Apple

When Susan was pregnant with our first son, Cole, I started to imagine what I might want to say to him when he was finally born and growing up. I thought that even though I knew he might not want to hear my advice and thoughts on life until he was much older, it would be cool for him to look back and see what thoughts I had about what he might want to know before he knew he wanted to know it. I started out with the first verse and I got stuck. At this point in my songwriting career, I was really focused on writing songs that would work for the band. I knew we would probably never play this song. So since I was stuck and the song would never get used anyway, I just put it away. Later, after Cole was born and we were expecting our second son Cohen, I started to have these reflective thoughts on fatherhood all over again. I finally sat down to finish it. I was really happy with how it turned out. While the recording was progressing, I kept putting copies of the rough mixes in our car to listen to them and see what need to be changed. Every time Apple came on, Cole would say, "Daddy, what is this song about?" And I got to say, "This song is about you and your brother." I could see on his face that it made him feel really great and it made me happy to think that I was living part of what I had envisioned this song would be about in the first place. Life is awesome. Here are the lyrics:

Apple

You are an apple between us
You are the fruit we both share
A brand new reason not to cuss
The cause of joy and despair
You are the gum on the sidewalk
The thing that makes us both pause
A strange event that makes us talk
That makes us mad without cause

 But you breathe
 And so you need
 And we concede

You are the wrapper on the candy
You will protect us from ourselves
Your constant presence comes in handy
When we start browsing the shelves
I can’t explain all the detail
You’ll have to try it your way
And when you try you just might fail
And if you fail here’s what I’ll say

Because you breathe
I know you need
I’ll take the lead

You’ll never want to admit you’re wrong
But don’t ever let this go on too long
Try as you might to know wrong from right
You might need help

My combat tactics make me tired
They say choose your battles well
I fight cause that’s how I’m wired
But love goes further I can tell

It lets you breathe
And fills a need
I finally see