BONES OF BETTER DAYS
About the Song
The title line “bones of better days” came to me after visiting a faded resort town in the Catskills (if you've been here awhile, you know I can't resist abandoned places).
Driving through this neighborhood that had clearly seen better days, that phrase just popped into my head — and I knew it had to become a song.
Early Draft
At first, I wrote a completely different song set in that town. You can listen to that draft below.
In some ways, it might even be the stronger song, but I couldn't quite finish it.
Songwriting Notebook
Here's a peek at the messy lyric writing process.
Fresh Start
So I decided to start fresh — and instead of telling a literal story, I leaned into the darker side of nostalgia and created something with a bit of melodrama and gallows humor.
That's the version that made it onto the album. I wrote it on guitar, and then Elie and I shaped the production together — layering in instrumentation and textures to create the album version.
Hear the first draft recorded on my phone below.
LYRICS
Oh, the past it is a spectre
A hungry ghost, a debt collector
You've paid your dues but you can't escape
Not from the bones of better days
You spend your time
In silent reverie
While the hours away
Living in your memories
The world outside your window fades away
But you've got the bones of better days
The bones of better days
You're dragging them round
Like a rusty ball and chain
You've got dirt under your fingernails from digging in the grave
For the bones of better days
You've got a feeling
Your best times have past
You've eaten all the meat
Now you're picking at the scraps
Vultures gathering for the funeral parade
You've been living on the bones
Of better days
CHORUS
The end is nigh
Soon the bells will toll
This whole worlds been bought and sold
The weather's getting warmer
You know soon we'll take our place with the bones of better days
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