From the recording Land Of The Living (2001)
(key of C)
A song written in Seguin, TX just before a Ridgely show on Oct. 24, 1997. I remember hearing a woman on a radio call-in show explain her own personal recovery from addiction. The one thing I remember her saying is “I found recovery….” That was enough to spark an onslaught of images, details and ideas for a song. This is my version of the repetitive pop chorus that gets drilled into your brain.
I like this song for its vivid imagery. This quickly became a Ridgely favorite though it wasn’t recorded on any album until 2001 (Land of the Living). I asked Kevin Smith (the other half of Ridgely) and his brother Brian Smith (drums) to help me record this song for LOTL as a Ridgely “reunion” song, of sorts. I’m glad they obliged.
Lyrics
Recovery
I found recovery in a dark and dreary cell
chained to a corner, the stench of sin the smell
I fed myself portions of less-than remains
I slept in the waste of fraudulent claims
I found myself clinging to my odds
working to narrow the gap between the broad
locked like a slave to the pillar that’s my pride
at the admission of my failures you allowed my past to die
held for the healing
I found, I found, I found recovery
I found, I found, I found recovery
I had a dream, a shaking dream, that scoured my mind
a life lived hopelessly, the cure I could not find
you give graciously to those clinging to seeds and pods
but sometimes a wheat grain, Lord, is all that I’ve got
hold for the healing
hold me for the healing
I found, I found, I found recovery
I found, I found, I found recovery