Road To Hope CD - "Such A Good Friend" Story

He walks with sunlight in his eyes
Like he's never seen the rain
And I sit around wondering
When he's gonna bring his sunlight around again

Am I crazy to think I could be his Aphrodite
The mightiest love he's never known?
I've wanted him so badly
I've crowned and anchored him on his very own throne

And he laughs at me
And he smiles at me and says
Hey, you're such a good friend
You know you're such a good friend

I know this is a race I will lose
I will lose face, I will fall down
I know he cannot see the war I wage inside
Each day I try to bring his love around

So he takes off his dry shoes
After walking on the water all day

My wet hair hangs in my eyes

Such A Good Friend

Real Audio Windows

As I wipe the tears from my face

He lays one finger upon my cold skin
And his touch is a fire
And I almost say
I hope this never ends

But then he laughs at me
And he smiles at me
And he says you will always be
Such a good friend

And I know I am such a good friend
And I don't really want to be....

To fully comprehend this song, I feel the listener should hear the version recorded on my album "Hypothermia" first. I originally wrote this song up-tempo, then in one magical session in 2000 at Robert Parks' recording studio, decided to slow it down. Chords that skimmed over a fast and mildly disturbing and dissonant chord suddenly SAT on that dissonance and brought out the melancholy inherent in the lyrics. Because I don't think a long, slow song such as this comes out as clearly in live performance, I eventually resurrected this song, based on its lyrical merits, as the up-tempo version it had once been so that we could play it at shows, and on the advice of other band members, turned the once-dissonant third chord of the progression into something perfectly easy for the ear to accept. The version on Road to Hope is honestly one of my favorite songs on the album, and my experimentation with the mandolin, which I had never played before, was an incredibly fun addition. I also feel that this up-tempo version is ironic; a "wink" to the seriousness of the emotions I felt and still feel when I sing this song. I have never felt such angst about unrequited love as I did when I wrote this song, and I worked hard at turning that angst into poetry. I think the verses have the poetic gloss, but the chorus says 'it' in the most honest and straightforward way I possibly could, and there is something so cathartic about singing the truth and not mincing words at all.