"No song means more to me than this one. When I was 6 years old, my father got sick on a Navy cruise in the Mediterranean. They flew him off the ship to a hospital in Greece, then to the Navy hospital in Bethesda, Maryland. He passed quickly, only 6 weeks from when he got sick. A rare cancer called a teratoma. My mom never remarried and as I grew up she told me stories of their young love and life together, especially before kids, as the Navy moved them around the country. She told me the details of his sickness and her tough decisions at the time. He was the love of her life and all those stories stuck with me. It took me a few years to get this song right, but I'm really proud of the end result. The first time I ever heard the word "Bethesda" was in this context, so it never meant anything to me except loss. So this was me taking the power back out of that word and making a tribute to my mother and father."
-Micah
lyrics
Here sits a hospital bed
A once-empty canvas painted in you
And while all of your colors run out
Your lips turn their last shade of blue
Where are those simple times?
The simple life we used to live?
Where every dream I’ve ever had
Was of what our new life could give
So what am I supposed to dream now?
You’re leaving me cold
‘Cause ever since Texas
I put all my life into you
Remember California
How we lived when our love was still new
Now there’s a half-written verse
‘Cause I knew the melody, but you knew the words
And when I’m all alone in our bed
All I can do is hum this tune in my head
About the sickness that struck you and took you from me
In the depths of the Mediterranean Sea
And well, honey how can I sing out?
Your harmony’s gone
‘Cause ever since Texas
I put all my life into you
Remember California
How we lived when our love was still new
So our love will stay young when this story’s told
How I held your hand ‘til your body got cold
When I sit our two youngest down on our bed
Will they understand when I tell them
That ever since Texas
I put all my life into you
Remember California
How your love just kept pulling me through
And now we got Virginia
And we’re five now when we were once two
But if I leave Bethesda alone
Honey, I just don’t know what I’ll do
credits
from All Wires West,
released November 15, 2021
Micah Spruill - vocals, guitar
Walter Wright - lead guitar, vocals
Phil Seaford - drums
Jason "Bird" Seaford - bass
JoAnna Lynne - vocals
Recorded and mastered by Chris Kendrick at Whiskey Bear Studio, Virginia Beach
Written by Micah Spruill
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