artists:  Blue Rodeo

songwriters:  Jim Cuddy and Greg Keelor of Blue Rodeo

date released:  1993 by Blue Rodeo for the album "Five Days in July"

The song was recorded on singer/guitarist, Greg Keelor's farm in southern Ontario in July 1992.  Originally cut to be demos, the "Five Days in July" recordings had a warmth and spontaneity of a Neil Young sound that forced the decision to release them on an album.  Blue Rodeo never looked back as the album became a 6X platinum seller.

 Lead singer Jim Cuddy wrote this song as a collaboration of a few stories...one being he and his wife meet in a shelter during a hurricane, the other being a time when Blue Rodeo was in New Zealand, and they took a day to visit the beach. Their soundman, Kenny, grabbed a stick and wrote his name in the sand. When Jim asked him about it, he said he does this every time he's at a beach as a ritual... it's basically an honour and connection with his wife. Jim thought it was a beautiful gesture, and combined it with his own story as the inspiration behind this song.

 The meaning of this song, in my opinion, is that familiarity you feel when you're getting to know the one you love....how you feel as if you've known them before, and also how no matter how bad things get, life tends to have a way to put you back up on your feet again, wipe the tears from your eyes, and make everything right.  

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