30s30d: D25
“A Welcome End”
Prompt: same time next year
Submission of Member: Michael B
Downloads:
Okay I like this one a lot. Caveat: it sounds familiar? So if I got it from somewhere, let me know.
I think I have a song in this style with this verse chord progression I think, but I haven't checked yet... "never mine" might be the one I'm thinking of?
Also conflicted about where this one "fits." It's swingy enough to maybe fit into Lex Land territory, but I think the talk of "freeze" and "ruin" and just the general topic of devastating heartbreak kinda puts it into the world of One Big Dark Room... I was thinking this might make a cool Halloween Single for One Big Dark Room this year? Haven't done any public OBDR releases in 2021, and I definitely won't get to anything else before year's end.
I don't know how much of the story/imagery you can really get out of what I actually wrote, but I like the "in medias res" beginning of it, where a couple is standing a few feet apart saying goodbye for the last time after a rocky relationship. It's Fall, there are leaves on the ground, everything looks like that "Autumn" filter on TikTok, and, like those big emotional moments can often seem, the whole thing feels surreal, and slightly dead... like you're watching it in a movie and it hasn't really settled in that it's happening to you yet.
After digging into this tune a little bit, I wanted to work with the idea of how times of year can remind you of things. I don't know about your experiences, but here's one of mine: that first *cold* night of autumn/winter here in Texas each year after the long months of heat, it's like I'm immediately transported to that first month after Maria died. The temp drops from present day dip me right back into the late nights of the past, outside in the dark, alone, grieving.
In the scenario of this song, I was working with: how in breakups it almost seems like you *have* to keep grudges, resentment, and anger at the forefront of your mind at first, to help keep you from thoughts of tenderness long enough to move on from the relationship. It's self-preservation. If you think about the good things you're losing, you fall apart.
So I wanted to link these two concepts: how maybe the protagonist will be able to remind herself for a while that ending the relationship was a good thing, at least long enough to get a grip. But when it's Fall again, and there're leaves on the ground and everything looks like that TikTok filter, it's likely she'll find herself emotionally right back in this moment (but hopefully with a little more perspective).
Re: how I tried to work in the autumnal tie - You know that physical reaction you get in a BIG heartbreak moment? When you get real bad news and it feels like the wind got knocked out of you, a chill in the center of your solar plexus, like a 40 ft drop ride? Sometimes it feels like a crushing, and that reminded me of crackling delicate dead leaves getting smashed to bits after being tread upon. Then, once your insides are all empty from that dilapidation and destruction, an icy blast might come through and you'd really feel that. But maybe that cold could also numb you, or maybe preserve that feeling, that despair?
Anyway, those are my thoughts. Hope you enjoy.
🖤 L
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