OK, the first thing you need to do, before reading the rest of this post (I’m serious) is go listen to this song , that I wrote as part of Fearless Songwriter Week earlier this month. Here’s the deal: I’m really proud of this song, on a number of dimensions. And most importantly, for me at least, it does exactly what I want it to do. But I have no idea if my audience will understand it, or whether that matters. I played it today for Vance Gilbert (the first person to hear it live) and he got it – even shed a tear or two over it. And then he had exactly the same reaction I did – to wonder whether it’s a song that can realistically be presented to an audience. Did you listen? (If not, go listen . I mean it. Stop reading until you have.) Do you know what the story is? The song is intentionally vague at the beginning about what the relationships among the protagonists are. It’s meant to be unclear who “she” is that “you” are somehow spending time with. Listeners will most likely assume, from the first chorus, that it’s some kind of girlfriend. And the narrator (“I”) is making a claim to have been here first and to be here after her that sounds like it belongs in a country song. By the third verse, I’m hoping the listener will start to question who the “she” is – or at least start to wonder. And in the last verse, the idea is that the listenr should figure out that “she” is a dog, by now old, who might not be around much longer. And that it will be hard on the “you” – and there the chorus will take on a new meaning and the narrator will start to sound supportive instead of defiant. That’s how I wanted to write it, and that’s how it sounds to me when I play it – when I wrote the last verse I got the shivers that always indicate to me that I’m on to something. But, of course, I know what I meant by the song. Will others? Vance did (and was moved by it) – and I intentionally didn’t give him any warning. Of course, he’s also as profound a dog-lover as I am (and we’ve both dealt with dangerously ill dogs in the last year). But I also found it interesting that he had exactly the same reaction I did – to wonder if it’s the kind of song that others in general would get. What do you think? (Seriously – I want to know.)