Shadows into Life

Shadows Into Life

Music and Lyric by David W. Jacobsen
Copyright 1995. All Rights Reserved.

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Title	Shadows Into Life
Period	Late College
Written Time	Summer 1995
Copyright Year	1998
Copyright #	SRu000349359
BMI #	6600425
Original Album	Before
Studio - Engineer	The Park
Studio - Gear	Yamaha cassette 4 track
Other Musicians	Dan Goldstein - Guitar
Length	0

Notes:

This is a depressing little song about looking back on your life and having regrets either for what you have or have not done. It is my earliest Michael and Jane song. These are reoccurring characters who pop up as an unhappy couple throughout a bunch of my earlier albums. They get married in "Hope You Like the Flowers" and at that point are happy. They show up unhappy in a number of songs including "Wasted Life" and "Moving Faster."

I actually really like the melody and lyric of this song but the verse vocal on the recording is terrible, so I never share the recording. On rare occasions, I play this live. Dan Goldstein played guitar on the recording because I wasn't a strong enough guitarist back then to handle the arpeggios.

From the album Before

Michael looks in the mirror
and doesn't like what he sees
some lines growing clearer
and it's hard to believe
what he has become
and all the things he has not yet done
in all that time

Janie looks at the water
as the ripples recede
though the image is blurry
she still sees fatigue
from what she has done
and all the things she has not believed
in all that time

There is something that they've lost
that can not be retrieved
They'll be waiting all their lives
but never come up close
to the spark that years ago
made shadows into life

Michael looks towards the future
doesn't like what he sees
behind him it's hazy
and it's hard to believe
how little he has done
and all the things he had not become
in all that time

Janie goes in the water
it's just up to her knees
yet when she was a child
she nearly drowned in the weeds
but now she's become
the product of all the things she's done
in all that time

There is something that they've lost
that can not be retrieved
They'll be waiting all their lives
but never come up close
to the spark that years ago
made shadows into life