Songs to Play at my Funeral

There was a time when I was writing a lot of songs/poems that had a darkness to them. Not sure why, as I have always considered myself a positive upbeat, dare I say, humorous guy. I might share some of those songs later in this blog series, but I have done songs about addiction, when I thought my brother was doing drugs, which I now know was not the case. At least not to the addiction level. Songs about aging and the fear and uncertainty associated with that. For example, I wrote a song called Psychobabble after visiting Heathers grandmother and hearing her stories of meeting famous people when she was young and many of them simply were not believable. So in the backseat of the car the line came into my head: “The tales as a youth I told are now just the Phychobabble of the old.” I meant no disrespect by that line and as I get older myself, I recognize that I am now pointing the finger at myself if I tell my “old school” tales. The last line of the song is: “And knowing how it ends, I don’t want to see the beginning.” So yeah, I had a dark perspective at times and while I can appreciate those are tough words, I am also not apologizing for what came into my mind at that time. It was just what my perspective was in the backseat of that car on that day. It was my creative mind exploring it’s darker side. That said, with songs like that filling my brain at times, I wanted to focus on a more upbeat and positive outlook. I also wanted to write a sort of love song to Heather (even though, I am not sure I have ever played it for her).

This is one of the more complete songs I have ever written musically. It has a good structure to it and isn’t just 1:30 of a verse and chorus and that’s it. While there are still not a ton of lyrics, it makes the point I am trying to make and again musically, It has layers and a nice steady beat to it. I have a few layered guitars and a little keyboard track that rounds out the tune. This is a song about being at peace with where I was and where Heather and I were in our relationship and even gives a nod to God and spirituality.

I will say the line “let you be you” in reference to Heather has always stuck out to me as having the potential for the listener to think “let you? Who do you think you are?” However, that is now how I intended the lyric, it is me letting go of who I wanted Heather to be vs. embracing the woman that she is and recognizing the good qualities in her and not focusing on the bad.

Good Life

I know they say you only know your own existence
Your own reality
And I know that to be true

But I have to say I am happy to be me
and to let you be you

And I gotta give thanks to the Lord above
and I gotta give Him praise to this day He’s made

And I gotta give thanks to the Lord above
Gotta give Him praise

Cuz this life I have is a damn good life
and I don’t say it often enough