The 7th track on Sometimes There's a Way is "Miss Me".
Some songs take a lot of finessing and rewriting to feel finished. Other songs just seem to spring forth fully formed. Part of why “Miss Me” is so short is because it was written in one go. No agonizing over word choice or chord progression. Just a rush of cool sounding music and lyrics that perfectly captured the feeling that I would be missed when the relationship was over. Even being so short the song felt complete.
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During performances, I usually play "Breathe" right after "One Thing True" as if they were one song. They were written about two months apart with no intention of one being paired with the other. It was by accident that I discovered one song blended quite nicely into the other.
"One Thing True" came about because of the title of a book I hadn’t read and knew only the title: One True Thing by Anna Quindlen. The song has absolutely nothing to do with the book beyond the similar title. It was just the spark that got me writing. What I wrote was a sad song full of longing, aching, and wanting to give up. It evokes feelings of despair and depression. Obviously, the answer to “I know I care but do you?” is "No, you don’t care."
I always think of "Breathe" as a much more uplifting song that they lyrics might initially make it seem. It’s a song tinged with anger and yet filled with the reality of being much better off by not wasting time on someone who doesn’t care. I imagine it as the beginning of healing after a bad relationship.
Pairing the two songs together works in more than just an acoustically pleasing way. It creates the story of longing and depression turning into anger and acceptance.
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The fourth track on Sometimes There's a Way is "Remember Me"
"Remember Me" is one of the few songs I’ve written solely from direct experience. It describes exactly what I felt the moment I wrote it, and it was written with one person in mind. Most of my songs start with a line or two about a certain person or event and then I find inspiration from other sources to flesh the idea out.
This is one of the sweeter songs I’ve written. It is more about romantic love not blossoming than love lost. The heart of the song is wanting to know you made enough of an impact to be remembered. People can relate to not wanting to be forgotten.
When I was asking what songs to record this song came up a few times. It was a definite on a list of maybes.
The third track on Sometimes There's a Way is "When It Comes to Love"
"When It Comes to Love" is a song that encompasses the realism of how relationships aren’t perfect and sometimes end as well as the optimism that there is more love to experience. It’s very much a song about being hopeful even though things don’t ever seem to work out quite right. It might seem counter-intuitive to call this one of the happy songs I’ve written, but that is definitely how I see it.
Society views relationships ending as a negative thing. Hence the having no luck in love aspect of the lyrics. When I wrote the song I had not had much luck in long term relationships. What I did have was plenty of wondering if a romantic interest would become more. Even after thinking I would never feel that way again, I would meet someone and feel that way again. Eventually I learned that relationships coming to an end could be a very good thing. Occasionally the end was better than the beginning.
"When It Comes to Love" was a last minute addition to the album. It was one of the songs I recorded just because I had some extra time one day. Now I couldn’t imagine the album without it.
Carmen Kelley
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