I simply want to get back to writing songs that remind me that I know how to write. This one is finished and I won't revisit to make any adjustment. Time is simply too precious to keep working on the same song when there are hundreds more waiting to be written.
From my time away trying to understand the current trajectory of my life. I was thinking about the big, big picture, inclusive of the end of life, something that I have contemplated so many times. What will happen? I wondered, who will come to welcome me. We try to spread love and happiness but we are human and despite our best efforts, we hurt others regardless of our feelings for them. I'm going to be honest and say that I have spent all of my life trying to understand the relationship between my Dad and I. I believe that I will go to the grave believing that he hated me and nothing will ever change that. I just wanted to love him and to learn from him. Instead, I have travelled through this life, trying to work out the best way forward without the guidance of someone who might have made a tremendous difference. My Dad passed away several years ago. I spent twenty years grieving for him in his absence and then I grieved all over again when he died. I was thinking, who will come to welcome me when my time is up? I guess it was a reflection of how I felt during my absence from the songwriter forum. This song was borne from those thoughts. If it's my Dad who comes to welcome me, that will surely take me by surprise. The emotion in the lyric "Don't tear me down" really is a plea for a different relationship should we be granted a second chance.
https://soundcloud.com/pvasey1/paul-who-masteredWho
Who will come to welcome me
when the sun has shut her eyes?
Who will whisper words of love
that take me by surprise?
I always tried to be the one
to put you more at ease.
to comfort you, to make you smile
until it brought me to my knees.
Who will come to welcome me,
to tell me I belong.
We all are made imperfectly;
To some degree we're wrong.
I always tried to be the one
to put you more at ease.
to comfort you, to make you smile
until it brought me to my knees.
I often feel there's something more,
Behind the screen, beyond the door.
Don't tear me down.
Beyond the door, don't tear me down.
Who will come to welcome me
when the sun has shut her eyes?
Who will whisper words of love
that take me by surprise.
Written by Paul Vasey November 2020