• Why Worlds Fall Apart     1983

A man waits at the window, but he doesn’t really know why.
His wife just left him and she didn’t say goodbye.
She won’t be home, no, not today
And he just can’t believe she’s really gone away.

So he packs away the pictures and the memories.
Gathers up her kitchen and mails her recipes.
He rattles through the empty house and he stares at the TV
Haunted by his fondest memories of how it used to be.

Chorus:
Suddenly he understands why worlds fall apart
And why broken hearts don’t mend.
Everybody’s gotta make a new start now and then,
But it’s not the end.
No, no, it’s not the end.

Well he remembers their wedding day and he still cannot believe
That that was really her and he was really me.
How can two people change so drastically?
Some things in life remain a mystery.

Well somewhere down the line things got really sour.
Days seemed like years and minutes seemed like hours.
Afraid to speak their minds, why must lovers be such cowards?
Their love lies crushed and broken like a trampled flower.

Chorus:
Now he finds he’s in that same place again

Chorus:

During my freshman year, I lived on campus. My sister was attending community college, but living at home with my parents. It was a difficult year for our parents and a particularly difficult time for my sister (living at ground zero). The couple in the song and their divorce are fictional, but the feelings are as genuine as I can make them. I think it’s my sister’s favorite song (of mine).

The song was recorded in Youngstown, Ohio on Jack Chamberlain’s Yamaha PortaStudio 4-track in the Winter of 1982/83. This was my first or second recording session.

I played all the instruments and sang both harmonies.

Originally recorded in 4-track mono. Mixed to stereo cassette (2-track) in 1983. Re-engineered to digital from the stereo mixdown using Cool96 September 1999