One Way Ticket in The Song Remembers When

Part of leaving means that I’m having to clean up and sort all of my stuff, I found a box of photographs in my things. I’m not a very sentimental person, probably because of how emotional I am, and how much I hated that for so many years, that I haven’t kept many photographs out…

Photographs are funny things, and they’re much different than just pictures you have in your phone. There’s something more visceral about them, and sometimes, you find old pictures and realize how much things change. I found an old picture of Richard and I, and it’s funny because we’re still us, our relationship really hasn’t changed too much… but we have.

One of my favorite artists is LeAnn Rimes. In fact, the first music I ever bought for myself was a tape cassette of Blue (which I bought at the same time I bought Jagged Little Pill, what a contrast, right?) One of my favorite songs on that cassette was about moving on and being brave and going out on your own. I loved it’s spirit.

A few years ago, LeAnn started re-imagining her old songs in new arrangements (her duet with Stevie Nicks is absolutely sublime and something I didn’t really know I needed in my life), when she re-imagined that song, One Way Ticket (Because I Can), she turned it into something completely different. I didn’t really get it at the time, but lately, it really tapped into something.

The original version from 1996 is up-tempo and full of gumption. A youngster ready to tackle the world, which makes sense as she was 13 when she recorded it (she’s only one year older than I am). There’s an enthusiasm and bright-eyed spirit that only happens in youth.

The new version is much more complex. It’s not exactly mournful, but it’s reflective. The original version, it’s exciting because it’s new, but the new version is exciting because you’re leaving something behind you. It’s about possibilities. It’s about rediscovery. Finding the joy that’s been beaten out of you… It’s amazing that a song I’ve been listening to for 25 years really just encapsulated where I’m at right now.

But that’s the magic of music.

And just for fun, here’s the original…