Hi Friends,
Today I’m releasing Forever. The first single off my forthcoming album “You & Me”.
Here’s the story of this song:
In December 2016 I decided to buy a one-way ticket and go on solo retreat to Bali. I was feeling stuck in Boulder and wanted to be alone; get some perspective on my life.
Though I had been internally planning the trip for months, I sort of sprung the details, including my departure date, on Kati one afternoon as I was leaving the house.
(Note to men in relationships: This is not a good idea. Don’t do this.)
She was heartbroken. She seemed to take it personally and was worried that I might never come back. We had lots of heated discussions about it.
(Looking back this was the beginning of a huge shift in how we both understood and behaved in relationship. I’ll tell that story as I release the next few songs from this album).
Given the turmoil, I wanted to give something to Kati to help her feel, deep in her bones, that I was devoted to her and devoted to our love.
I was going to be on the other side of the world for a while, so I wanted her to have a song to listen to that would help her feel secure and soothed. I wanted her to know that she’s my beloved on a macro level: a level bigger than just a few months apart. I wanted her to know she’s my beloved on the scale of my entire life. I wanted her to feel the deep permanency of my love.
With that intention I wrote the first few verses of Forever.
As I got deeper into the song, my departure date for Bali arrived. And I flew away from Kati to a far off land.
A week or so later I arrived at my secluded bungalow on the North shore of Bali. I started working on Forever again.
Now separated from Kati, the song took on a wistful quality as I played with the concept of forever. I realized that forever is an illusion. It sounds like a long time, but in reality there is no forever in human affairs. Things are constantly changing - sometimes suddenly due to forces outside our control. And we all die.
It sunk in for me that Kati and I don’t have forever, we only have (at most) her forever or my forever. And neither of us knows how long that will be.
And what is her forever or my forever but a collection of fleeting, unique and precious moments together. A series of ‘right nows’, once gone, gone forever.
And so this song has become for me a duality: It’s a love song that speaks to my desire for a long and happy life with Kati, but even more so it’s a sweet battle cry to cherish and savor each and every precious moment I get with my beloved.
It’s my reminder that life is short: Too short to squabble or fight, too short to try to be right, to short to take for granted.
This lesson is even more real given that the last two years didn’t go as smoothly as I thought they would when I flew to Bali. Kati and I ended up separated and things got messy.
I’ll tell that story as I release more tracks.
But today we’re back living together and celebrating a year back together. And I’m feeling excited and happy to be releasing Forever. It’s a reminder to bring my love to the moments I have with Kati, because I actually can’t know when our forever will end.
I love you sweetheart.
I hope you like this song, and I hope someone out there plays it for their sweetheart and tells me about it. That would make my day.
(Also thank you Kati - aka @astraltranscription - for being my muse, and for creating the jaw dropping art that made this album art and music video possible).
Click below to listen to Forever on your favorite music service (and please subscribe as it helps more people hear my music and you’ll be notified when the next track comes out):
If you’d like to learn Forever and play it for your sweetheart, here’s the chords and lyrics
Thanks for reading! The next track and the next chapter in this story are coming in a couple weeks.
