Let’s Start Over

it’s not so easy
startin’ on two sides of the street
eyes that fill with anger
every time we meet
words as sharp as glass
that cut the heart right through
meant for me
but I turn ‘em back to you

so right and wrong is now
the only game we play
seems like trust is still
another world away
one that can’t be reached
until we’ve traveled far
we’re still too close
but here we are

so let’s start over
we’ll give it one more try
maybe you can learn to change
and so can I
let’s start over
we’ll get it right this time
maybe I can take your hand
I’ll give you mine

well there are two roads now
but only one to choose
you can only win
but I’m afraid to lose
what will it take
for us to find our way
a leap of faith
forget yesterday

so let’s start over
we’ll give it one more try
maybe you can learn to change
and so can I
let’s start over
we’ll get it right this time
maybe I can take your hand
I’ll give you mine

Notes

TLDR: Dear listener, I hope you love it as much as I do. I think it’s a message the world could use more of right now, and I hope it inspires us all to start over whenever things seem hopeless—whether we’re having trouble loving ourselves, a friend, a life partner or spouse, or someone who at the moment seems an awful lot like an enemy.

A warm November aloha to you all! It’s time to make good on my recent threat. I’m so happy to be able to share with you a very, very special duet featuring Chris Barton and yours truly.

Chris wrote a couple musicals for kids after the Hello Sun album came out, and one was called Find a Way. Of course, it had some great songs in it, but one of them especially sort of captivated me, and the effect has never worn off. Because of that song—and others just as beautiful—Chris definitely deserves an honored place in my list of Influencers!

In the musical, the song supported the story line of two kids who had a lot of problems with each other, and their efforts to get beyond their anger and work toward the same goal. It was called, appropriately, “Let’s Start Over.” But something about the song—the melody, the slowly migrating chords and suspensions, the archetypal lyrics—really grabbed me, and for me, it became a quintessential song about love itself, and the challenges that unavoidably come your way when you open yourself to another and are learning to trust another human being.

David’s always loved the song as much as I, and whenever it would come up on our playlist, we invariably commented on how great it was, and how we should take another crack at it someday. David, and at least a couple others, even thought it sounded like a Disney movie theme. I took that as a good sign. (Disney, are you listening?)

When Chris and I started working together more regularly again last year, I asked her if she’d be up for recording that one again. Thankfully, she said yes! It was a little harder to coordinate this time—as I now live in the middle of the Pacific and she in Indianapolis—and I had to record the basic tracks, then send them to her to take into the studio and record her vocal. (And we were both thrilled that our beloved Emmy-winning and Grammy-nominated James Willard Spencer—who also engineered the original Find a Way project—said he’d record Chris’s vocal in his new studio, 22 North Audio, Ypsilanti, Michigan.

I also sent the rhythm tracks to my bestest guitar buddy, Dan Leonhardt, whom you’ve undoubtedly heard already if you’ve listened to more than one or two of my songs. The original version had a great guitar part, and I definitely wanted guitar on this version as well. So he added his guitar magic in Niles, Michigan.

So between the tracks being recorded in three different places and then put back together here, there were a few challenges, but I’m really happy with the result. Thank you, Dan and Willard, for helping this little project become a reality. And thank you, Chris, for writing such a gorgeous, heartfelt song in the first place.

Dear listener, I hope you love it as much as I do. I think it’s a message the world could use more of right now, and I hope it inspires us all to start over whenever things seem hopeless—whether we’re having trouble loving ourselves, a friend, a life partner or spouse, or someone who at the moment seems an awful lot like an enemy.

It’s always worth starting over. Maybe we’ll get it right this time…