I came across For the Love of Shayla today. I wrote the piece toward the end of May, 2021 – just a few months before my return to New York.

I listened to my scratch version of Shayla (written by Chris Stein) while driving home on a pale cold evening through the back country hills of the Hudson Valley. So much has happened since 2021 (everything changed in 2020), if I didn’t have recordings, images, and this blog, I’m not sure I would remember the things I’ve done.

Grief has been a long trip that rearranged my reality. I am often baffled.

Looking back is giving me clues for moving forward. I am grateful.

It was good for me to read and listen today.

from May 28th, 2021:

For the Love of Shayla

Homesick

I’ve been homesick for the east coast lately. I miss creative stimulation – input and output! Landlord is raising the rent up $300 (it’s a thing happening all across town) – and I’ve been wondering if I even want to stay here in Flagstaff. In Arizona. 

New York was not an easy place to be – but oh! Tapping into that creative flow was sublime. If I move away, I don’t think NY is my next place (it was a time as well), but I do need more immediate, face-to-face intellectual creative exchange. I feel like I’m missing some poetic artistic romance, some sort of possibility to dream about and make happen.

If I am gonna pay this kind of rent, there had better be a a good reason to stick around . . . 

In the meantime, yesterday, I recorded rough tracks of Shayla by Blondie (written by Chris Stein and Clem Burke). That song always makes me think of New York – or rather – Debbie Harry’s hometown of Union City, New Jersey. Close enough while I’m this far away!

I fell in love with this song when I was 9 or 10 years old. The swirl, the daydream, I levitated when I heard it for the first time (and every time after that, too). One day recently, I was singing it while washing dishes, and thought – why not figure out how to play this song? 

Here is a simple acoustic scratch version of Shayla. I do play it on guitar, but on this recording that’s Paul on guitar and me on vocals. It really begins at 8 seconds.

Same song, with some harmonies.

Imagine having worked all day, riding home on the bus, it’s dark, everyone is tired, bus is quiet, glow of traffic lights . . .  Sometimes the ride home is the most peaceful part of the day. 

Shayla

Where in the world to go next?

Peace,

Holly

Flagstaff, AZ
May 28, 2021

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Commentary and repost:

March 7, 2026
Hudson Valley, New York

image: to do list © Holly Troy 5.2021