Half a Chance
This was actually last year's Anniversary song, but I didn't get around to recording it until a few days ago. In fact, I hadn't played it for about 8 months. I wrote it a couple months before attending a songwriters' workshop in Colorado lead by Tom Paxton, Jackson Emmer, and Daniel Boling. It is the one song that I practiced for weeks, and during our one on one sessions, I did show it to all three of these fellows. They offered some excellent insights on several of these songs, but it was Tom who said, "Too many words in the bridge! Shorten it." In about a minute I offered the alternative 13 words down from 28. That is its present form.
Half a Chance
I've written this song about a hundred times
I'll probably write a few hundred more.
The words are different and so, too, the tunes,
But each is the same at its core:
I'll never forget the day that we met
Two strangers thrown together by chance
It started a spark that lay deep in the dark,
And opened a door to romance
Chorus:
And I would do it all again
You don't even have to ask
Given half a chance
This will always be my answer:
I would do it all again
Some days crawl by, but decades just fly,
And each one has proven this true:
I don't have to try, and I never ask why
I know will always love you
And I would do it all again
You don't even have to ask
Given half a chance
This will always be my answer:
I would do it all again
[The Original Bridge:
It's not always just what we want it to be
Disappointment can dampen delight
But if the decision were given to me
I'd say this feels so right (chorus)]
With advice from Tom Paxton, Jackson Emmer, and Daniel Boling, this became the New Bridge:
Some regrets
Along the way,
But through it all
I'm happy to say:
And I would do it all again
You don't even have to ask
Given half a chance
This will always be my answer:
I would do it all again
Given half a chance
This will always be my answer:
I would do it all again!
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