This song is based on the "Ball in a box" analogy of grief: Imagine a box. Inside the box is a very large ball. The ball is in constant motion, bouncing off the walls. On one wall of the box is a button. This button represents your grief. Every time the button is pressed, your grief is triggered and you feel the intense emotions associated with it. The ball, being the large size it is, hits the button often, thus triggering your grief often. But, over time, the ball shrinks in size and strikes the button less frequently as a result. Eventually, the ball is so small that it rarely makes contact with the button again. But the ball never disappears. It remains bouncing around inside the box, and every once in a while it will land on the button again and trigger your grief. In short, grief never disappears, but gets easier with the passage of time.

This analogy felt very reflective of a very difficult breakup I experienced three years ago. He doesn't pop up in my head as much as he used to, but when he does, the pain is still there. When I first learned about this analogy, it made a lot of sense to me. It also felt like the great basis for a song.....ta-dah!

This song CLEARLY needs to be played on a guitar. And the instrumental breaks would have some light piano octaves over the top as a little counter-melody. I can hear it all very clearly in my head. But this arrangement will do for now.

#singersongwriter #acoustic #acousticonetake #piano #pop

Bang Like a shot to the brain Broken-hearted again Stranded out in the rain And I’m freezing Blinding out from the pain The memory of a name Past and present the same Now I’m bleeding

Bang And it hits to the core Throws me down to the floor And I’m gone evermore To the moment That you cut out my tongue That you went on the run That said you said it was done And I know that

Time takes time to go by It’s an arduous fight Every footstep a trial Then I see you disappear again What the hell was that just then?

I’m in pieces Something has to happen to release this But I can’t stand it every time you Come back to my head It’s like you never left Or so it seems when The ball inside the box is still as big and It crashes on the button that I Wish I could forget But the ball ain’t small enough Just yet

Bang Like a rock to the chest My body under arrest I was already depressed But no, go on You can tell me what’s next? Here come the after-effects Not even time for a rest When you show up

Bang In the eye of my mind See the sky in rewind No, I’m not trying to find you But some days It’s a driverless ride Through the west and the wild And it parks up outside Of that one-way road

I’m not in control The trigger is broken Somebody open up the box And set me free From this endless misery

I’m in pieces Something has to happen to release this But I can’t stand it every time you Come back to my head It’s like you never left Or so it seems when The ball inside the box is still as big and It crashes on the button that I Wish I could forget But the ball ain’t small enough Just yet

And time takes time to go by But if after time It won’t paralyse me Quite as often then I guess I’ll just wait for time to pass

I’m in pieces Something has to happen to release this But I can’t stand it every time you Come back to my head It’s like you never left Or so it seems when The ball inside the box is still as big and It crashes on the button that I Wish I could forget But the ball ain’t small enough Just yet