Story Behind the Song – Here With Me is an excerpt from our upcoming book titled “NEELY – Story Behind the Songs”.
To listen to the song, click here. To watch the music video, click here.
Story Behind the Song: Here With Me
Sometimes as I read through my Bible there are concepts that strike me. They generally strike me in such a deep way that I find honestly hard to convey.
While these concepts may not fit in the whole context of what was written, the truth in these concepts are seemingly “God breathed”. As a result they come to me at the moment I need them the most.
This has happened more often than can be counted as mere coincidence but that’s for another time.
In this particular instance I was reading in the Book of Revelation and a couple sentences in the second chapter cut to the core of my being. These sentences, spoken by Jesus, reads, “But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first.
The Backstory
If you’ve been to any of our acoustic storyteller concerts, have heard us speak, read any of the many interviews we’ve done, or read my other works you would be pretty intimately familiar with our story.
To give you the condensed version: Kaci and I were raised in good homes, with good families, in good communities. Our parents raised us with the precepts of Jesus right in front of us and had us in Church more often than not. However, we both chose our own paths that led us down a pretty dark path that had consequences that still affect us today.
Story Behind the Song: Kaci
For Kaci, growing up in a small town in Kansas, she just wanted to fit in with her friends. None of them went to Church or expressed any ties to a faith of any kind. So they had no moral basis for choosing to party and engage in sex with one another. To make a long story short, the peer pressure eventually broke Kaci down and she gave in an ran with the pack. Since the deed was done and there was seemingly nothing special about it and a constant shroud of shame hung over her, it was a lifestyle that would continue until we met in college.
Story Behind the Song: Jeremy
For me, growing up in a small town in MO and then being dumped into a big school district at the beginning of middle school (a stupid, stupid policy that no doubt has ruined many a child) set me on a similar path of fighting to fit in. It was a confusing time where in one moment a group might accept me and only minutes later would reject me. Yet I had a group of guys that accepted me and although we had a sense of honor and set of morays in our group, there was some hypocrisy in how we lived.
One such hypocrisy would be the creed, “you aren’t a man unless you have sex by the time your 16”.
Not strong enough to be the odd man out I fell in with the crowd and instead of making things better it only made it worse. A dark cloud seemingly set in over my life and I was unhappy. Eventually alcohol, then drugs would become “go to” vices that would deaden the pain.
When Kaci and I met years later at Barton County Community College in Great Bend, KS we became good friends and little by little it developed into love. Little did we know that the choices we made in the past would come back to haunt us and that baggage we brought into our marriage would lead to deep hurt, anger, depression, and ultimately vengeance.
Something Clicked
So when I read those words from the second chapter of Revelation, something clicked.
“You’ve abandoned the love you had at first” and “remember from where you have fallen” jumped out of the page and hit me in the gut, taking the wind right out of me.
Consequently, I began to remember the way we used to talk on the phone for hours. Which back then wasn’t cheap. Those were the days before cell phones when you had to pay for long distance on your old landline phone.
I remembered how I would swing her around the dance floor and hold her close as we two stepped.
I remember the way she held those piercing blue eyes on me with the most intense look of love I’ve ever known.
We had abandoned the love we had at first. Time had seemingly extinguished the fire with the consequences of our past as well as the daily grind of life. You know, the little things. The dirty clothes on the floor, the toothpaste in the sink, the toilet seat, or whatever little nuisance we choose to grab a hold of to victimize our spouse.
Remember where you have fallen.
Broken, I just remembered beginning to sing the words and melody, “play me some of that swamp ash, muddy sounding guitar as I slow dance. With my little baby right next to me.”
For too long I had victimized this beautiful woman. I was now choosing to remember the things I not just loved, in a past tense, but love, present tense, about her.
The verses artistically tell this story from the realm of the alarm clock ringing and having to drag your butt out of bed to go work a dead end job, whose only purpose is to pay the bills. Grinding through each day of the week with one simple thought on your mind, returning to that love that you left on the dance floor Friday night.
It’s not just our story
I remember the conversation we had with a gentleman after playing this song at The Bathtub Gin in Mooresville, NC. Without knowing everything that you’ve read here, this gentleman heard it in the song.
But the song spoke to him, so-to-speak.
As a result, this man gave us a good look into his life and the love he lost. He told us that night, “If I would have known this one concept right here, that I learned from this one song, tonight, I would still have the love of my life right beside me.”
Oh we ain’t done yet!
You see, the key that I haven’t mentioned yet is the last bit of those sentences that jumped out at me, “repent, and do the works you did at first.”
Repent simply means turn. Like a 180 degree turn. If you are going north, turn around and go south.
In this case I had to turn from that hurt, that anger, that pain and I had to “do the works I did at first”.
Wouldn’t you know that by doing that I wrote a heck of a song. But more importantly now that look is beginning to return to Kaci’s eyes!
Thank God for those moments He chooses the speak to me. Because of those moments this isn’t the only Story Behind the Song.
Story Behind the Song – The Lyrics:
Here With Me
Words & Music by Jeremy Neely
Verse:
Six AM and that time clock calls
Punching in man, dang it all
Another day and another dollar
Oh, Good Lord, I don’t feel much taller
Pre Chorus:
I’m looking back to Friday night
On the dance floor, the world feels right
Chorus:
Play me some of that swamp ash
Muddy sounding guitar as I slow dance
With my little baby right next to me,
Right next to me
Cause I’ve been waiting for this all week
Just to feel her body pressed close to me
I can’t breath
I can’t breath
Until she’s here with me
Verse:
I might be standing here,
But brother my mind’s a million miles from here
Lord, this week feels like sinking sand
And oh won’t you take me back again
Pre Chorus:
On the dance floor where the world feels right
I’m in heaven with her by my side
Chorus:
Play me some of that swamp ash
Muddy sounding guitar as I slow dance
With my little baby right next to me,
Right next to me
Cause I’ve been waiting for this all week
Just to feel her body pressed close to me
I can’t breath
I can’t breath
until she’s here…
Bridge:
On the dance floor where the world feels right
I’m in heaven with her by my side
Chorus:
Play us some of that swamp ash
Muddy sounding guitar as we slow dance
I feel ya next to me,
Right next to me
I’ve been waiting for this all week
Just to feel ya body pressed close to me
I can’t breath
I can’t breath
Unless you’re here with me
Unless you’re here with me
Outro:
Six AM and that time clock calls
Punching in man, dang it all
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