This is the sixth in a short series of posts I’m writing about the songs on my new album, ‘The Great Divide‘. Here’s the first (about ‘Arab Spring’), the second (about ‘Post’), the third (about ‘Listen’) and the fourth (about ‘Dead Ringer’).
This post is about ‘Time On My Side’:
It’s a song about being a parent and how my perspective on the passing of time has taken on new meaning as a result.
Yvonne Lyon, who I wrote and sang ‘The Fury And The Sound‘ with, makes another appearance here, singing some gorgeous BV’s, as well as playing a blindingly beautiful piano part in the wee instrumental section at the three-minute mark. Thanks Yvonne!
“Everything… comes down to time in the end – to the passing of time, to changing. Ever thought of that? Anything that makes you happy or sad, isn’t it all based on minutes going by? Isn’t sadness wishing time back again? Even big things–even mourning a death: aren’t you really just wishing to have the time back when that person was alive? Or photos – ever notice old photographs? How wistful they make you feel? Long ago people smiling, a child who would be an old lady now, a cat that died, a flowering plant that’s long since withered away and the pot itself broken or misplace… Isn’t it just that time for once is stopped that makes you wistful? If only you could turn it back again, you think. If only you could change this or that, undo what you have done, if only you could roll the minutes the other way, for once.”
– ‘Dinner At The Homesick Restaurant’, by Anne Tyler
You can buy the song and album in these places:
Bandcamp
iTunes
Amazon
Here are the lyrics. Enjoy 🙂
Time On My Side
The twins have shared a room since they were born
And since that day time has relentlessly marched on
Now they are older it is time to separate
So I’ve got beds to build and rooms to decorate
I’m clearing out the junk from our spare room
With both a sense of wonder and impending doom
That every second, every hour slips through our hand
There is no safe deposit box, no on-demand
But don’t be afraid of the dark
Don’t be afraid oh trembling heart
Sometimes I cower, sometimes I hide
But I need more than time on my side
So I’m trying not to think about it all
Like I avoid the pictures on the kitchen wall
Of yesterdays that I never re-create
Can’t travel back towards to fix all my mistakes
But don’t be afraid of the dark
Don’t be afraid oh thankless heart
Sometimes I cower, sometimes I hide
But I need more than time on my side
So as the quietness descends upon our home
And for the first time late at night you are alone
As I lean in to whisper prayers in your ear
The words I choose will be the ones you need to hear
But don’t be afraid of the dark
Don’t be afraid oh trembling heart
No need to cower, no need to hide
And I need more than time on my side
