Finished, A Long Lost Song

by Nate Croft

Loose ends, I've got em! We all do. It seems everyone I know has that thing they have been working on for ages. Things half built, paintings that are almost there, and for me, songs left to years past.

Here's the tale of a song that has bothered me for the better part of ten years. Why? Well, it wasn't quite perfect and there wasn't anything I could do about it. You see, the multi-track files for this and many other songs went missing. One night they were there, the next day they were gone.

Some of them even knew the words. Someone liked that song. And I don't know if they will ever hear this 10 year old new version, but it's for them. The ones who sang along and liked that thing we made.

All I had left of this song was one mp3 mix with scratch (place holder) vocals, and a not so in-tune guitar part I laid down quickly to get the idea before it left. It was 80% at best, and 20% pure frustration that I'd never get it the way I wanted. Not with the performances of friends that are seldom seen and one that I don't think even plays anymore.

Everytime that 80% version pops up in my iTunes, I have this little what if moment. I hate the “What if?” game. So last night at about 3 am, I got up and finished that song. I added some guitars in the chorus and sang those two lines that had for nearly ten years been missing. It is definitely not perfect, or even what it could have been. But you know what it is? Finished.

First, the last live performance of it:

And here is that finished version.

So, why did I bother finishing this thing? And as you may be wondering, why am I telling you? I'm telling you because I am slowly learning to let things be imperfect. To come to peace with dreams that didn't pan out. To let it exist with every glaring imperfection and be ok with that.

And if you listened to the live version, you may have heard that there were a lot of people there having a great time to that song. Some of them even knew the words. Someone liked that song. And I don't know if they will ever hear this 10 year old new version, but it's for them. The ones who sang along and liked that thing we made. It wasn't perfect when they heard it live, and it won't be perfect now. But it will live on for them.

What do you need to finish? We want to sing along. It's ok, we're all a bit off key.