This mix is slightly different than the one on Songfight. I tamed the big 200Hz G bass-note, so it should sound better in the car.
A couple of points:
- Along with the drum kit, there’s a bottle, bongos, two different shakers, and a repinique.
- I considered arranging this with just those percussion instruments, and the acoustic guitars, but I hope the full band dynamics help the last verse stand out.
NOTE: This song is on Waking Up In August, remixed and properly mastered.
Sarah’s family found Waifer at Christmas in 1983, huddled under their lake-side cottage. She was a stray kitten, and she’d survived alone even through the first snow. Muskoka turns much colder come January, though, so Waif was fortunate that the family spent Christmas at the lake.
By all accounts, the experience left her not the worse for wear, but stronger. When I met Waifer, she had already lived a life time, yet my first impression was “who’s the kitten?” I remember it vividly: At 14, she was still spry and skinny. I don’t recall my second impression, but it was probably “who’s making all that noise?” Noise was her thing, I learned. There are two constants in the years I’ve known Waif: summers at the lake; and her ability to command the attention of every living thing within earshot.
Much changed in that time, too. I watched her age, and lose the spring in her step, and maybe put on a few pounds. And I got to know her. When she moved in with Sarah and I four years ago, I found myself caring about her more than I expected. I warmed her food for her. I made sure she saw the vet for checkups. I arranged a bed in the car so she’d be comfortable on our summer drives to the lake.
In fact, I’ve even come to think of her as a friend. She’s certainly brought out the worst in me the way only a friend can. I wrote before, about her wailings, “I won’t miss you when you’re gone.” It wasn’t a very nice thing to say, Sarah told me. “Yeah,” I thought, “but she’s so loud, and she wakes me up every night! What’s to miss? … ”
The truth is, I suspected then what I now know: I miss her terribly.
Sarah and I said goodbye to Waifer on March 31st. She was 22 years old, which is a long time even in human years, and I think Waif was simply ready. This song is about returning her one last time to the lake at which she spent so much of her life, that she might rest in peace with the trees and the summer nights and the moonlight.
I swear I saw you come back again.
3 years on the pattern stays the same:
you keep waking me up
You were wide-eyed girl, lovely as the day.
There’s nothing but a summer night smells this way.
I hear your song out among the trees,
you still callin’ to me …
Did it mean a lot,
the way you looked when I promised half the world?
I didn’t mean it all,
but I meant to remember you smiling, girl.
And where there’s smoke, there’s fire,
but I could never tell:
You’d had enough when you stopped and fell.
So all we are is everything we do.
You found the worst in me too.
Did it mean a lot,
the way you looked when I promised half the world?
I didn’t mean it all,
but I meant to remember you smiling, girl
There’s a soul at peace,
out above the lake.
Under the moonlight I’m sure she’s safe.
But there’s no word for all the pain I feel.
Did it mean a lot,
the way you looked when I promised half the world?
I didn’t mean it all,
but I meant to remember you smiling, girl