Song #15 - Missing Waves
Oh shit.
I got stuck again.
For the past six months. The same pattern started over. I felt it. The same opportunity to detach. To hide. To close off. To disappear.
I took it.
I knew I would.
I watched the world go by. All you beautiful people making choices. Falling in love. Building families. Taking your chances as they come. Riding them to shore. Crashing. Surviving. Rushing to catch the next one. So good at life.
I drifted farther away.
Eventually my hands landed on keys, I heard lyrics, and this song flowed through me. It was cathartic and familiar. It gave me something to hold onto out there.
You can have it.
I will never release this version.
Why?
Because my brother came to visit me in North Carolina, and I played it for him. He brought my attention to the third verse. The end of the song. The one where the hero winds up unhappy and alone. The same ending I’ve written over and over again, song after song. The same one I brought into stark focus on The Too Late Tour. The one I keep unconsciously committing to.
We saw the pattern together. It was helpful. He asked me if there is another ending I could write… I believed there was.
In an interview with Sting that I watched soon thereafter, I felt like he was talking straight to me when he was asked about modern songwriting:
“For me, the bridge is therapy… without the bridge you're in... a trap really. It goes round and round and round. It fits nicely into the next song... but you're not getting that release, that sense that there is a way out of our crisis. Music needs to show us a way out, and modern music isn't doing that at the moment. I'm looking for solutions.”
~ Sting [FULL INTERVIEW]
I am looking for solutions too.
I need a bridge.
We co-write our stories. We create meaning. We generate our own hope.
You probably know this already, but I had forgotten.
I don’t want to stay in the drowning dream of this song. So I will re-write it. But the reason I’m sharing the work-in-progress with you is because it’s a metaphor.
For me, the real bridge is releasing this album.
Let’s see what happens then…
Love,
Eric
MISSING WAVES
You made it on the ark
You are the sacred
You are the work of art
Just as created
I’m not sure what I am
Just one of one
But we do the best we can
On the same ocean
I’m just missing waves
Caught past the breakers
In a different place
So far from shore
My eye’s on the horizon
Praying my point break will come
And missing waves
Beautiful calligraphy
Wedding cards and new years
Invites I’ll always read
These are joyful tears
I’m just missing waves
Caught past the breakers
In a different place
So far from shore
My eye’s on the horizon
Praying my point break will come
And missing waves
You say you feel the same
You try to reach me
Maybe we could be something
If it was all that easy
I live a drowning dream
I’ve learned to love her
Won’t take you down with me
Nothing’s above her
I’m just missing waves
Caught past the breakers
In a different place
So far from shore
My eye’s on the horizon
Praying my point break will come
And missing waves
