Fall Away
The way this tune came together was pretty interesting. When I first started putting together this CD, there were a few old songs that I wanted to redo. Fall Away was a song that I played in a band called the Beerdogs back in '97. It was a good song, but I always thought there was so much more that I could do with it. So I set out to redo it, and put a lot of work into making the music be much more dynamic. I decided to experiment and try some piano instead of the original guitar line, and I found that I really liked the way it sounded. After a bit of tweaking, the arrangement of the music was coming together nicely, but just I wasn't happy with lyrics. The original words were hastily scribbled down on scratch paper during a impromptu jam session years ago, and they just seemed too fragmented and vague. I really wanted this song to tell a story, but the old lyrics just weren't leading the song where it needed to go.Somewhere around this same time, my mother started going through some really tough times with my grandmother. Her health had been declining to a point where she could no longer live alone in her own house like she had been, and she had to be moved into a care facility. It was a very tough time emotionally for my mother, made more so by the fact that my grandmother was rebelling against the move. She insisted on walking by herself even though the doctor had strictly warned her not to do so, and ended up having several falls and even cracking a few vertebrates. One night after talking to my mother about all the things that were going on, and seeing how it was affecting her, I knew that this was the story. So I basically just sat down with my acoustic, started strumming through the parts, and wrote out the words.
I did a lot of experimentation on the mix for this song, which was a blast. I'm always reading articles on different recording techniques, and I had a steady stream of new things that I wanted to try out and experiment with. Mostly I played with new layering techniques, and I am very happy with the results.
Lyrics
There's a chair in my room that sits there by the window
I remember the days when I could reach it myself
What kind of things do you think about when you wait outside my door?
There's a look in your eyes when I see you smiling at me
When you're leaving...
I see the strain behind your smile that you can't hide
I've heard you crying softly, momma won't you...
Stay right here with me...
And if I stay on this endless ride, can you watch it all as I fall away?
I know these times are tearing you apart, so I'll hold my head up high
As I fall away...
I know you wonder if I'm feeling scared
But I'll never tell because that would mean I've accepted this
I know you wonder if I realize all the secrets you hold inside
But I just want you to stay right here for awhile
Because I need it...
I see the strain behind your smile that you can't hide
There are no words to tell you how I feel
And what you've meant to me
If I stay on this endless ride, can you watch it all as I fall away?
I know these times are tearing you apart, so I'll hold my head up high
As I fall away...