On 20 September 2016, i played three songs at the Dispensary’s Singer/Songwriter night. Although i made mistakes, they were relatively minor. Moreover, i had felt no particular nervousness at playing before the audience. I even thought to myself that i had finally licked my stage fright. Not so!
Two nights later, at the OOAK Reopening open mic (where i had planned to play two of the three songs that i had played at the Dispensary), i started having butterflies as my turn approached. When i started to play, i had an almost total collapse. It was as bad as any performance i have done since my first open mic experience in Columbia — maybe even worse than that since i mangled the singing as well as the guitar playing. (My singing in Columbia was okay.)
When i went home, i wrote the first draft of the lyrics to this song to help get over my depression. Over the next several days i simplified the lyrics as i developed the melody. This is my second song with no rhyme, and i think it expresses the experience reasonably well. This has become a favorite among my friends who play regularly at open mics.