#i miss you

This song came on the radio the other day while I was driving home from work. I hadn’t heard it in a while, and I do like it, so I gave the volume a little nudge, and lost myself in the lyrics. At the time, I hadn’t posted here in a couple weeks, and I thought, “I need to do an SotD for this one.” It wasn’t my intention to put it off for another couple weeks, and it wasn’t, initially, my intention to post it on this day. It happened though. That second verse hit with the line, “Where are you? And I’m so sorry,” and I lost it a bit.

It’s been six years today. I’ll say it again, fuck cancer.

So, I had some time to kill this Sunday morning, before I have to go to bed in preparation for a 6p - 6a shift. And, I thought it would be good to get some emotion out the way I do, talking about music. But, the usual question was at issue. What song today? On this October 30, what do I say to Mom? Google sent me a “top 10 Missing You songs” list. And there’s some good ones there. Bon Jovi’s Always,Green Day’s Wake Me Up When September Ends or even Pink Floyd’s Wish You Were Here would have absolutely done the job. But as soon as I saw blink on the list, I knew where I needed to go.

The writing process on this one is interesting. Guitarist Tom and bassist Mark met in a room, hammered some ideas and themes out, then parted to different rooms to write their own verses. Mark’s line referencing The Nightmare Before Christmas came at the request of drummer Travis, dedicated to his then wife, Shanna Moakler.

There’s all kinds of cool instrumentation on this track. All of it is acoustic. Most notably, to my ear, the percussion line with all kinds of different noisemakers.

In his own words, Tom said, “The song’s more about the vulnerability and kind of heart-wrenching pain you feel when you’re in love and when you’re a guy and you’re trying to tell a girl, ‘Don’t waste your time coming and talking to me because, in my head at least, you probably already gave me up a long time ago.”

For me, on this day, this song is for the lost loved one. Today, and every day, Momma… I miss you.

Lyrics:

Hello there,
The angel from my nightmare,
The shadow in the background of the morgue.
The unsuspecting victim of darkness in the valley.
We can live like Jack and Sally
If we want.

Where you can always find me
And we’ll have Halloween on Christmas.
And in the night we’ll wish this never ends,
We’ll wish this never ends.

(I miss you, miss you)
(I miss you, miss you)

Where are you?
And I’m so sorry.
I cannot sleep, I cannot dream tonight.
I need somebody and always
This sick strange darkness
Comes creeping on so haunting every time.

And as I stared I counted
The webs from all the spiders
Catching things and eating their insides.

Like indecision to call you
And hear your voice of treason.
Will you come home and stop this pain tonight?
Stop this pain tonight.

[3x]
Don’t waste your time on me.
You’re already the voice inside my head.
(I miss you, miss you)
Don’t waste your time on me.
You’re already the voice inside my head.
(I miss you, miss you)

(I miss you, miss you) [4x]