I just call it BTDT. My latest release is dedicated to my best friend Jon Hardy who passed away in December of 2023. I didn’t write the song about him, it just became him after he passed. This was one of the last songs I had him listen to before he died, so I thought of this song a lot after his passing. BTDT was only going to be the working title of the song, but I figured since Jon had really lived his life in so many ways, He had truly “Been There and Done That”. It’s gone through quite a few different modifications of lyrics, no lyrics, to minimal lyrics. I think this song may still progress over time when playing live, but for now this is where it is, and this is its truest form. I’m glad I’m finally getting it out there.
The picture for the single was of Jon, while we were on a Birthday Vacation on April 14th of 2021. It was taken while he was looking out the window at the Hassayampa Inn (Room 319) in Prescott, Arizona. We were goofing around in the hotel room and thought we would take some silly pictures. For some reason this one struck a chord with me and thought it matched the mood of the song.
There were so many takes and different guitars I tried before just settling on a cheap Ibanez classical acoustic guitar for the lead guitar part. It was not my first choice by a long shot, but seemed to fit when I played it. I plugged it in as a joke, but I think it needed that nylon string sound for certain parts to sound right to my ears.
I always sent Jon my songs for feedback and suggestions before releasing them. I remember the conversations we had on this song. We played music as friends when we were younger and though he was not proficient at playing bass, he could really make it sound good. He had an awesome percussive sound to his playing when he had fun with it. We would write silly songs together or rewrite lyrics to existing songs. He did love to sing. Life has changed greatly since his passing, for better and worse, but life goes on… He will always be with me in some form.
As the song says,
“I don’t want you to go…”
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