FAWM: "Cold a Long Time"

Cold a Long Time

2025 by @newukenewyork

Liner Notes

FAWM 2025 / Song 3

I wrote the lyric for this in November but haven’t been able to finish it until today. I wanted to do something tender with the melody and playing. It means something but it isn’t one of those “story” or “clear meaning” songs, and I’m okay with that. Some of the lines have multiple meanings to me.

I often avoid high notes in writing melodies because I don’t like to worry about how my vocals sound on them, but that’s where the melody went today, so I left it. Feels vulnerable.

Instrument: spruce and mahogany tenor ukulele tuned low GCEA

#ukulele #singersongwriter #personwithukulele #girlwithukulele #acousticonetake #fuc #uke #acoustic #americanasati #finished

Lyrics

I wish I’d bought all kinds of things I wish I’d laid my money down I wish I’d walked away from sin And looked around the town My body bright with wind

Been cold a long time But I’m not ready to die Go to the window I’m waiting outside

Oh, you’re the powder, I’m the flame I think you are the broken glass Sometimes I wear another name I’d be the question asked We lie, love-drunk and strange

One bomb follows another Like souls waiting to be born Children made with no mother Sky high, spreading the storm

Been cold a long time But I’m not ready to die Go to the window I’m waiting outside

Comments

@heather 2025

Love the high notes, they sound great! The song is very evocative, even though it's not (as you said) one with a clear story or meaning. It has an emotion, and it has fragments of stories with beautiful images. I especially like the line "go to the window, I'm waiting outside." It provides a bridge from past memories to the present moment.

@williamjames 2025

Was not expecting that high note but it delivered big time! Sounds effortless to my ears, maybe you are just a bit self conscious about them but they sound great. I liked the somber melody and the emotive ukulele playing. This is very good.

@memeworrywort 2025

This reminds me so much of The Magnetic Fields. The lyrics are sort of whimsical but serious paired with a very strong, memorable chorus. Well done!

@jorh 2025

You need to sing high more often - it’s soared and soothed beautifully. Also fantastic lyrics- I like the multiple meanings especially in a song that feels reflective and raw like this, it makes the listener think and apply their own experiences. The start of the chorus was a particular highlight ‘been cold a long time, but I’m not ready to die’.

@orinthebard 2025

So pretty 😌 A song with no clear meaning can have many. Love and war, creation and destruction, the stuff of life

@tawny249 2025

This is gorgeous. To me it feels like a kind of "love during wartime" story, whether literal war or something on a more personal scale. Either way, it's skillfully handled. The imagery is powerful and vivid, and I really enjoyed the high tone of your voice in this.

@andygetch 2025

Such a beautiful melody, vox sounds great in the high register, and I'm glad this one got finished!

@leslie333 2025

Oh boy, you nailed the tender melody with these lyrics - absolutely beautiful and your choice to sing high was spot on.

@oatsg 2025

Lovely! I love how you’re lingering over the melody on the verses. Gives it a thoughtful feeling. Your voice and playing match the mood perfectly!

@tonyr 2025

A melancholy rarely captured. Well done.

@billwhite51 2025

definitely a gentle, tender song, and open to interpretation, i get a wuthering heights vibe from it. catherines ghost, cold, at the window, asking to be invited inside, ...but there is something else happening here, a lot of different things that i cant put my finger on, but i feel them.