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First Part the Last
Orchestral arrangement of something akin to a love song.
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Genre
Take charge
Charts position
» highest in charts: # 800 (158,005 songs currently listed in Alternative)
» highest in sub-genre: # 61 (6,328 songs currently listed in Alternative > Alt Power Pop)
» highest in sub-genre: # 61 (6,328 songs currently listed in Alternative > Alt Power Pop)
About the song
It goes like this: Erinn, an ex-girlfriend, calls me in San Francisco in the summer of 1989, and I write the first version of this song. I might even record a version on my Fostex X-15 four-track tape deck, I don't remember. At any rate, this sits around for a while (and it had another title, which I don't remember). In fall 2002, Kathe (not an ex but someone I spent some time with in 1986) writes and I retrieve this song and rewrite it. I then sit down at my PC and record a guitar/bass version and add a little wind quartet (clarinet, bass clarinet, flute and piccolo). Last summer, as I sit down to do this song in GarageBand, it occurs to me to make an orchestral arrangement as well, which was way better than the guitar/bass version. When I hear music in my head, which is often, this is how I tend to hear it. Only I was able to draw this to successful conclusion of sorts.
Lyrics
she walked back into my life the same she walked out
abruptly
with a phone call she flooded a field that had once dried up
empty
"I'm not sure what to say but I know that I wanted to say it,"
she said
the silence between us as loud as an unwanted
dialtone
this way the diamond won't scratch
or skip any grooves on the last track
if we have to give up and start over
it would make quite a novel a better movie
watching the first part the last
if not for the miles between us I think I might
wander
if not for the Steinbeck, the beer and the old
Spanish mission
happy to hold her despite or because of
long distance
happy to have her a part of me partly
again
what after years do we see?
surely this give away shows
if we have to give up and and start over
I will dream of her gently
savor it slowly
holding the first part the last
abruptly
with a phone call she flooded a field that had once dried up
empty
"I'm not sure what to say but I know that I wanted to say it,"
she said
the silence between us as loud as an unwanted
dialtone
this way the diamond won't scratch
or skip any grooves on the last track
if we have to give up and start over
it would make quite a novel a better movie
watching the first part the last
if not for the miles between us I think I might
wander
if not for the Steinbeck, the beer and the old
Spanish mission
happy to hold her despite or because of
long distance
happy to have her a part of me partly
again
what after years do we see?
surely this give away shows
if we have to give up and and start over
I will dream of her gently
savor it slowly
holding the first part the last
