Recorded, mixed and mastered in Logic Pro by Paul Fifield in Windsor, CA, in 2022. Backing tracks created in Band-in-a-Box. 

• Vocals - Paul Fifield
• Acoustic Bass - Ron Carter
• Drums - Lewis Nash
• Acoustic Piano - Kenny Barron
• Electric Rhythm Guitar - Oliver Gannon

This song began as a guitar lesson. I was taking lessons from Nina Gerber for a short while. She teaches the CAGED method. I was on the second of the five sets (as far as I got in the lessons) and the chords I was learning led me into creating this song. As for the lyrics, I was inspired by hearing about a friend, Orville, whose best friend, Joe, had died a few years earlier, and a roommate of Joe’s subsequently found a box in a closet that contained some of Joe’s clothing and belongings, and when Orville opened up box he could still smell Joe on the clothing. That was too moving of an experience to not put into a song. Another interesting thing about this song is that in 2012 I pitched this song to a Nashville song scout and received feedback that sent me on a months-long wild goose chase. The feedback was, basically, that the song needed to have a happy ending. Something uplifting, you know. I wrestled and wrestled with that and in the end I decided that it’s better for me to write songs that express what I want them to express rather than try to fit them into package that some “expert” thinks is better. And I also learned that song scouts have something specific in mind for a specific artist when they give you their feedback. They want you to change the song to fit their needs. I ultimately went back to what the song is about — just missing somebody. - Paul Fifield

Photograph
© Paul Fifield 2012   All Rights Reserved

Opened up that box today, all your stuff I’d stashed away
Dumped it out onto the bed, memories flooded through my head

    I’m staring at your photograph... I just want to hear you laugh
    You linger on the clothes you wore... you’re not in them any more

Future black without you there, no warmth, no comfort anywhere
And though my head gets through each day, my heart can barely find its way

    Keep staring at your photograph... I just want to hear you laugh
    You linger on the clothes you wore... you’re not in them any more

          Maybe I'll find somebody new, ooh... I hope that's true
          They'll never fill that space you left inside, that's forever yours -- and mine

Dreamt of you again last night, for a while my heart was light
Misty morning turns me blue, still alone, still missing you

    I keep staring at your photograph... I just want to make you laugh
    You linger on the clothes you wore... you’re not in them any more

    I still smell you on the clothes you wore... you’ll never wear them any more