When Carrie Fisher passed away late last year, Sean Lennon expressed his devastation via a series of Instagram posts touching on their relationship and all that Fisher meant to him, calling the actress “one of the best and closest friends I’ve ever had in my life.” Today, Lennon has shared a song that he and Fisher wrote a few years back, one about “staying up too late and hearing the birds sing.” Fisher co-wrote the lyrics, but Willow Smith lends her vocals to the striking demo in her absence. Lennon and Smith’s lovely, aching harmonies meld into one another amongst the bedrock piano-melody, adding levity to the song’s morose poetry. Listen and read Lennon’s note about the song below.

Carrie and I wrote this song years ago. When she died I just felt I had to record it. This is only a demo unmixed, we only had a few hours to record it. But the lyrics she wrote with me I think are marvelous. Carrie and I used to stay up til dawn chatting and pontificating about life. They were my best moments. Anyway… we wrote a song about staying up too late and hearing the birds sing. Willow Smith is a prodigal angel and was generous enough to lend her golden voice to this little tune.