The Life We Nearly Had

Some songs are harder to create than others.

Over the last few days, we've been developing a new Yara Washington song called “The Life We Nearly Had.”

Even during the original music production, this one was difficult. There was something about the emotional pull of the song that kept getting to me. It isn't really about grieving a relationship that ended. It's about grieving the life you once believed you were going to have together.

The house you talked about. The garden. Sunday dinners. Losing your keys. Making breakfast for two. Growing old together. All those completely ordinary things that seemed so certain — but never happened.

Today we've been developing the visual story, and somehow that has added another emotional level I wasn't quite prepared for.

Two coffee cups become one.

Breakfast for two becomes breakfast for one.

Two people grow old together — until gradually we realise that they never did.

The music was difficult enough. Seeing that unwritten life take shape visually, and then watching it disappear again, has made it considerably harder.

I've had to walk away from the creative process for a while today because I simply can't listen to the song without crying.

I suppose part of the reason is that I know where this song came from. I've been there. I've known what it's like to look back not only at what was lost, but at all those ordinary years you once imagined were still ahead of you.

And I suspect a lot of people have been there too.

Perhaps that's why “The Life We Nearly Had” feels like more than just another song to me.

It's coming soon.

Peter
Creative Director
Sessions on the Green®