Day 1: You're On Your Way

 

Lyrics: 

When you were just a child 

Your family would forsake you 

They'd make you feel like a fraud 

But leave them in the past 

Your dream's come true at last 

You're on your way 

You're on your way 

Oh, baby 

I know you're on your way 

You found your home 

A brand new home 

Oh, baby 

I'm glad you found your way 

You barely fit in your skin 

The first time that I met you 

And you cried out from within 

But please don't cry no more 

You've won what you were fighting for 

You're on your way 

You're on your way 

Oh, baby 

I know you're on your way 

You found your home 

A brand new home 

Oh, baby 

I'm glad you found your way 

And please don't wait for me 

I'm stumbling down my own path 

Can't you see? 

What's now is not what's been 

But I swear I'll meet you in the end 

You're on your way 

You're on your way 

Oh, baby I know you're on your way 

Details: I was fighting an upset stomach all day New Year's Day, so getting motivated to write was a struggle. I didn't get started until very late in the day. Anyway, I still pushed through, though this song doesn't feel as inspired as the January 1 songs from the last two years. 

I started by thinking about a friend who's dealing with some health problems right now. She had a rough childhood, but ended up building a remarkable community program that helps a lot of other folks who've had rough childhoods. Anyway, I wanted to focus on that kind of lifelong accomplishment. I also got to thinking about social progress movements and how I react to them. Sometimes progress is made, and I intellectually support it, but emotionally it takes me a while to come around; The bridge is intended to deal with that sort of internal struggle. I hesitate to write about political stuff because I think I do it clumsily, but it was something that was on my mind during the writing. 

I started this song on the guitar, just because I haven't done that in a while. The verse melodies I was coming up with all seemed to be borrowing from other songs, so I worked on that bit to come up with something less recognizable. Then the chorus came and felt like a pretty good hook, so I decided to focus on that. All in all, I feel like this is a song that has potential, but it needs some fine tuning. There aren't a lot of words in it, so the few that are there really need to count. 

It took about 4 hours to write, but I had a lot of trouble recording because I was having trouble setting up my new iPhone (that's why I didn't post until today-- everything should be back on schedule the rest of the month).