“Sweet Memory” - a song about hindsight
Memories have an amazing talent at becoming greater than the truths they base themselves on. Nothing is ever as gentle, beautiful, or wicked as you recall it being. The greatest lie we have to share is memory.
To find out more about Chrissy Strong, visit her website here.
Backstory
Rather than go too deep into why I personally wrote the song, I want to use this song to challenge the idea that I mentioned above. The idea of a memory and how they shift… they take on new faces that in some ways end up being all together different than their original casts.
This song could be a story of a love lost, (classic), or it could be a shadow of what could have been, or it could be a tale treasured. Those possibilities and more I would leave up to the listener. In it’s place I would share the question that I found myself asking myself (yes, I have internal conversations… plenty).
The question was “Do you remember things the way they were or the way you wish they were”. That is a simple start to the pondering, but it is worth pondering, especially as a musician or a writer cataloging stories collected.
I think that I look back through time with very colored lenses. Sometimes I recount stories so many times that minuscule changes compound into an entirely different retelling. I think I’ve used it as a defense mechanism to block out moments where I was wrong or hurt or misused. That’s maybe why I love songs so much, they end up being frozen moments in time. Once captured, that’s a version that is no longer touchable. It’s above reproach as far as replication. It can be interpreted, and copied, but if it’s a blatant duplication, it’s not changing.
This is a tune I wrote and then tucked away, not playing it too often. That was until Chrissy and I started adding it to the sets that we occasionally share. The song at this point is hers. She is singing the original melody, and I am taking the backseat on harmony. Performing it that way feels right. Regardless of how I remember the song originally, that is just a memory. Though it may be a sweet one, the place this song lives now is that much better.
Thank you Chrissy for giving this song a second chance and for making it sound so good!
Writing Process
I don’t remember the process beyond I had that little lick inside the G shape. I was listening to a ton of Townes Van Zandt during the time I wrote this, and I love how he would add such a simple picked melody above his thumb. I feel that this was a song almost written in response to “Tecumseh Valley” and I wanted the groove to feel in that vein.
Originally it was such a struggle to roll into that second half of the lick, I would constantly overshoot the hammer-on on the G string.
This pattern is also borrowing from my other song “Looking Towards”. If you go through my catalog, you will see a few songs that have a variation on that G shape with the melody being primarily on the B string.
** If you haven’t heard this song, I can’t suggest it enough. Know that it’s a sad one, about as sad as they come.
Voice Memos
Notebook Page.
April 2020
Lyrics
Just because I don't see red, doesn't mean that I ain't trying
Just because you long left my bed, doesn't mean that I ain't dying
Saddle up your horses and you ride until you can't be seen
At leaving there's no better, than the way that you softly left me
I burn your favorite candle in the corner and there's coffee on the stove
Make your favorite breakfast, but it's only me and now it's growing cold
Tree outside this window was your favorite place for eating in the spring
I sold it for my supper, and the lumber yard will be here in the morning
Oh sweet memory, my love
Oh sweet memory, my love
Front porch in the evening is where we'd sit and fake to like my songs
You'd leave to make the money, I'd stay at home to drink and smoke and sulk
Stumble home in darkness with the smell of something stronger on your breath
Said it wasn't only simple men who deserve to kill themselves
Oh sweet memory, my love
Oh sweet memory, my love
Walking after midnight makes me the last man standing in this town
I've come to welcome silence and it's easier when people aren't around
What I wouldn't give to have you standing there when I got to my door
I'd say all the stupid things I wish I'd said before
Oh sweet memory, my love
Oh sweet memory, my love