Does it Ever Get Better? - Song Story
“Does it Ever Get Better?” came during some pretty dark days. It is definitely the darkest song on the project, musically and otherwise. I have been going through some really difficult and painful things in my life in the past couple of years. On top of that, I couldn’t stop thinking about the endless stories that keep showing up in the news. School shootings, hurricanes, police murdering innocent people, Nazi protestors, and countless other tragedies occurring around the world, seemingly all the time. Some of my close friends and family were also going through and are still going through some very heavy, very hard things.
And one night I was sitting at the piano, trying to form thoughts about what was happening to me and around me. I remember saying out loud “does it ever get better?” A question that I didn’t expect to get an answer to. I still haven’t.
Sometimes it feels like other people just have these amazing lives and meanwhile you’re just getting slammed with hardship after hardship after hardship. I know probably every human being has felt that way at one point or another. But when it’s happening, it’s all you know and it is so in-your-face real. It’s exhaustingly monotonous. That’s where the song began.
The ending chorus expresses my frustration at the default answer to the questions I was raising. Things like, “God’s in control” or “it’s all part of His plan” or any other fill in the blank Christian cliches. Seems like if there was really an almighty, all-powerful, sovereign, loving God, it would be a little more obvious…… There really is no resolve to this song or the questions because in real life, I’m still not sure that it ever will get better.
Lyrics:
Does it ever get better?
Is there more than this constant aching?
If we tried to do better
Would our efforts be met with a blank stare?
I’m so tired of this weather
I’ve seen it all before, with no changing
I can’t hold it together
I need to feel the sun, be made whole again
I’m gonna need a little bit more
I’m gonna need a bit more than “It’s alright”
Or “He’ll save the day”
I’m gonna need a little bit more
I’m gonna need a bit more than “hold on tight”
Or “He’ll make a way”
