Song054_Open Waters

This song started with an acoustic guitar idea, but it really started taking shape/meaning after the vocals were in place. I recorded the acoustic guitar, drums, and bass before sitting down to think about topical ideas. This week is about communication (album title: "Life According to Others"), so I wanted to write a song about the complexities of communicating well with those that matter most to you. In addition to all of the normal difficulties involved with regular communication (i.e. language barriers, emotions, "speak-before-you-think" syndrome, etc) you can add additional problems when you know them well (i.e. being too casual in your language, knowing how to love them and hurt them more effectively than strangers, etc). I wanted to deliver this message indirectly, so I thought of a few bleak situation that related to a troubled relationship.

Imagine being on a sailboat in open waters, you fall overboard during the night (while you were sleeping), and you wake up 20 feet under water. You're cold, disoriented and it's completely dark, but you have enough strength to swim to the surface...then you realize that the tumbling (and darkness) keeps you from knowing which way is up. The other (similar) situation that I thought of dealt with a scuba diver...navigating by compass during the night, getting disoriented after being tossed around by currents, then running out of air. Either situation would be a nightmare, however, I had to give the song a "lifeboat" because love and forgiveness are light-weight, inflatable, and good for most emergencies.

LYRICS: "Deep in unknown waters. Light source flickered out. Unexpected currents come, and twist us in the dark. Both too tired to argue about which one's worth blaming more. But I can see shadows of the lifeboat that waits to take us home. As the sun breaches the horizon. Over these open waters. It rakes light across the surface. Reveals the depths of our miscalculations. But I can see the drifting lifeboat that waits to take us home. You think you're moving up, but you started upside down. It's not too late for love to turn things back around."

PS: SnoCap (the online jukebox that I use to sell individual song downloads) has been slow about updating the last few days. Be sure to send me an email if you aren't currently getting the "FREE song every day" email (lasting throughout August).

-Matthew