Tribute to Connie Leung

June 13th, 2018 Tribute to Connie Leung

On March 8th, 2018 I was just getting ready to step out to visit Connie at the hospital, a sudden urge came to me to turn back and grab my travel guitar before dashing out of the door.

I still remember it was quite an effort to make an “official appointment” with Connie (she had many friends and family queued up to visit her, you need to book a “slot” on specific day and time) and even at the last minute when I was nearly there I got her call saying she has some other visitor and I should arrive a bit later or go to her another day.

With a guitar with me, Connie immediately assumed that we were gonna do some worship right away. “I’m gonna sit back and relax and you sing for me, I don’t think I have enough breath to sing now.” (which I know it was an excuse of being embarrassed to sing in a random setting)

Originally I had no agenda for the night, simply bringing out the guitar hoping for the right moment to unleash the power of music in the hospital room. A flash of idea came up and I asked casually without expecting a positive answer “Would you like to try songwriting?”

I saw her face light up, her playfulness immediately jumped out of her. Without any hesitation she replied “Why not? Let’s do it!!!!!! But…how?”

Long story short, within 5mins we were already writing our first ever song, a song that totally captures her playfulness and humour despite the situation. She had just finished a PET scan and wanted to use a song to capture the moment.

I was in shock to witness her creative ideas automatically flowing out onto her fingers typing out the lyrics on her phone while I tried to catch up with her speed improvising a melody line and guitar accompaniment to go with her lyrics. Within 20 mins connie’s first hits 主打歌 is already completed. Our laughter were contagious triggering curious eyes around the room.

Freedom Comes

Am

What a day?

C

What a day?

G F Am

Drinking 8 glasses of water within 45 mins today!!!????

Am C

Ridiculously, you can’t pee…

G Am

You can’t pee…….. Right away!!!

Am

Hold it up!

C G Am

Hold it up!! Pressure innnnnn… my butt!

Am C G F

Do you know how I truly feel when you tell me to hold it up!!!???

Am C G F

Freedom comes, freedom comes…when I could let it go release it all at once.

Am C

Freedom comes, freedom comes,

F G Am

Felt like you blew it but indeed you have been set free…ahhh!!!(Relieved)

These are the magic moments I love capturing- of someone suddenly transition from an inactive/passive mood state to becoming fully themselves and fully alive in that present moment with music.

“Freedom comes” marked our beginning of a spontaneous songwriting project we worked together for two months from March to April.

Her physical condition causing her to be relying on oxygen tube, at times the pain in her body causing her different challenges. Yet the speed of her creativity and productivity were unparalleled to her condition and never eased to amaze me. Every week we produced 1-2 songs right on the spot next to her bed in the oncology ward. As if she just pressed a button and downloaded all her inspirations automatically, it took on average one hour for her to finish writing up each song’s lyrics. I would then take her completed lyrics written in lighting speed and initial melodic ideas to turn them into a song with arrangement at home on the same day.

Connie, one can never feel bored for a single moment around her, she has this sense of humor in her to transform any conversations into a subtle, hilarious joke that fully capture the essence and the emotions with her play of word.

Her personal stories and testimonies were condensed in song format-each song retelling her humor, friendship, identity, doubt, faith, hope, family, worship and direction. She has written a total of 11 songs’ lyrics during our time together which are part of the legacy she left behind, continuing to inspire whoever come across these songs to walk this journey of faith she had been through.