Day 29: Emergency Vacation (with Teresa Storch)

Lyrics:
Just last Friday night
You left me standing
In the pale lamp light
Couldn't see the rain
Through my tears

You said you wanted space
Maybe move to another state
Be anyplace but here
You said

"I need an emergency vacation
I just got to get away
From this pain
Or else it's gonna stay
I need an emergency vacation
Doesn't matter where I'm going
For how long
Or when I'm coming home"

Last Thursday night
You walked away
When we had a fight
Said you were going
Out with the guys

Spent the night alone
Wondered if you were coming home
Saw your message on the phone
And you said

"I need an emergency vacation
I just got to get away
From this pain
Or else it's gonna stay
I need an emergency vacation
Doesn't matter where I'm going
For how long
Or when I'm coming home"

I pack my bags and get my passport
Catch a taxi to the airport
Walk up to the line
Check my frequent flyer miles
Then I look behind
And see you standing there
And we share a knowing smile

We need an emergency vacation
We just got to get away
From this pain
Or else it's gonna stay
We need an emergency vacation
Doesn't matter where we're going
For how long
Or when we're coming home

Details: This is the second song I've written with Teresa, and we had a great time! Teresa had just gotten back from yoga and was worn out. I'm on the last three days of my writing project, and I'm exhausted. I mentioned that I was planning to take off the first week of February to recover, and then we got the idea of writing a song about a vacation.

The emergency idea popped up, and we spent a lot of time brainstorming items that would be in an emergency kit for vacations-- things like passports, sunscreen, gps, etc. We didn't end up going down that route, but we continued to brainstorm reasons why people would need an emergency vacation, and we came up with this more personal tale of a couple who take a break from each other, but end up running into each other at the airport.

The last song we wrote was kind of abnormal for both of us, so I was really interested in working more within Teresa's regular style. She tried to give me a tutorial on how she plays guitar, which involves using a flat pick. I'm a fingerstyle guy, but I clumsily tried my hand at it-- I might try a bit more as the year progresses, because you can definitely get some interesting strumming patterns, not to mention a better tone on the guitar. But I left the playing to Teresa for the video.

It only took about 2.5 hours to write the song and 30 minutes to record. Actually, it took less, because we spent a fair amount of time just chatting. It's nice when a song comes together this easily, and it's nice to hang out with someone as engaging as Teresa.