We like to say that if a song says, “I woke up this morning and I feel good”, that’s an Inspirational song.  Why not?  If it inspires, if it ‘breathes life into something’, it’s inspirational.

We also like to say that love songs are inspirational.  Where the song crosses over the line and becomes a sex song, well, that’s where we step back.  That one’s probably not for us.  Not that sex can’t be inspirational, but we want to create a standard, to be a trusted destination for you, our customers.  We want you to be able to buy our music with confidence.

Songs about love come in all shapes and sizes.  It’s an overworked subject that still fascinates us all.  I guess the various aspects of love have been covered in millions of different ways.  Every love story has its own individuality and these different corners on life interest us all.  Even the break-up songs are interesting because, God knows, we’ve all gone through it.

Many years ago I wrote “You’re Leaving Me” on guitar.  I don’t remember the girl or the moment.  There were too many moments like this in my wild and crazy youth.  But I remember the feeling – the feeling of being the one who was leaving and the one who was left.

Are these really Inspirational moments?  You bet.  Because they are times in our lives when we feel deeply.  When we live life on a super sensitive level, no matter what the emotion.  They are moments of regret and moments of tears and moments of deep sadness.  These are the moments that balance out our lives and bring us the richness of soul.  Not usually pleasant, they are still moments that we look back on with a sigh and a shake of the head and sometimes a heavy heart.

Songs help us remember these moments, sometimes help us live through them, help us mourn, help us appreciate the sweetness of love in juxtaposition.

This is a song that sat on the shelf for years.  It was never recorded and rarely sung.  It was just too sad, too personally raw.  But I always knew it to have a special beauty because it went deep and touched the chords of fear, vulnerability and regret.  It’s OK to feel these things.  In fact, it’s important that we do.

Perhaps 10-12 years after I wrote it, I showed it to Jenny Burton.  She too got the poignancy of the song and decided to chance it and sing it.  We had one rehearsal with our pianist, Alan Smallwood, and he too captured the sadness of the moment in his piano arrangement.

One night shortly after the rehearsal, Jenny’s mom was the victim of a hit and run accident.  As she lay in the hospital close to death, Jenny and I went back to the studio to wait it out late at night.  Alan had just finished another session there and was packing up to go home when we came in.  He immediately sensed Jenny’s sadness and hung around to provide some solace.

In the course of the next couple of hours they decided to run through the song again and when she began it, she broke down crying.  Since we were rehearsing in the studio and the mics were still up for the last session, I jumped up, threw on some tape and put a mic in front of Jenny.

She said, “I can’t sing this song now.  It’s just too close.”  I’m a producer.  I saw the opportunity to capture something special and simply said, “Use it.  Just sing it one more time and cry through the song.  Let the song be your tears.”

She sang it once more and made it all the way through without breaking down, a very special, rich slice of life captured.  Weary from all the emotion, we closed up and went home.  The song went back on the shelf for 20 more years.  Occasionally I would pull it out and play it, remembering that sad time, always appreciating the beauty of the moment. (By the way, her mom lived and recovered)

The song closes her new CD, Released!, due to be released in the next few weeks.  It is the recording made that special moment in time.  I added a string section to the Fender Rhodes arrangement performed so sensitively that night by Alan and Phil Klum, my masterer, brought the song sonically back to life.

Here are the lyrics.  You’ll have to wait for the full rendition.  Something special to wait for.

You’re Leaving Me

Music and Lyrics by Peter Link

You’re leaving me
Wish you could stay but maybe it’s right
You’re leaving me
Though I agree I’m still very frightened
All our dreams have turned into ashes
Turned into dust
The fires have long been gone

You’re leaving me
Maybe just one more chance
Ah but you’re leaving me
Never your need and never your glance
Will touch my heart
Leaving me breathless
Leaving me weak
With all my walls torn down

Maybe I’ll go on
Maybe I’ll get by
Maybe I’ll sing my new song
Leaving all my past behind

Yes maybe it’s all right
Maybe the right time
Maybe I’ll find my answers
When at last you’re far away

And so you’re leaving me
Wish I could be the one who was leaving
Leaving you
Wish I believed in what we are doing
Time will tell
Maybe you’ll come back
Maybe you won’t
And maybe I’ll be free
Of your leaving me

Even More Inspiration

• WFM Listening Room – Series II Finale
• The Road To Inspiration — Peter Link and Julia Wade
• Kickstarter.com Campaign – I
• WFM Listening Room Series II – 3
• Progress Afoot
• Life At Its Best