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20 Messages From Julie

from A Landscape of Ghosts by Rob Siegel

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about

A Facebook friendship with a friend from junior high that ended after 20 messages.

lyrics

I went to junior high with Julie
but I did not know her well
she was so popular and pretty
and I was in my shell
different cliques and different circles
all those currents had their sway
a few smiles in the hallway
then my family moved away

there was just one time as young adults
that chance caused us to meet
my mom had bought Bob Brown’s house
Julie lived on the same street
we talked like we were old friends
it’s the image that still sticks
me and Julie Frederick
fall of 1976
I wish my 8th grade self could see this

be glad for these chance connections
that restore what we forgot
this being human stuff ain’t easy
but it’s really all we’ve got

38 years later
I’m on Facebook killing time
and it does that spooky data thing
triangulates through time
on the right side of the window
six words caused me to stir
you might know Julia Ann Frederick
and I thought yeah it must be her
hey what you doing in Gatlinburg

she said “Tennessee is the home of my heart
it’s what I came back for
I’m from the only county in the South
that stayed Union in the war”
her photo showed her fishing
Cape Hatteras in the surf
so we talked striped bass and bluefish
like we were quenching a long thirst

she said only another fisherman
could understand the whole
“that when you look at that picture,
you’re seeing part of my soul”
then we started talking cars
yeah we gave that a whirl
she said “as long as you know
that I’m a Mopar girl”

be glad for these chance connections
that restore what we forgot
this being human stuff ain’t easy
but it’s really all we’ve got

maybe I should’ve thought more of it
when Julie posted this one day
“the worst part about being strong
no one asks if you’re okay”
then the messages stopped coming
but I thought that’s just the way
when two friends at last run out
of entertaining things to say

but the truth broke like a bad dream
that Julie’d opted out
she left us stunned and gut-punched
shattered and in doubt
I thought I should’ve sensed it
I thought I should’ve tried
as if some guy from junior high school
could be the one to stem the tide

we can’t save other people
we can barely save ourselves
but a friendship is still real
if it gets up where it fell
to reconnect in measure
twenty messages was all
still a gift I’ll always treasure
from Julie in the fall

I went to junior high with Julie
but I did not know her well

credits

from A Landscape of Ghosts, released March 24, 2018
Guitar and vocal: Rob Siegel
Fiddle: Tim Roper
Upright bass: Peter Tillotson

Recorded live at Club Passim by Steve Friedman
Additional tracks added at Hollow Body Studios

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Rob Siegel Boston, Massachusetts

Rob Siegel is well-known in Boston folk music circles as an innovative songwriter who draws from his idyllic yet stressed- out middle-class suburban existence and produces memorable, intelligent, well-crafted songs.

His first new CD in 14 years, "A Landscape of Ghosts," will be out in April, with a CD release show at Club Passim on Monday April 30th.
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