Written by Tiffany Thompson
Arranged by Michael Anderson
Phantom Feelings
Charcoal chicken and chilled red wine
Keep me company on sticky sweet nights
Heat waves always seem break around eight
When I’m thinking of you, thinking of me, thinking of you
We were just babes, but we talked like sages
Never really read anything from the same books or pages
But I never got tired of our conversations
And I’ll never get used, never get used to missing you
There’s an ache that never goes away
There’s a love that always finds its way
To my heart for anything that pertains to you
Dinner for three at every four top table
Makes me feel a just little unstable
Phantom feelings of your hand on mine
Hope I never forget, never regret knowing you
There’s an ache that’ll never go away
There’s a love that always finds its way
To my heart for anything that pertains to you
“My audience” has always felt elusive. A few close friends here, a couple thousand faceless streams there. The age of album sales has come and gone; unless you’re hawking koozies and necklaces, all that’s left to take home is a memory.
But memory is where the Muse takes flight. A mystical, spiritual place filled with whimsy and depth, delight and invitation. A room with solitude stitched into its walls. A landscape where healing wanders quietly toward you when you least expect it.
“If you aren’t a little afraid to sing when you are writing, you might not be cutting deep enough into the marrow of your own story.”
Writing “Phantom Feelings” felt strangely communal. It emerged from late-night conversations with friends during a season when I was piecing my heart back together. It felt private in a way that made me uncomfortable. And so, of course, I kept it in consideration for the record. If you aren’t a little afraid to sing when you are writing, you might not be cutting deep enough into the marrow of your own story.
At a friend’s birthday weekend, I shared the song with a recent widow. She and I were the two “single” people in a gathering of ten, and I carried this quiet question: Could a song about my loss speak to hers?
As the notes and lyrics stumbled out of me, tears rose in her eyes. We sat with the song’s small trembling, and she simply said, “Thank you.”
She became my audience.
She welcomed the song before it was finished, before it was recorded, before it was remixed. She let it settle into her memory, and now—every time I play it—I feel the phantom feeling of J— sitting beside me.
For that, I am deeply grateful.
Keep an eye out for the alternative lo-fi remix of “Phantom Feelings” coming out Dec 17th. But for those of you who found your way to this part of this page, here is a link to enjoy the song today! XOXO - Tiffany
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