Another refugee from the Stop Hitting Me catalog, and written back in 1992, before we moved to Seattle. The Stop Hitting Me version was saddled with the unwieldy title "Sadly Mistaken" which I must admit I insisted poor Tobe use when I handed over the music. He did his very best to work the title in, but I think only managed the word "Sadly."
Out of spite I jettisoned all the lyrics Tobe wrote for this when our band broke up, though I kept his lovely chorus melody, with the "Aye, yi yi yi" descending bit with the pretty backing vocal chords in the background. I've always loved backup vocals, but I never really understood HOW THEY WERE DONE until I played in a band with Tobe, who was expert at sussing out parts and figuring out how to combine them in just the right way. The fact that I'm now pretty good at writing backups myself stems directly from Tobe's shared expertise.
That said, when I was re-writing the words to this song, I was pretty angry at my old friend (and frankly, hero) and at the time I loved the delicious irony of directing unbelievably spiteful words at him while singing the very melody he had written. Now, I'm just kinda embarrassed about it. Still a great melody, though.
Because the fact is: I owe Tobe Ramsey an awful lot. I was wrong to write these words about him, and I apologize. I can't take them back, that's how I felt at the time. But I can't even imagine who I would be if I had never met Tobe. I play music today because of him.
lyrics
Could've been, would've been,
Should've seen all of this coming down
But I chose to depend on you
Stuck up for you, put my life in your hands
Now I'll never make that same mistake again
Where did you go?
There’s nowhere to hide
There's no escape from yourself
Don't wait for me to justify
I don't owe you a thing
I don't want anything to do with you
If I am he if we were they and you were me
Would you see more simply? Would you open your eyes?
And take a look around at what's surrounding you
That's no gun you're running from, is it?
credits
from Yogi: Salve,
released June 17, 2003
Music by Shawn Farley and Tobe Ramsey. Words by Shawn Farley.
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