Credits

Music and lyrics by Deborah Pickett © 2024 All rights reserved

Performed by:

• Aelyth Harrison from sideSister: lead vocals
• Leigh Harrison from sideSister: drums
• Grant Williamson from Milford Progress Association: lead guitars
• Deborah Pickett (Futzle): synthesizers, guitar, backing vocals

This performance © 2025 its respective artists, reproduced with permission

About the track

Deborah Pickett: This song came to me easily over a couple of days in November 2024, starting with the bass and electric piano ostinato. I was aiming for a lazy lounge piece, as a tribute to the much-loved and -listened to Comfy channel of Radio Free Fedi. It has many Futzle hallmarks, including the mandatory minor sixth chord and the mandatory modulation between a major chord and the same chord in minor. The lyrics came soon afterwards, with the theme of moving on and making new beginnings. It was only after I'd finished the melody that I noticed that it was pure pentatonic minor. Why does this keep happening??

I knew that my own voice wasn't the pitch range I wanted for the song, so I approached Leigh, whom I'd worked with before on my Fedivision 2023's Haul on the Jib, and whom I knew was familiar with the lounge music style from her Fedivision 2024 entry Tap my Toes. Leigh pulled in sideSister collaborator and lead vocalist Aelyth, who has exactly the smooth voice the song needed.

Meanwhile, I chased my frequent collaborator Grant, blues guitarist extraordinaire of Milford Progress Association, for the laid-back instrumental interlude, offset by my absurd electric sax solo. We were channeling Pink Floyd's Money, sometimes inadvertently, sometimes more or less advertently. I also had Alan Parsons's Wine From the Water in mind, with its glorious suspended sharp-ninth chord leading into the chorus, also Sting's Consider Me Gone, with its walking bass and jazzy drums.

Lyrics

I have to stand up
I have to be strong
Every day
Was so long
I gave it my best
I gave it a try
I won’t stay
But this doesn’t mean goodbye
Leave the light on

I’m off to touch some grass
Far from the astrodome
These troubles, too, shall pass
Finding my way back home
I’ll find my way back home

I couldn’t admit
I couldn’t explain
Should I leave
Or remain?
I’m healing my heart
I’m healing the scars
Please don’t grieve
I’ll be underneath the stars
Leave the light on

We’re concentrated class
Brighter than polished chrome
Step through the looking-glass
Finding my way back home
I’ll find my way back home

Leave the light on