I wrote REMEMBER ME from my bed on the floor of a laundry room in the second story of a Connecticut farmhouse. It was 6 AM on the morning of my sister Gretel’s wedding. The house was brimming with family and not enough bedrooms, so my sister, Megan, and I had claimed this tiny alcove with the washer and dryer to be our sanctuary. It had a door and two windows from which we could watch fireflies.

I woke up before the rest of the household, having maximized the number of hours three couch pillows wedged together with a baby crib mattress on the floor can pass comfortably for a bed. I was thinking about my sweetheart, separated from each other for the first time, all the way across the states from me, and this idea for a song began.

Songs can be gifts in moments like these. They can also be a total pain.

I had no paper, no pen, and no desire to rummage through the rest of the rental and risk waking everyone.  Remember me, remember me…the line kept teasing me, taunting both my feelings about being so far from the one I loved and the fact that I had no way to record the idea for this song.

Remember me. My last night with my sweetheart had been filled with emotion. Remember me. I didn’t want to leave, but then I also couldn’t stay because I had to catch a flight to my sister’s wedding. Remember me. I had wanted to stay. I wanted to tell him in some way that whatever he was going through, however difficult it was, however lost he felt, that he wasn’t stranded or alone. That whatever emotional mire pulled him under, I would follow him down into the depths and that I would wrap my arms around him and carry him swiftly, far from the darkness. I would anchor him in my embrace again and again and again.

I looked at Megan. Eyes closed, still asleep on her baby crib mattress and hoping to sleep for at least another four hours.

Remember me.

Megan is a Lady Crooner. I knew, even if it was excruciating in that moment, that she’d understand the long-term pay off of capturing this song. I knew that I wouldn’t have to say much more than, “I have a song that I need to record, can I use your phone, please?” that she would be obliging. Megan is just that kind of gal.

Megan managed a blurry smile when I woke her. She even typed in her password because I fail miserably at such things and set me up with the sound recorder app. Then she took a few extra pillows from my side of the nest, before rolling over and making it perfectly clear she was unavailable for further conversation.

I recorded the song in one murmured/whispery take, modified the lyrics at breakfast, and set it to music with Joseph while we were rehearsing for our sister’s ceremony.

It was a beautiful wedding. It is a beautiful song. For me, REMEMBER ME, will always be a song of longing, fireflies, my first East Coast summer night, and an uncomfortable bed on a laundry room floor shared with the most understanding sister in the world. It is also a testament to true love.

REMEMBER ME

Love, hold me near
Time closes in on the hour we fly from here
Love, close your eyes
I long to stay with you more than we both realize
Though parting was never so sweet
It’s your love that makes me complete
Hold me tight
This one more night

And I will follow you down love
And I will ask the wind
To carry you swiftly far from here
And bring you back to my arms once again

Love, whispering
Close to the nape of my neck against my skin
And as we come to our final goodbyes
I’ll treasure the look in your eyes
Remember me
Remember me

And I will follow you down, love
And I will ask the wind
To carry you swiftly far from here
And bring you back to my arms once again

Love, have no fears
I leave with a longing
And know we will meet again here

And I will follow you down, love
And I will ask the wind
To carry you swiftly far from here
And bring you back to my arms once again

And I will follow you down, love
And I will ask the wind
To carry you swiftly far from here
And bring you back to my arms once again
And bring you back to my arms once again
And bring you back to my arms once again