Here’s the deal:

Every once-in-awhile an inspiring song comes along, grabs you by the heart and takes you on a trip down memory lane.

The latest entry into that category is “Even if it Breaks Your Heart” By Will Hoge and Eli Young Band.

I must have listened to this song over a dozen times the first day I heard it. I just loved it.

See if you can relate.

Way back on the radio dial,
The fire got lit inside a bright-eyed child.
Every note just wrapped around his soul,
From steel guitars to Memphis, all the way to rock and roll.

What music lover can’t relate to that?

It sure lit a fire in me. Along with attending whatever concert I could attend (money and permission from parents permitting), I immediately became a music collector and started buying a lot of cassette tapes (remember those?). Before I had a job I would even skip lunch all week to save my lunch money in order to pick something up at the local music store Face the Music.

Eventually I even bugged the hell out my dad enough to get my first guitar.

Quick side note…When I was in high school I made roughly $40 cash per week washing dishes. I got paid every Saturday. I went right to Face The Music for $20 worth of music and the rest went to buying a cup at that evenings barrel party and for smokes (I would buy 2 packs. 1 pack Marb Reds, 1 pack of generic Magna’s to hand out to all the part-time smokers bumming them at the party). Now back to the song…

Downtown is where I used to wander.
Old enough to get there but too young to get inside.
So I would stand out on the sidewalk,
Listen to the music playin’ every Friday night

As a kid I remember standing outside of a local club called Rascals. We weren’t old enough to get in but there was a slim, tinted window that you could look through. You could only hear muffled versions of the songs they were performing and could only see a “sliver” of the band on stage but that just made me want it more.

Some dreams stay with you forever,
Drag you around but bring you back to where you were.
Some dreams keep on gettin’ better,
Gotta keep believin’ if you wanna know for sure.

They do stay with you forever. Most of us know what we would really want to be doing with our lives BUT we just don’t do it for whatever reason. Hell, I ignored my music related aspirations for almost 10 years, but it kept coming back. It stayed with me, gnawing away everyday.

And dreams do drag you down.

I’ll be honest, as cool as it is to play and write music, there are moments when I wonder why the hell I even bother. We all have times, that despite all the effort we put into it, when it feels as though are not getting anywhere and that we are barely treading water.

On top of all that, if you don’t keep believing and trying you will never know what you capable of. Not trying and not knowing is what people regret the most when they are on there death beds.

And the big takeaway…

Keep on dreamin’, even if it breaks your heart

It does break your heart and drag you around when you are all jacked up to do a show and nobody shows or the few people that are in the bar are more interested in watching whats on TV than what you are doing on stage (live music vs sitcom reruns… no brainer for me but not everyone). People looking at you like “Why is we singing and playing guitar, who the hell is he.”

Or when you release new music that you spent months – and a lot of cash – only to find nobody likes it (or worse, says nothing).

BUT over time you learn that it is just part of the process. You have to experience the bad in order to really appreciate the good.

You learn that just playing, writing, and being around others who love music is really what its all about anyway.

So I will shut up now and let you check out the song for yourself. There are two three versions; one by the original songwriter Will Hoge, one live version by ** Eric Paslay (co-writer with Will Hoge) and one by Eli Young Band (who took the song to the top of the charts).

Even if it breaks your Heart – Eli Young Band (YouTube)

Even if it Breaks Your Heart – Will Hoge (YouTube)

** Even if it Breaks Your Heart – Eric Paslay (YouTube)

Are you have a similar experience with dream of yours? Let me know in the comments below. I’d love to hear about it.

*Props to Will Hoge (** and Eric Paslay) for penning this, IMHO, masterpiece.

** UPDATE: In my original post I forgot to mention song co-writer Eric Paslay. Sorry about that Eric! Thanks to Liv at UrbanCountryNews.com for pointing that out.

Pssst… my song “Why Wait” that sort of falls into this theme as well. See what you think…

Why Wait – Corey Koehler (YouTube)

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