Hello, My Friend

Hello, My Friend

This was, I think, the second song I ever wrote. (Maybe the third?) I should say, ever wrote on the guitar. My song writing journey began with poetry which got me into a band as the lyricist. Then I started to hop on the mic and sing. It has only been in recent years that I picked up a guitar.

The funny part about writing this song is that I couldn’t even play an F chord yet. And I mean physically, my tiny little hands could not bar the fret as necessary for an F. So I just didn’t play it. All my early songs were made up of A chords and E chords major/minor and funky variations in between that I thought sounded cool. For musicians out there, you have to appreciate the creativity that I had to employ when desperately trying to write some original songs and I literally could not play in the key of C.

Eventually, what happened is that some very dear friends actually took me out to buy my own guitar. It’s a half-body, shortened neck, nylon-string beauty. And I could actually play it! My guitar skill took off after that because, well, I could actually practice songs. And yes, write them! But I am getting ahead of myself as far as this song is concerned. This song was written on my brother’s old acoustic which had six-year-old strings and two big holes in the body of the guitar, one of which was covered by a sticker. It was janky and a perfectly fun way to start learning guitar. He left it at my house for a few weeks and I thought, why not?

It’s worth reiterating that, while the guitar playing was very new to me, songwriting was not. In fact, something that frustrated me greatly for years was that I would come up with lyrics and even a tune for a new song, but when I went to others to help me, they couldn’t reverse engineer a song like that. Which I TOTALLY understand. You need a really good ear and strong music theory to pull something like that off. I think it worked successfully twice in more than six years of being in an actual band. I would try to sing a tune and the words I had, but we rarely got a good song out of it.

Once I started playing instruments, my world changed. It has been even more fun recently since I’ve been learning piano and more music theory.

You might be thinking, Jenifer, talk about the song already! But I am, oh, I am. It’s important that I paint the picture for how GOOD it felt to sing a song I wrote with my own accompaniment. I also think it’s important to explain why the playing sounds a little janky… sue me. I know I don’t need to make excuses, and I’m really not. I actually think there’s a part of me that looks at some of my earliest stuff and goes, “Oh! That was better than I remembered.”

The truth is, I am super proud of this tune. Particularly because the lyrics are so tender, unique, and personal.

“We never really said goodbye. Still, haven’t seen you in a long time.”

Don’t we all have those friends that we’re not really friends with anymore because we just “fell out of touch”? That is who this song is about.

“If there ever was a day that you should think to call my name, I’ll say, Hello, my friend. Hello.”

It’s that kind of thing where you just know if you ran into them again or if they reached out, you’d be more than fine hopping back in like nothing happened.

“Nothing came to tear us apart. Sometimes life just does that to a heart. If even twenty years from now you should find me again somehow, I’ll say, Hello, my friend. Hello.”

The thing about these friendships is that you can hop back in like nothing happened because, well, nothing did. “Drifted” is the best term we have for these kinds of situations because there was no fight, no break up. Sometimes this just happens. Friends go their separate ways. And, yeah, those childhood friendships are usually like this. Those that we lost contact with in the days before social media. So if some kid I knew in school wanted to contact me now and swap stories, I’d be all for it!

“And if not, and we never meet again, then goodbye, my friend. Please just know that it doesn’t have to end. Goodbye for now. I’ll see you again.”

Some friendships never die. They might fade into the background a bit, but they don’t disappear. And while you can make your peace with putting them away when the time is done, there’s no bitterness. Some sadness, yes, but you heal. And then it’s just a nice memory that you can return to when you want.

“I can’t promise you that I won’t cry. Sometimes joy just does that to the eye. And if my mind and all its schemes should let me meet you in my dreams, I’ll say, Hello, my friend. Hello.”

There is one particular dream I can remember having where I ran into two old teachers who I’d been close to and a long-distance friend. I woke up with an obvious interpretation that I’d just been allowed to spend the dream with three people who I missed dearly. All things considered, that’s not the worst way to get to spend time with someone you miss.

“And if not, and we never meet again, then goodbye, my friend. Please just know that it doesn’t have to end. Goodbye for now, I’ll see you again. Goodbye for now, I’ll see you again.”

In some ways this song is a chance to say goodbye to those for whom the reality is, “We never really said goodbye…” But it’s also a message to say, Come on back, if you like!

The best part of this song is that I did genuinely have specific friends in mind. And one of them did reach out to me after seven years! Dropped into my Insta to say, “How you been?” Genuinely, I was SO happy. I got to say, “Hello!” to my friend! And it felt great.

The truth of life is that there is a constant ebb and flow. “Sometimes life just does that to a heart…” As long as we’re open and willing to receive what that current brings back to us, there is a seed of gratitude within us that gets a fresh drink.

Friendships are so precious. We had no idea that with some of our playground friends, we left the park having seen them for the last time. But memory, dreams, and actual encounters (through social media or otherwise) can bring them back to us. As if we discovered them in the sandbox once again! There they are!

With joy and exuberance we can turn to them like we did all that time again and say, “Hello, my friend! Hello!”