- The Modern Age By Eric Boehlert: Sept. 9, 1995 -

"It's one of those songs that I wrote really quickly, in about ten minutes. Sometimes for me, the need to write a song comes out of when you feel something that you can't name, that you can't put your finger on. That's what "Walk This World" is -- a mixture of, I don't know, the feeling of longing and possibility. It's a very hopeful song.

"I was just sitting on the floor in my bedroom, and I wrote it. I think songs are bubbling underneath the surface, and they just come out. It's kind of funny, because you write a little song in your bedroom, and then it ends up taking you around the world. It's pretty wild."

Other than her habit of writing each song's opening line first, Nova says that the songwriting process is "pretty unpredictable. If I had the perfect formula for writing a song, I'd be churning out hit after hit. You just have to be open to it, I think. The best ones often are ones that kind of just happen. I like the idea of the muse, really.

"I think that sometimes things you've been thinking about or trying to work out take a while before you find the words or the images to express them. Especially emotional things that have happened. There's a period probably that you go through. Certainly, for myself, I can't write right in the middle of something emotional that's happening. I'm definitely an aftermath writer.

"In general, songwriting for me is often an act of hope. It's like working through something and getting through the other side."

As for this single, she says, "It's kind of a feeling of longing. You've been through something, and you don't want to struggle anymore; you just want to make something. You just want to live your life by your own vision, no matter if anybody else gets it."

PHOTO (BLACK & WHITE): 'You write a song in your bedroom and then it ends up taking you around the world.' -- Heather Nova