In this episode, Eugene, Oregon’s “The Stagger and Sway’s” lead singer, Mike Last, shares the story behind their eponymous song “Stagger and Sway.”

This song was written on the tail-end of a LONG drive from Chicago to Eugene, Oregon, in a rattle-trap of a box-van. This was the kind of drive where the beginning marked the end of one journey, and the end-of-the-road marked the start of a whole new adventure.

But in between, there was a long drive, with plenty to think about.

This song nearly wrote itself, like a reconciliation of my own personal, if very common, “better-to-have-loved-and-lost” type of story. Phone conversations had begun to reveal more and more in the fuzzy line-hum between our sentences; a quiet staggering off of “the straight and narrow” that didn’t seem to fit our steps anymore.

This long drive ended with a peaceful resolve, where I could tell myself, “Here is a very good person, who’s been a good friend … so let’s nevermind all that other bs, okay?”

I hope that feeling of resolution resonates with people; of putting aside whatever past grievances — not out of spite, or attrition, or for the sake of being right — but out of being just ready to actually move on.

Stagger and Sway

So far gone, escape Cook County crimes;
they say a good friend is hard to find.
Okay, oh well, nevermind.

Valleys crossed to face steep canyon climbs,
they say a good friend is hard to find;
okay, oh well, nevermind.

Now whatcha doin’,
since the stagger and the sway
came across the static on the phone?

No regret in placing second bets;
lift a smile through embarassment,
like a bumbershoot in the cold
and in the wet.

Clutch in coast down a slow decline,
they say a good friend is hard to find.
Okay, oh well, nevermind.

Now whatcha doin’,
since the stagger and the sway
came across the static on the phone?