This song came about in a simple way – I was sitting in a hotel room in a suburb outside Detroit in the winter time. For those of you who travel a lot, you know that travel is glamorous and fun 20% of the time but very lonely the other 80% or so. You often find yourself in a city where you know nobody, in sterile hotel rooms, eating meals alone, simply waiting for bedtime.
I was contemplating the loneliness of travel as I sat beside the blue tv screen glow that night and realized that this loneliness, this melancholy, was unpleasant in part…but that it was also comforting. The loneliness can envelope you like a warm blanket or greet you like a familiar friend.
I liked to think of the complexity of that emotion, and so I scratched out a poem called “Melancholy Times.” It read like this:
Melancholy Times
It’s the melancholy times that I’ll miss most –
The quiet taxis in the rain.
The still nights in a cold hotel,
The leavetakings, the dial tones.
It’s the melancholy times that I’ll miss most –
The long wait for a twilight train,
The slow walk through a city street,
The coffeeshop, the open road.
It’s the melancholy times that I’ll miss most –
The sad strum of a three-chord song,
The dimmed lights of a small town bar,
The neon hum, the silent snow.
It’s the melancholy times that I’ll miss most –
The cup of coffee on the porch
The lakehouse where it smells of fall,
The suitcases, the afterglow.
It’s the melancholy times that I’ll miss most –
The neighbor’s dog who cries and cries,
The early morning wake up call,
The Christmas lights, the empty show.
It’s the melancholy times that I’ll miss most –
The bleak mid-morning, gray and cool,
The sunset watched by lovelorn eyes
The sleepy morn, the winter coat.
And when our earthly moment’s through
And body slips from flesh to ghost
My friend, I’ll say, again, to you,
“It’s the melancholy times that I’ll miss most.”
I really liked this poem, so I tried to think of a melody to go with it. Unfortunately, I had a very specific rhythm in my head and it wasn’t leading me to a melody that I liked. I decided to send the poem over to Nancy Harms to see if she would come up with anything different. I loved what she sent me – it was haunting and captivating and matched the vibe of the lyrics. You can listen to it here. I put some chords to it and sent it back to Nancy to see what she thought. Check that step out here.
Now we had something that we liked, but I didn’t want this to be a song about depression that sounded depressing. Nobody needs that kind of a downer! So, I added two things – first, a countermelody that added a little bit of motion and complexity. It’s a group of five 8th notes, so it fits in surprising ways against the 4/4 time signature. I was thinking of some “minimalist” music/composers and all the repetition they use when I wrote this countermelody.
Secondly, I added a little chorale to go between the verses. The song can be a bit heavy on repetitive materials (there’s a lot of “It’s the melancholy times…”) so we needed a contrasting section. In retrospect, I may have gotten the idea for this chorale from the song “Everything You Need” (by Adam) that the Housewarming Project had been covering. This song also has a “la la la” kind of chorus.