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Did and Didn't

from [SAMSON] by Farewell Friend

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about

Troyer and the band further develop the theme of doubt in “Did and Didn’t.” This song refuses, like the rest of the album, to settle into a linear rhythmic spell. This is not just some foolish chant. Here, on the fourth song, Troyer takes us back to the start of Samson’s childhood on a “quiet country block.” This is a song and an album that challenges fundamental assumptions. The beginning is not always the beginning. Sometimes you don’t see your beginning until the middle or that thunderous end when everything becomes illuminated by nostalgia. “Did and Didn’t” strikes some comforting wistful notes, evoking a midwestern thunderstorm and “a pile of dirty magazines” discovered on the fourth of July. However, Troyer is more than just awash in memory. He struggles. This furtive tune wrestles with “the walls I’ve constructed,” in contrast to not just the material walls of biblical Israel but, without saying so, the dominant literal and metaphorical walls of twenty-first century America. Where did all of this talk about walls come from? Did these demons and walls just appear overnight?

“They did and they didn’t,” the singer calmly reminds us at first.

But then the band uncorks and Troyer lapses into a welcome howl.

-Matt Armstrong

lyrics

As a child I was taught to take a turn and move along.
"Let someone else have a try."
And I have taken so much life out of the ground. It's only fair to watch this old body break down.
"It isn't sad it's only right"
But the question remains: has there ever been a thing that's ever been mine?
When all of the walls that I have constructed to keep myself sane are eroding and rusting and all the bric-a-brac to compare with the prizes I lack barely ever even kept the lights on bright enough.

They did and they didn't

I grew up on a quiet country block where the railroad ties built the spines of a dinosaur's back. My mother and I would sit silent on the porch, accustomed to the wars of midwestern thunderstorms. The TV told us the lies to forget and father would tell me the times to look away but my tiny eyes found a pile of dirty magazines at my best friend's house on the fourth of July. And if Rome wasn't built in a single day, how did those walls appear overnight?

They did and they didn't
They did and they didn't
They did and they didn't

From time to time bored out of my mind I would plan my escape to another universe. Imagining life on another odd planet - a lonely little rock just a shadow in the sky like Indiana roads - potholed with rubbery round pebbles and lava it bubbles like an alien shore where I was laughing at gravity a boy on my brother's bicycle outstretched my feet hardly touch the ground.

They did and they didn't
They did and they didn't
They did and they didn't

But I've got all I wanted
I've got all I wanted
I've got all I wanted
But has it ever EVER been enough/

So lately I've been wondering about Daniel.
What if he'd been born in that Lion's Den?
He would have been one of them.
One of the family.
He would have been used to the women and the wine.
Whenever the home team crossed the line,
would he have hesitated?
Proposing a toast at every touchdown and every field goal.
Kissing a girl to his left.
Kissing a girl to his right.
Would he throw a token in the pool of a god on the way home to his second wife?
"Get me home safely" Would he pray?
"Get me home unscathed. Get me home to the woman I love before the next one gets in my way."

Oh I wonder.

Could even Samson pull his weight?

If he'd been born that way?

He did and they didn't
He did and they didn't
He did and they didn't

credits

from [SAMSON], track released August 13, 2021
Tom Troyer - Songwriter
Mark Byerly - Bass and pedal steel
Aaron Cummings - Drums
Tom Troyer - Acoustic guitar, electric guitar, synths
Recorded, mixed, mastered by Tom Troyer - Black Rabbit Audio

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Farewell Friend North Carolina

Farewell Friend is a North Carolina based folk rock band. Farewell Friend’s music is first and foremost an exploration of poetry and narrative

Tom - singer, songwriter, guitar
Evan - upright bass, moog, rickenbacker
Caleb - violin and telecaster
Zac - drums
Featuring Kevan Chandler on harmonica and Galen Clark on mandolin.

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