Send Them Out Through The Night
By orangedrink on December 20, 2020 11:53 pm
I wrote this song in 2005. I've played it at many shows, even with band members (!) and have always gotten generous compliments on it. I had this grand idea for a concept album, and this was supposed to be on it, but I never finished it. With each year that passed, I felt like the idea of the song totally eclipsed the song itself and it somehow it became a thing that would haunt me. I moved to the Midwest after graduating college and I had this big dream of "making it in the big city". My depression slowly took over my life and I started believing that I "missed my chance" to start a band and "make it". This song would echo in my head and would tell me, "Look at all this talent that is going to waste because you can't do anything right."
Well, last night, at around 6am after staying up the whole night, I finished this song. Only took 15 years! The lyrics and chords were done in 2005, but the melodic leads, structure, and the "send them out" chants at the end were written this past week. I've recorded many demo versions (Zirafa even recorded a cover!) and never could figure out how to end the song, whether there should be drums, whether there should be a long instrumental breakdown, but I finally showed up for myself, made a lot of decisions I've been avoiding for decades, and I'll tell you all: I AM REALLY PROUD OF MYSELF.
I don't care about "making it" because I've already made it. And worrying about other people's expectations is why I was never able to finish this song before. Now I'm doing it for me, and I feel like I couldn't imagine a better version. The song is acoustic guitar, two competing dual vocals, and there is some Ableton French Horn and Trumpet at the end. I used my new little recording toy to record and loop myself saying "send them out" at the end. I pitch shifted it down and miraculously hit the right note! That was the universe telling me that I'm on the right path.
The lyrics are kind of about killing a loved one in the middle of a zombie apocalypse because you thought they were infected, but now the song is really about murdering an old self belief and sending it out through the night. Crazy how the song has taken a whole new meaning, and now I'm thinking this is why it's taken so long to record. I'm pretty emotional listening to this now; it's really hard to describe what it feels like to hear this, and how it's better than I've imagined for 15 years. I just want to say that I love everyone here on WB and we have to keep believing in ourselves because we're saving the world and we're helping each other, whether we realize it or not. 
I have one more "demon" song that's been haunting me and I'm recording it for my final song. Happy Hanukkah, Merry Christmas, see you next week!
LYRICS:
No need to write a letter,
Make it look like an accident
No need to complicate it,
Heart keeps beating, but it's probably over.
Weakened and barely breathing,
Don't let them know that you're out again
Pick yourself up off of the floor and lock the door
But it's just too late to care
------
I'm sorry if you don't believe me
I'm sorry we died as friends
Wake me up when it's over
You'll never trust me again
And if we had just one more chance
I know we'd mess up again
So bite down hard and close your eyes and
Think of something really far away
We were wrong
We were wrong
Send them out through the night.
Send them out through the night.
Send them out through the night.
Send them out through the night.
Audio works licensed by author under:
CC Attribution Noncommercial Share Alike (BY-NC-SA)
