Stay Close

I changed up the demo widget because I realized it's had the same old recordings on it for over a year. And also we have a new recording of "She Walked Away," which I thought ought to supersede the ones already over there. While I was at it, I added a recording of a newish song, "Stay Close to Me," which I briefly mentioned back when I first performed it. That song has come to be a favorite of ours, and it's a song people talk to us about a lot.

First, I reckon I ought to own up to my inspiration for the song: There's a scene near the end of Deathly Hallows (yes, the Harry Potter book) where Harry is really scared, and he whispers to a sort of vision of his dead mother, "Stay close to me." And it just made my face hurt when I read it, I was so moved. If you've read the book, I'm sure you know the scene. I won't go more into it because this isn't a book report. I don't really know why it struck me so, but there you go.

I knew right away I wanted to write something called "Stay Close to Me" that evoked some of what I felt in that passage -- the sense of vulnerability in the face of fear, maybe. And I wanted it to be distant enough from the source that I wouldn't have to go around calling it "that Harry Potter song" for people to get it. I also wanted it to be a simple song. I have a tendency to overwrite things, to use six words where one will do, to use broad epic similes instead of just coming out and saying what I mean, to ramble along in multiple, dependent-clause-infused sentences like this one when I should be moving along to the next thought. So I was determined eschew verbosity and to keep the imagery sparse. It did not take long to get a draft worked up, but I had to fight hard all along not to keep adding verses and a bridge and more transitional material and so forth. During revision, I ended up cutting a lot of excess baggage to pare it down to this:

    

Stay Close to Me

Darkness closes in on me
I can't see the way ahead
But if I know you'll stay with me
Then I can face this dread

Stay close to me
I don't want to be alone
Stay close to me
I'm sinking like a stone

My heart is beating in its cage
I'm embarrassed by my fear
But the strength I need is in your gaze
And now my path seems clear

Stay close to me
I can't do this alone
Stay close to me
With you I'm almost home

Stay close to me
Stay close to me