Recording and Mixing Dates: Recorded May 14-15, 2016. Mixed May 15, 2016.

 

 

Genesis: There is a strange story to this song. I have dealt with the “Black Dog” of depression twice in the past twenty years. The last episode started in the late 1990s and continued until the summer of 2006, when a family intervention lead me to again seek treatment. Though I had been in denial about my mental health, in October 2005 I wrote “The Lost Years,” which described what I had been going through and concluded with the idea I had come out the other side and was better. I can see now I was pretty far down the rabbit hole…

The first verse and refrain lyrics went into my word processor on October 10. By the end of the month the remaining lyrics were completed and the music had been composed. I worked on arranging the song and even thought about an album entitled “The Lost Years.” I tweaked the lyrics several times over the years.

As my depression lifted, the song became a forgotten stepchild. Last year I decided to make a recording but the results were less than compelling. This weekend I sat down and retooled the arrangement, sang the vocals, and played electric guitar.

I am not sure what the listener is to make of this work, as this is a very personal song.

 Production: Bass Guitar, Electric Guitars, Drums.

Lyrics

THE LOST YEARS

I didn’t wander out in the desert

Wasn’t locked in a padded room

Didn’t find myself in the gutter

Howling at the moon

But seven years came and went

With nothing much to show

At the time I couldn’t see

Now I’ve come to know

 

Refrain:

All and all

Those were the lost years

All and all

Those were the lost years

 

I can see I lost perspective

Trying to find the one best way

Nothing ever measured up

I had no more dreams in play

I dodged the toughest questions

Life was a roundabout

And when the dust had settled down

Fear was clutching doubt

 

Refrain

 And I can’t get ‘em back

No, I can’t get ‘em back

So I guess I’ll just say “Adios”

 

And what about the future?

Well, I haven’t been advised

So I take it day by day

With a lot more compromise

I’m living with the knowledge

That it’s easy to backslide

And slip across that shadow line

Without breaking stride

Refrain

Copyright 2016 Fred Grittner All Rights Reserved