“Goodbye (Vanessa’s Song)” - a song about.. well.. goodbye
Story Pairing
Ah the drama. I recently gave someone a hard time about selling their truck and being sad to see it go… what a hypocrite I am.
I bought this little ford transit connect with 27,000 miles on it in the fall of 2022 before a trip down to New Orleans for Halloween and a couple shows. I was all geared out to go in my Subaru, but the transmission was going and I didn’t know if it would make it all the way down there. So to be safe, I got a new (to me car). For that run I had a camping cot that I could position on top of the seats when folded down, and then shove all my music gear into a mountain along the side from floor to ceiling. It never got much less cramped than that, no matter what I tried. A 6’5” man, a PA, camping gear, and instruments just takes up too much space for a little van like this. Didn’t matter I loved it.
I used it to drive to all the rest of the lower 48 I had missing, adding 120,000 miles of incredible adventure and show upon show. I slept in Walmarts, Cracker Barrels, Planet Fitnesses, Campsites, Rest Stops, and random dirt roads snuggled into the back of this thing. Through 100 degree nights, storms, and drunken strangers knocking on the windows, we’ve seen a lot.
I just sold it on Feb 1st, and it was hard to see it go. I know it was time to pass it along as I turn to a new chapter, but we drove through a lot together. That’s a powerful thing, the connections/placeholders that we tether to life experience end up gaining a sort of personality as a safe place. I get that now and should have from the start. (How easy it is to confidently judge until you go through the experience yourself).
I think that could be expanded upon and applied to current events, but I wasn’t trying to set myself up to be preachy.
Anyway, I’ll miss you Vanessa, we had a good run!
ps. A favorite (albeit unpleasant) memory, is how I got sick right before a show in Chicago. I played the show, then got the van to a rest stop just outside of the city, and slept two days in a feverish haze in that van. It was a weird couple days with the craziest dream.
Another was getting stuck in the snow trying to drive up to a hiking trial in the mountains of the Wind Rivers in Wyoming. A guy and two kids on a snowmobile helped get me out. I drove back to the city and got her a carwash as a sorry.
The last was being surrounded by Bison in South Dakota as they licked road salt off the sides of the van. It was like being pushed around by a group of NFL linebackers, I’m surprised they didn’t break something in the suspension.
Ok ok, I’m done.
Song Structure
Verse: Am - E - Am - C - Am - C - E7
Chorus: Am - E - Am - E - Am - E - Am
Break: Dm - Am - Dm - Dmdim - E
Voice Memos
Notebook Page
Feb 2026
Lyrics
To be broken hearted
To be down and blue
To be torn to pieces
Because of you
She left with another man
With gold in his smile
To never look back again
Were they all wasted miles
Goodbye my darling
Farewell my dear
The memories and moments
That brought us to here
Goodbye my darling
So long take care
Hope what you wanted
Is somewhere out there
Break
To be here forgotten
To be looking on
To be reminiscing
Because you’re gone
That cold empty morning
When he drove her away
I didn’t hear nothing
But I pretend she did say
Goodbye my darling
Farewell my dear
The memories and moments
That brought us to here
Goodbye my darling
So long take care
Hope what you wanted
Is somewhere out there
Hope what you wanted
Is somewhere out there