I live in Charleston, and the presence of the resurrection ferns and live oaks are a daily thing in my life. We see patterns of ourselves in nature every day if we remember to look. I’d like this song to serve as a reminder of connection and cycles. Everything dies, everything comes back again and chooses life.”
Once I think I know the path,
another road appears
I can’t help but feel that I’ve
been walking a thousand years
And yours is a face that I
have seen many times before now
The branches of a willow
know the veins in my body
The whisper of the delta
tells me secrets she has on me
And I’d kill to know the answer
to just one of the questions that I seek
For most of us, there is little more harrowing than facing the certainty of our own demise (other than, perhaps, public speaking).
Yet with “Resurrection Fern,” Bailey Bigger flips the script – embracing her eventual death not necessarily with open arms, but with a sense of duty, responsibility, and acceptance. It’s a mature, deeply cathartic approach to thinking about life and death, and while it may not be for everybody (denial is far easier on any given day of the week), it’s a beautiful sentiment that resonates throughout this serene and soothing folk song.
Stream “Resurrection Fern” exclusively on Atwood Magazine, and stay tuned for more to come from Bailey Bigger as she unveils more of her sophomore album: The Resurrection Fern album is set to release October 25, 2024!
You can’t fight it, you can’t get away
Dusk is on its way to kill the day
So bury me beneath a live oak tree
A resurrection fern
will take its last breath with me
— —
:: stream/purchase Resurrection Fern here ::
:: connect with Bailey Bigger here ::
Stream: “Resurrection Fern” – Bailey Bigger
— — — —
Connect to Bailey Bigger on
Facebook, TikTok, Instagram
Discover new music on Atwood Magazine
© Caroline Frady
© Caroline Frady:: Stream Bailey Bigger ::
