The idea for my song Stay came at the entrance of an airport jetway on a departing flight back when someone could accompany you all the way to the gate. I was about to leave behind someone I desperately liked, but also knew against hope I would never see again. Standing in that jetway entrance, where only one person at a time could egress, I was reminded of the pinch point of an hourglass where individual grains of white sand pause before rushing down through the tiny opening. I wondered if those grains ever felt the weight of all the sand above them pressuring them to move on, if they felt reluctant to fall. And there I was, at my own pinch point, desiring to stop time, not wanting to say goodbye, and knowing at that moment I would have given anything to be asked to stay.

Notice that when center justifying the lyrics the words roughly take the shape of an hourglass with the word “stay” stuck in the pinch-point between each verse. The word stay itself is sung on a haunting and very unstable note, a note that almost sounds wrong because it wants to resolve upwards, but I hold its resolution back and let it ring in its beautiful discord. perfectly aligning musically with my feelings in the jetway so many years ago.