Here’s how Will introduced this song at Flipnotics the first time he played it in 2009:
“I have a friend I send songs to, kinda regularly. She keeps me thinking about writing songs and all.
And it’s good but it can also be disheartening because, for me, sometimes I’m hot and I’m cold, so I’ve written some really bad songs. And it’s even worse because I don’t know they’re bad for awhile. So, you laugh, but I’m about to play a new song for you. May be a stinker, you don’t know.
But I was thinking, you know, what’s the problem? I hadn’t written anything that’s really good in a while. What’s the problem? Do I have some kind of writer’s block where you can continue to write songs, but just not the good ones?
So I thought, well, I might have some writer’s block going on here. I thought, what could be blocking me? Well, I thought you have go to the source, God — I believe in God — well, you have to go to the source, you have to go to God and think that maybe there’s something up there.
You know, I do have a few issues with God, so I thought, well, let’s try to work them out in a song. So this is a new song. And you know what’s interesting is that after I wrote this song, working through it, then I wrote ‘A Sane Goodbye,’ — so, it might’ve served its purpose, we’ll see.”
Something’s in the way,
It’s time has come.
I love you, God —
I hate where I come from.
A place of hurt,
A place of misery,
Take a deep breath
And look at what’s happened to me.
I lost my magic,
I let my thoughts run free.
It never felt right
Putting reins on me.
Beauty was your thread
Through my troubled days,
A crooked halo on the pillow
Of a woman who went away.
Life’s been hard
I’ve felt a million different shades of blue.
I made my mistakes
Trying to keep singing true.
I forgive you, God, for the trouble I’ve been through,
I forgive you, God — I hope you forgive me, too.
From the ghetto I walked
With an angel on my arm.
She said your troubles
Are going to be tended and charmed.
I said, help me see God,
I have a few things to say.
She said we’ll live again
And talk to him on the way.
Life’s been hard
I’ve felt a million different shades of blue.
You wanted me to come here
Or you wouldn’t have helped me to.
I forgive you, God, for the trouble I’ve been through,
I forgive you, God — I hope you forgive me, too.
I grew to disbelieve
Images I’d see.
I found a wicked world
Staring back at me.
I’ll live once more,
Deeper into the mystery
Of why you care
For a single soul like me.
Life’s been hard
I’ve felt a million different shades of blue.
I’ve been hard on life
May we find peace anew.
I forgive you, God, for the trouble I’ve been through,
I forgive you, God — I hope you forgive me, too.I forgive you, God — I hope you forgive me, too.
Buller's back porch 