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The Future, Whatever that Means

Notes on "The Future"

This inspiration for this song came while driving to Canadian Tire. The line, "I've got a woman who's earned every line in her face", was the start.

And it came about because a little while earlier, I'd been channel surfing with Melodie and had stopped on the country music channel, where a video of a song about "the love of my life" was playing, sung by a gentleman of a certain age.  And of course, this being a video, the "love of the singer's life", couldn't have been over 21. Perhaps I malign the producer, and she was really a well-preserved 55. Nonetheless it seemed to me that it was past time that we celebrated the love that lasts and counts for something.

I first sang the song at the Song Along in 1998. My friends had a bit of an argument about whether the phrase, "whatever that means" belonged in the song. Was it dismissive, or what? There's never been any doubt in my mind that it belongs there. That's the whole point, isn't it - what "the future" means to you.

It's the title song on the CD, of course.

The Future, Whatever That Means 

Words and Music © David Keeble March 28 1998

 

 

How do you hold it together? How do you keep it from falling apart?
How do you always remember the things that you need in the heart of your heart?

How do you make it the distance? It doesn't matter how bravely you start.
How do you manage to make it be true when you say "till death do us part?"

Is it a woman without a line in her face? The fountain of youth, the first in the race,
forgetting the past so you won’t have to face the future, whatever that means.
the future, whatever that means.

Nobody promised us easy, Nobody said it would always be sweet.
Nobody said that there wasn't a job to be done to keep us both on our feet.

Somebody mothered these children. It’s not for me to say just what that means.
But if you think it means nothing to you then I pity you, lost in your dream

of a woman without a line in her face. The fountain of youth, the first in the race,
forgetting the past so you won’t have to face the future, whatever that means.
the future, whatever that means.

Cause nobody said, here is the key, and nobody said you can have it for free.
You both have to work if you want to be strong, cause nobody said you will always be young.

Nobody gave us forever, Nobody bet that this couple would last.
Nobody knew that we had what it takes to be here - after all that has passed.

I’m with a woman who's earned every line in her face, and she’s with a man who loves every trace
of the story we've been and the future we face together, whatever that means.
The future, whatever that means.

I’ve got a door on the distance, and a companion, wherever I am.
Someone who's shared everything that has happened to me, that matters a damn.  

I know that I have been lucky. And that I worked for it - sometimes I fought.
Nobody has to tap me on the shoulder and say, "Do you know what you've got?"

I’ve got a woman who's earned every line in her face, and she’s got a man who loves every trace
of the story we've been and the future we face together, whatever that means.
The future, whatever that means.

Here's a sample of the song from the CD. And there's an earlier version, which I recorded as a demo, which is here in its entirety.

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