On The Fade
Words: 07-11-1992
Music: 07-11-1992
What’s It All About?
So the early nineties were a time of letting go and transition and new beginnings for me — and while I was seven months into what would be a nine year relationship, there was still a sense of sadness and mourning in me. Even if you’re putting things behind you that, well, sucked, it can still be traumatic.
Combine that with the fact that grunge was in full swing. I had just discovered a band called Rein Sanction — in particular their album “Mariposa,” which combined the grunge, lo-fi feel with a wall of feedback-drenched guitars that would make Crazy Horse take notice. Melancholy rock and roll meets melancholy rock and roller… and “On the Fade” was born.
It was a standard for PIGBAT (the second version included here), but I also recorded a semi-acoustic version for my six-song mini-album, “Hundred Seller.” On that version, I invited PIGBAT’s guitarist, Kris Shine, to apply his trademark reverb and feedback guitar stylings. We set up my cassette four-track recorder and his amps after hours in the used record store where I worked and I let Kris go to town.
That version — the first of the two included here — is, to my mind, the definitive one. I hear it, and I see Kris, rocking out and smiling. And I miss him.
Lyrics:
When the winter comes and you finally settle down
By the riverside and your soul plants roots deep in the ground
Take some time and let the world go on its way for you
Feel more and more like your yesterday shines brighter than
Today
Every friend’s a stranger anyway
And it’s strange
How the circle tightens on the fade
Gotta close the ring
Scope in on the range
And allow some players
To one day leave the stage
In your memory the shadows pull apart
While the fog pulls closer in its clutch around your heart
How you want to see a light pierce through the gray
But you feel more and more like solitude’s the order of the
Day
You can’t trust yourself to love anyway
And it’s pain
That brings the noose tighter as it fades
From view everyone
Drifts just out of range
Strip back on the shroud
Face up to this change
And allow some players
To one day leave the stage
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Listen and Download
On the Fade by Matthew Wayne Selznick (version) [4:14m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (279) On the Fade by PIGBAT with Matthew Wayne Selznick [3:54m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (271)
