Thank You, I Love You, Forgive Me, I Forgive You
In the fall of 2020 I got a call I never expected.
Mia Dyson had just had a heart attack and, after being successfully resuscitated, was recovering in the hospital. An earthquake had struck Los Angeles and given her system a jolt that an undiagnosed heart condition was unable to bear - going from a deep sleep to very wide awake.
After the shock of the news, the wave of relief: Though she would require a pacemaker a full recovery was expected.
I’m haunted by the fact that there’s another version of this letter telling the story of a posthumous effort to finish what we started. I shudder to consider it, but I know it’s what we would have done.
But it quickly dawned on all of us how this had been lurking - a silent, unwelcome bandmate - traveling the world with us, sharing our hotel rooms, on the stage.
The wail of unexpected feedback during a mellow soundcheck - would that have done it? Asleep in the van and then the lurching swerve to avoid a highway hazard? A fire alarm screaming at a hotel…the possibilities made the mind swim. Another reminder in a year particularly full of them of our tenuous footing here in the corporal world.
Mia’s mortality was hiding in plain sight in another place, too - songs that were in progress Before It Happened seemed to portend events to come.
One of those songs had the couplet: The ground beneath my feet will always be shaking__The death inside of me will always be waiting
And the working title was “Shake.”
We all contemplated this message, this tug from The Muse on the other end of a threadbare line between here and the beyond.
And none more than Mia, of course. Always a bit on the morbid side (a place we overlap, though I tend to wear it on my sleeve in song a bit more) - Mia took a deep dive into other people’s near-death experiences and ways to synthesize them. Along with the light (yes, she saw it) and the feeling of peace Over There (yes, 100%, that too) and the awful pain of returning - there was something else - words that she wished she would have said to her husband Karl before she died:
“Thank You, I Love You, Forgive Me, I Forgive You.”
It happens that this is a common enough concept to warrant poems and ceremonies and philosophical musings the world over - not these words in this exact order, but the concept shows up in many places — and now we’ve made it a song.
I’m thrilled to tell you that Mia Dyson is putting out a new album called Tender Heart in February that I played on and co-wrote. There are a few songs out already and “Thank You” is the latest, which I highly recommend you watch as well as listen to.
I’m also pleased to invite you to come see us play in California starting next week:
THURSDAY 11 JANUARY
Golddiggers Los Angeles (LA), CA
with Scott Hirsch and Angelica Rockne
Doors 7, Show at 8, Mia at 9:30
Tickets
FRIDAY 12 JANUARY
The Deer Lodge Ojai, CA
with Scott Hirsch
Doors 7, Show at 8, Mia at 9
Tickets
SATURDAY 13 JANUARY
Standing Sun Winery Buellton, CA
with Scott Hirsch
Doors 7, show at 7:30, Mia at 8:30
Tickets
SATURDAY 27 JANUARY
The Makeout Room San Francisco, CA, US
with Scott Hirsch
Doors at 7
Tickets Available at the Door
Wishing you a restful, peaceful beginning of the year,
Syd