9/13: Gone (Geddy Lee)

I feel really, really weird sharing this one with y'all.

I toss in my sleep
Thoughts just keep coming
Desire to keep
Your pictures are falling
Your pictures are falling from you

Of all the songs I’ve featured this year, I think I waffled on whether or not to include “Gone” the most.

I’m still not sure it’s appropriate to share? I mean, Geddy published it, so, like, he wanted the world to hear it. But I just don’t know.

Let me explain.

“Gone,” one of two songs on the Lost Demos EP, is a cut track from My Favorite Headache. It’s a song about the death of Neil’s wife and daughter; the all-consuming grief that overtook Neil and his loved ones in those early days.

As such, “Gone” feels painfully intimate, and in such a raw and unfinished state that it’s barely a song, more of a musical catharsis.

I also think this wasn’t Geddy’s story to tell. Neil’s grief belonged to him—not to say that Geddy didn’t also grieve Selena and Jacqueline, but… it was different. It just was. So if and when this story was to be told in musical form, it should come not from Neil’s friends, but from Neil himself—which is exactly what he did, years later, in Vapor Trails.

Geddy waited until after Neil’s passing to release this demo, which I think was wise; and it was even wiser of him not to include it on his solo album. I include it here for completion’s sake. But gosh. I really wish this one had stayed in the vault.