How do creative people recover from COVID-19? West Hartford native Allegra Levy wrote a children’s song about personal hygiene and social distancing, recorded a cute video, released it during a horrifying pandemic, and won an award associated with an iconic Beatle.
Earlier this month, Levy’s “Wash My Hands” won the John Lennon Songwriting Contest’s Stuck at Home competition, an offshoot of the prestigious JLSC, which encourages songwriters to channel frustration and solitude into music.
The contest, which is made possible by Yoko Ono Lennon, helps fund the John Lennon Educational Tour. The prize is modest — $1,500 worth of musical equipment — but it comes with recognition, bragging rights and automatic placement in the main songwriting competition.
The melody and lyrics came from “a little quality time with my niece, wanting to keep her safe,” Levy, a jazz vocalist and composer who lives in New York, said. “It’s so important that the younger generations are protected and especially if we’re going to send them back to school. They’re like little soldiers. We need to take care of them.”
A writer of harmonically complex, sometimes lyrically tormented songs — “Lonely City,” her 2014 SteepleChase debut, included titles like “Anxiety,” “I Don’t Want to Be in Love,” and “I’m Not Okay” — Levy kept “Wash My Hands” simple: three chords, an earworm melody, easy-to-repeat words, and a chorus of children’s voices.
I’m gonna wash my hands (Wash my hands)/ I’m gonna wash my hands (Wash my hands)/ I’m gonna wash my hands, wash them well
And if I go outside, I’m gonna wear my mask/ And as you walked past, ‘Who are you?’/ I can’t tell/ I’m gonna keep six feet if I’m out in the street/ But I’ll stay off my feet if I feel unwell
“I had written a totally different song for the competition called ‘Stuck With You,'” Levy said. “I was thinking I’ll just put [‘Wash My Hands’] out there for fun. I didn’t know it was going to be good, and I didn’t think children’s music would be considered for this competition.”
Dr. Allison Mark, a clinical psychologist in Miami, said songs like “Wash My Hands” help young children retain information being taught by adults.
“Children also benefit so much from validation and unity,” she said. “This is a song that parents can easily remember and recite to their children, who will catch on quickly to the melody.”
The circumstances that gave rise to “Wash My Hands” were far from upbeat.
Levy contracted COVID-19 in March. She was sick for two weeks. She lost her sense of smell and taste. Breathing was difficult. On March 13, three days after her symptoms started, Levy walked to NYU Langone Hospital and was admitted right away.
“They were clearly overwhelmed,” Levy said. After five hours and little medical attention, Levy’s husband found a nurse to discharge her. “I realized they didn’t think I was in danger. I didn’t want to burden the system.”
Levy’s symptoms persisted for 10 days. (A COVID-19 test came back positive on Day 6, and she has since tested positive for antibodies.) She experiences random relapses of labored breathing, an irritating cough, a sore throat and fatigue, none of which is ideal for a singer (or anyone).
The coronavirus later hit Levy’s family, who were quarantining together in West Hartford. Her mother, Patricia, tested positive at the end of April. Levy’s father, along with her brother and sister-in-law and their children, all experienced symptoms, and eventually recovered.
As coronavirus cases surge across the country, Gov. Ned Lamont has pushed back aspects of Connecticut’s reopening, leaving musicians without live stages to play on and wages to earn. The situation has forced artists like Levy to find new, creative revenue streams and to branch out musically.
“Wash My Hands” was recorded in an empty New York studio with producer Judd Silver. For the video, Levy asked friends to send short clips of their kids dancing, riding bikes and following the song’s instructions.
On Aug. 15, Levy will release “Lose My Number: Levy Sings McNeil,” her fourth album for SteepleChase, with original lyrics written for nine compositions by trumpeter and frequent collaborator John McNeil.
The music was recorded in one six-hour live session in October 2019 with an all-woman band — pianist Carmen Staaf, bassist Carmen Rothwell and drummer Colleen Clark, who is also a Connecticut native — and McNeil on three tracks: the opposite pole, in other words, of the piece-by-piece, solitary process of recording “Wash My Hands.”
“It’s the type of record that only jazz musicians end up doing, as opposed to this pop stuff, and this song in particular,” Levy said, “where I really scrutinized every little sound and every little instrument that you can layer on. It’s simply different.”
Michael Hamad can be reached at mhamad@courant.com.
