Shadows (Unpolished Demo)
Lyrics:
I still feel the shadows in my mind Trying to pull me back to a past I left behind I've got nothing to be afraid of now; everything is fine But those shadows still haunt me sometimes I still feel the shadows in my mind They creep into my head to whisper lies Saying history is doomed to repeat itself every time And broken's never really fixed so why try I won't listen I've moved past, I've moved on I won’t listen The past is dead and gone No need to dwell on darker days I've got joy and love and faith And when those shadows try to take it all away, I won’t sway I'll be stronger than the shadows I still feel the shadows in my mind They remind me of the mess that was my life I try to send them out, tell them goodbye But they always come back late in the night I still feel the shadows in my mind Everything's been good for quite some time But the shadows say, "keep watch, don't close your eyes It could all turn back around on a dime" I won't listen I've moved past, I've moved on I won’t listen The past is dead and gone No need to dwell on darker days I've got joy and love and faith And when those shadows try to take it all away, I won’t sway I'll be stronger than the shadows (stronger than the shadows) The past is not the present The future is unwritten The past doesn't get to dictate how the future will play out People learn from their mistakes The choice is always ours to make I won't let shadows get the final say I won't listen I've moved past, I've moved on I won’t listen The past is dead and gone No need to dwell on darker days I've got joy and love and faith And when those shadows try to take it all away I won't listen I've moved past, I've moved on I won’t listen The past is dead and gone No need to dwell on darker days I've got joy and love and faith And when those shadows try to take it all away, I won’t sway I'll be stronger than the shadows (stronger than the shadows) |
Copyright 2020
Lyrics by Kelsey Gallant (2019) Music by Jimi R (2020) Melody by Kelsey Gallant (2020) Beat development by Cody Gallant (2022) The Story Behind The Song:
2018 was a tough year for me. I had to deal with a lot of situations and feelings that I'd never experienced before. There were a lot of times when I just felt sad, angry, and like things were never going to get better. But things did get better. By February 2019, the issues that had been causing so much stress had subsided, and I was able to move on with life. However, every so often, I'd catch myself worrying, "What if things go back to how they used to be?" Everything was fine; I had no reason to worry, but my brain liked to remind me that this newfound peace wasn't necessarily permanent. The previous summer, Juice WRLD's song "Lucid Dreams" had been popular. The first line of the song is "I still see your shadows in my room," but at one point when I was singing along, I sang, "I still feel the shadows in my mind." I realized that I absolutely loved that line and wanted to incorporate it into a song, but at that point I didn't know exactly what I wanted the song to be about, so it took about half a year before I wrote the rest. Although I was drawing from personal experiences, I intentionally wrote the song in such a way that it could be generalized across many different circumstances. For me, the "shadows" were the bad memories and the worries that those things might happen again. But I knew that for others, the "shadows" might be depression, intrusive thoughts, previous poor choices, bad relationships, regrets... I wanted to write it in such a way that people going through all different things could relate to the song. The song had no tune until I got together with my friend Jimi in October 2020. He had some guitar music he'd come up with but didn't have any lyrics for, and I had lyrics that I didn't have music for, so we decided to combine them. He played his music while I toplined my lyrics, making up various melodies as I went along. We did this a few times, until finally I came up with the melody you hear in the song today. The guitar track being played in the version posted here is actually from the first day we played the song together! We always intended to play it live somewhere, and then maybe to make a studio recording of it as well. But my friend ended up moving away, and we never got the chance to do that. Since I still really like the song, I decided to share our recording of it with you guys, even though it's not as "polished" as the other songs I've shared. I hope that if you're someone who has any kind of "shadows" living in your mind, this song will give you inspiration and hope.
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