How to Coddiwomple Your Way Across the World

Have you ever heard the word coddiwomple? While it may sound like gibberish, this term is an Old English slang word that beautifully encapsulates a way of living. It means to “travel with purpose to an unknown destination.” This concept has become the mantra for singer-songwriter Ginger Winn, who has spent nearly a year on the road without a clear idea of where her journey would take her. Ultimately, she found a place to call home, and fortunately for us, it’s in the Hudson Valley. “Since March of 2024, I’ve been coddiwompling and traveling everywhere. It’s scary to take a leap of faith and pursue the life you really want.”

The word also acts as the title of track 8 on Kingston-based singer/songwriter Ginger Winn’s debut album, “Stop-Motion,” which was recorded, produced, mixed, and mastered by Grammy-award-winning producer David Baron at his Sun Mountain Studio in Boiceville, NY. Baron also plays the captivating synths on the track while his son, Oskar Baron, joins on the violin. Ginger and her creative partners at Keep Good Company Records learned of the word and decided to turn it into a song, mainly because the meaning so perfectly captured what Ginger’s journey has been since she committed herself to music at a young age.

The song also fits themes explored on the album about slowing down in a fast-paced world, or, in Winn’s words, “to stop the constant motion of your life, take a step back, examine where you are, and decide where you want to go.”

“[Coddiwompling] is the story of my life – and all of our lives when we think about it. Our life is always unfolding, and we never truly know where we’re headed. The song’s sound matches the silliness of the word but mixes in some thought-provoking lyrics,” Winn says. Like this one, that opens up the song:

I hit rock bottom before the flowers blossomed

A new lease on life I had after playing possum

“Coddiwompling is the story of my life – and all of our lives when we think about it. Our life is always unfolding and we never truly know where we’re headed.”

For Tina and Matthew Baione, executive producers of the album and co-founders of Winn’s label Keep Good Company Records, the message of “Coddiwomple” lies in embracing the freedom–and courage–it takes to change direction from the conveyor belts we sometimes find ourselves on. The word reminds them of one of their favorite expressions they learned from an album by the Menahan Street Band: “Make the road by walking.”

The song opens with a voice note recording of the Baione’s children asking the same question we asked before hearing the song and learning the definition of the term.

“What′s a coddiwomple?”
“Have you ever heard of coddiwomple?”

Their little voices match the playfulness of the word, and creatively, the team loved the idea of having the Baione boys on the same track with David Baron’s son – a true family affair.

Brooklyn Zeh, the filmmaker who made the song’s music video, illustrates the diverse paths coddiwompling can lead to in how her collaboration with Ginger and relationship with Keep Good Company Records came to be. The Baiones met Zeh by chance in Woodstock, New York, months before starting the recording process and learned of her photography skills. They played Winn’s demos and offered her the opportunity to join them in Baron’s studio to document the recording process. Zeh met Ginger at the airport (with a Super 8 camera in hand), and the two became fast friends. She stayed in the studio and shot four covers for singles from the album, and she co-directed a music video for another track on the record.

When Ginger got picked up for a West Coast tour with the Gipsy Kings, Brooklyn joined, again with Super 8 in hand, and their journey together from landing in NYC through traveling on tour became the video for Coddiwomple. Zeh said the video itself is a metaphor for coddiwompling.

Baron also enjoyed the nostalgic optics of the film. “The short film for Coddiwomple captures that elation of hitting the road—pure freedom. Super 8 film gives the journey a feeling of memory. Our wandering trips become gems in our mind’s collection,” Baron said. The video is personal to Zeh as the footage parallels her journey not only across the country but her path to self-acceptance.

“Coddiwomple is about navigating choices. Every day, we must choose our paths, not knowing which obstacles are hidden around its corners. It is unclear which path we should choose, but it guarantees that we will experience triumph and failure in every direction. We must learn to handle periods of uncertainty, loss, and scarcity with as much grace as possible while respecting and holding space for the parts of ourselves that cannot. It is understanding that feast and famine come in waves, regardless of the direction we go. Remember that spring is on the other side if we survive winter.”

Enjoy the video and music!

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