This is the saddest song I've ever written, and likely the saddest song I will ever write. I wish I could say that I made it up, but this is a true story about a girl who was murdered in my hometown when I was 9 years old. I didn't know her (she was three years my senior, and that's a lot when you're a kid), but I look back at it now as kind of an end-of-innocence event. Before this, I'm not sure I realized that there were people out there who would commit an act like that against a child, and in the place where I lived, no less.
In early 2020, I had thoughts of possibly writing a book about the event, which I felt had kind of been unjustly forgotten. It didn't take me long to realize that longform writing was not my forte, and that I was not the person to bring that particular project over the finish line. But oddly, it would be another 3 years before it even occurred to me to try to write a song about it. When I started writing, this came out of me about as quickly as I can remember any song coming out. I occasionally sing it at the local open mics I attend, and have even sung it in the town where the crime took place, and every time, I have to fight back tears to get through the performance. Maybe someday I'll be able to detach myself from the tragedy of the subject matter and hold it together... but I kind of hope I never do, because I think that that's when I'll know my soul is dying.
As a postscript, a man who is not worth naming was eventually charged with the killing, and after an initial mistrial, he was convicted in a second trial and given a life sentence without parole in 1990.
If you're interested in hearing this with the lyrics, please click below, but be aware that it may be triggering for anyone who's particularly sensitive to such tragic subject matter (although I suppose if that's you, you've stopped reading by now).
This is a very sad song about the murder of a young girl in my hometown when I was a kid. It's stayed with me over the years, even though I didn't know her, and I decided to write about it. You can hear a demo version with lyrics at https://soundcloud.com/i_am_kiffa/easter-sunday-demo-1 .
Kiffa
2/6/23 1:48
