So, when Tracie had the idea to release a song a week on our website, and include a little explanatory post along with each, I didn’t realize she planned to make the first one so good.

Long Way Back is a song about nostalgia, obviously. Hell, it even has the word “nostalgia” in it. Not one for layers of hidden meaning, am I? Nostalgia, and regret, and thoughts about what was and what could have been are a pretty significant theme for me, one I find myself returning to often in my songwriting, but I don’t know why. I like my life; I don’t have lots of regrets. It’s possible, it seems, to be actually quite content in one’s life and still look back on the past with a certain amount of wistful longing.

This song came together very quickly. I wrote the chorus first, I think, and then the verse music. I was searching for lyrics in the verses, and I confess that I cannibalized two earlier and less good songs for words on this one. They’re happier here. (This is also one of, as of this writing, three songs of mine with a lyric like “secret songs.” I need to cut that out.) When Tracie came up with her harmonies, it kicked this song into a whole new gear, and the violin entering on the choruses always makes me so glad to have written it. And, oddly enough, Long Way Back becomes kind of a rocker when we play it live.

I hope it will make you feel a bit wistful, but in a good way. Let us know you like Long Way Back.