More from the Lyrical Archive: A Song about Abandonment

When I first wrote this song, I realized something about myself that I hadn’t been aware of – how much I fear abandonment.

It’s not like I’ve ever been abandoned. Sure, like almost everyone, I have lost family and friends along my journey. I mean, the trigger for the song was the death of my mom on my 23rd birthday, which I suppose could be seen as a kind of abandonment.. But, reading the lyrics, I’m left with the sense that my fear goes deeper than that. And I can see how it’s played out in various aspects of my life.

Just as a final word before sharing the lyrics with you, I want to say that the words are symbolic, and are not based on a real event. No-one I know has died in the way described in the song, I promise…

Away

Red was the colour of the single rose you gave to me,
The day before you left
Black was the colour of the night sky when you said goodbye

Then you turned and you walked away
Said you’d be back some day
But that something’s are not meant to be
We just couldn’t see

Gold was the colour that the dawn broke as you hit the road
Blue was the colour of the sky behind that you left behind

Then you turned and you walked away
Said you’d be back some day
But that some things are not meant to be
We just couldn’t see

Some things we are not meant to see, so we can let them be
Some things we are not meant to know, so we can let them go

Black was the night that they found you there, lying there
red was the colour of the blood that ran into the golden sand
And took your life away

And I remember how you walked away
Said you’d be back someday
That some things can never be
I still don’t want to see