I wrote this song because I was feeling haunted by unpleasant experiences. I knew I needed to wait for them fade in my mind. I was trying to remind myself that there is always a balance of dark and light. That even though I felt haunted, these unpleasant thoughts were only part of the experience and I shouldn't dwell on them, I should look for the other half.
I was thinking a lot at that time about how when something bad happens people say, "That's life", but when something great happens we're "lucky" or "fortunate". How come when something beautiful and joyous happens no one ever says, "Well, that's life!". I think we should. I think we should expect as much fortune out of life as misfortune because all of it is out there waiting to be experienced, light and dark, violence and peace, beauty and ugliness.
At the time I wrote this I was starting to feel like maybe getting older meant we just collect more and more experiences to be haunted by and we just have to live with them. So I would sing this to myself and try to remember that I only experience each unpleasant event once. It's my choice to keep reliving it in my head. I really believed if I tried hard enough not to dwell on them, the hauntings would fade.
Time has past now and they did. All of them faded. I'm so glad getting older doesn't mean I have to collect these things and carry them with me.
Blue Hippopotamus
Caitlin Jaene, Chris Mercer, & Rich Breazzano
January 2009
Knife in my stomach
Salt in my eyes
A knot in my heart
haunting my mind
They can't get me when you're by my side
hold me baby, hold me baby
Don't cry, Don't cry
Don't loose it
This is only one side of life
I know you've made your own mistakes
that feed your fear and refuse to fade
All the wrong we played I can't erase
Don't cry, Don't cry
Don't loose it
This is only one side of life
Memories like these poison my mind
Keep on collecting cruel tokens of time
Building up and seeping through my hide
Don't cry, Don't cry
Don't loose it
This is only one side of life
