oh my head

lately my eyes have been blood-shot red

they’re looking for some kind of sign

that could tell me what i needed to know



oh my head

lately all my thoughts are arriving dead

i drift where the sea meets the sky

could you tell me what i needed to know?



oh...



maybe i always learn things the hard way

i learn best from my mistakes

the road i took was the wrong one

it all works out in the long run

maybe there's no such thing as a rewind

there’s no way to go back in time

i learn best from the replay

i always learn things the hard way



words were said

now even the pain wants peace instead

i bury my thoughts in the tide

could you tell me where i needed to go?



on my bed

echoes of the trues and the lies we said

the ocean/ the mirror/ the sky

tell me everything i needed to know



maybe i can’t keep blaming it all on luck

when I complain and i self-destruct

maybe it’s me with the problems

stuck looking at you trying to solve ‘em

maybe there's no such thing as a rewind

there’s no way to go back in time

why do i learn things the hard way?



maybe the learning comes from the mistake

there's no beauty without pain

no one said it would be easy

we can't undo the things that we say

even if i could, would you believe me?

no one said it would be easy

maybe the song we sang was just out of time

maybe we could give it one more try

one more try?



maybe the small violin and the tissue

hoping to put it behind me and kiss you

singing along to chorus of “fix you”

all along it was me with the issues

maybe there’s no such thing as an easy fix

in love or war or politics

maybe it’s time that i dealt with this

and finally learned things the hard way



maybe there’s no such thing:

as a free ride

maybe there’s no such thing:

as a free way

maybe there’s no such thing:

as a rewind

maybe there’s no such thing:

i know why you walked away



maybe there’s no such thing:

as a quick fix

maybe there’s no such thing:

i don’t want to live like this

maybe there’s no such thing:

i always learn things the hard way



Behind the Song:

the hard way: story behind the song - by Jon Foreman

“When life itself seems lunatic, who knows where madness lies.” - Don Quixote 

Tony Berg doesn’t remember ever hearing the song “Fix You.” He’s not a Coldplay fan, so this is no surprise, but it made the last chorus that much more humorous to me, thinking that he didn’t know what song I was referencing. Here’s my two cents on “Fix You:” It’s a beautiful melody accompanying an offensive proposition. “Fix me? Really, Chris Martin? You will try to fix me?” You fix the dripping faucet or a pet. You cannot fix a person. You can only love them or walk away.

Or maybe you can try to fix yourself? This is a song about that long, hard look in the mirror. *

(* disclaimer “The Hard Way” is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental. It’s a lighthearted tune that surely has nothing to do with my own ridiculous mistakes along the way.)

Throughout the tune I’m picturing this bumbling Don Quixote narrator mumbling platitudes like, “I learn best from my mistakes” and “it all works out in the long run.” It’s an upbeat song that turns heartbreakingly honest near the end of the track.

I love the sonic textures on this track. The Beach Boys like harmonies on the intro are dissonant and sweet, sad but strangely triumphant. The verses have Chad playing chopsticks on the drums, Tim and I motoring along, Drew coming in for the classic guitar line on verse two. Then back to the 60’s for the post chorus and the bridge.