Here Comes the Night

Listen to the song on Suno
Here Comes the Night
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Lyrics

End of a long day Don’t want to talk You can tell I’m hurtin’ by the Way I walk Eyes on the gravel Can’t lift ‘em high It’s not that late but Here comes the night So I Board that train Rumblin’ down them well-worn tracks Towards the pain And there ain’t no coming back And here comes the night Boss said, “Come on in son, You’ve done just fine, But times are tough and you are Below the line” Write down on cardboard My hopeless plight Ain’t gettin’ paid and Here comes the night So I Board that train Rumblin’ down them well-worn tracks Towards the pain And there ain’t no coming back And here comes the night Said she stay ‘til The end of time Her ringless finger tells me She was lyin’ To blind to see all them Warning signs Got no wife and Here comes the night So I Board that train Rumblin’ down them well-worn tracks Towards the pain And there ain’t no coming back And here comes the night

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The Story

A long time ago, when Blockbuster was still a thing, I went to the local strip mall to rent a movie that I knew I would end up watching by myself. The next day I found out a friend of mine had also been at that mall and had seen me from a distance. She said, "You looked so sad walking along the sidewalk". It was then I knew I wasn't hiding my depression as well as I thought I was.

Through the years I've tinkered with the lyrics to this song, trying to capture the feeling of heading towards an unavoidable darkness. There was the time I got "let go" due to downsizing while I had two young ones at home. No, I wasn't on the corner begging with a cardboard sign, but I was definitely unemployed.

And originally the song had a verse about a girl who didn't show up to a date with me. A couple decades later, that verse transitioned into a recollection of my wife of fifteen years taking her ring off and ending our marriage.

I don't know if it's due to genetics, circumstances, major head trauma, chemical imbalances, or poor coping skills, but depression has plagued me for most of my adult life. This song is an attempt to capture what it feels like when that rumbling weight comes and carries you away whether you want to go or not.

How do you get out of the depths when blackness takes you towards the pain?